Children (ages 6-7 and ages 8-9) and adults participated in real-word and nonword lexical decision tasks and an auditory-vocal reaction time task. Response times on all tasks decreased with age. However, age-related differences on the real-word lexical decision task disappeared when differences in auditory-vocal reaction times were taken into…

A lexicalist, or direct-mapping, view of the relationship between syntactic functions and surface syntactic relations and a link between semantic features and the assignment of arguments to syntactic functions are advocated. An experiment with 192 undergraduate students examines the issues as problems of language production. (SLD)

Three experiments tested 3-year-olds' subordinate classification. The first experiment found that novel noun presentation hindered classification. The second and third experiments found that provision of information for the purpose of distinguishing relevant subclasses, and introduction of novel nouns in conjunction with familiar basic level…

Exploration of the role of listening comprehension in facilitating second-language learning includes discussion of the auditory perception of language, listening disadvantages for second-language learners, the need to concentrate on lexical knowledge rather than ear training, minimum word knowledge requirements, and lexical ignorance as a major…

This study analyzed data from a diary study of a child's lexical development. Correct forms and errors in the use of the plural morpheme were recorded from 18 to 30 months. Morphology was acquired before syntax, and there was evidence for a syntactic definition of noun by the age of 20 months. (BC)

Investigated the behaviors for processing language input demonstrated by five adults beginning to learn Hindi as a second language through the Total Physical Response method. The study suggests that, when adult learners are provided with comprehensive input, they engage in a variety of behaviors to extract meaning from it. (73 references) (GLR)

This article summarizes work in progress at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine (North Carolina) on the structure and physiological profiles of reading disability and relates the findings to core left-hemisphere language functions. Data add evidence of the structural anomalies associated with dyslexia and evidence of its heritability, especially of…

A study investigated patterns of neurological event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by morphosyntactic violations in 16 right-handed, English-speaking subjects. Manipulation of stimulus grammaticality and block probability led to ERP effects consistent with those in previous research on syntactic and semantic processing. Results also provide…

The production of regular and irregular past-tense forms was investigated among the members of an English-speaking family with a hereditary disorder of language. The possible reasons for this disorder are discussed, and some aspects of the disorder are characterized and explained. Results, in conjunction with findings from previous studies of past…

Examined through slips of the tongue how tones are represented and processed when speaking Mandarin Chinese. With regard to sound movement errors, it was found that, although errors of segmental phonemes were fairly common, errors of tones were rare. Suggests that lexical tones in Mandarin Chinese are represented and processed differently from…

Notes that memory-based text processing (MBP) is a label that has been used to refer to a theoretical perspective shared by contributors to this special issue. Defines the domain addressed by MBP; identifies the major shared assumptions of researchers representing the MBP perspective; and raises some challenges for MBP researchers. (SR)

Notes that students often find difficulty with the language used in the learning of and assessment of mathematics. Reports on a study that analyzes questions from a 1996 Higher School Certificate Mathematics in Society examination in New South Wales. Makes suggestions on changing the language of the assessment to make the mathematics in it more…

Illustrates through the concept of causality how thinking and language are connected. Suggests that an approach to instruction that understands the foreign or second language as a medium of learning provides a deeper vision of the processes of language as a medium of learning. (Author/VWL)

Addressed whether hierarchical relations and word order can be separated in sentence production. Assessed in two experiments whether subject-verb agreement errors require linear proximity of a so-called "local" noun to the verb. Found evidence for a stage in language production in which a syntactic structure is built prior to stage in which words…

Investigated the influence of morphologically complex and simple words on the production of morphologically complex and simple picture names in five picture-word interference studies. Two variants of picture-word interference were employed to separate morphological from semantic and phonological effects. (Author/VWL)