Looks at the changing language of adult education and argues that the social practice of adult education needs to be extracted from the middle of lifelong learning and imbued with the language of social purpose and the common good. (JOW)

Examines seven techniques speakers use in extending verbal invitations that are not intended to be taken seriously by the speaker. Also shown are ways speakers try to achieve their off-record purpose. Additionally, it is argued that ostensible invitations are related to other types of nonserious language use. (20 references) (GLR)

Draws a composite of the textual features that contribute to the distinct flavor of southern literature, including (1) attention to place; (2) emphasis on memory; (3) concern with the clash of traditional values against modernity; and (4) use of language. Discusses the interplay of these features in each of the five novels of Sue Ellen Bridgers.…

Analyzes several examples of metalanguage from current literature on professional writing, applying three principles for evaluating metalanguage in industry and academe. Considers a potentially effective metalanguage based on simple grammatical expressions. (MM)

Examines the history and usage of the words "lay" and "lie." (MM)

Presents high school teachers' recommendations for books about the history and use of the English language. (MM)

Recounts the efforts of a long-time advocate of E-Prime (English without the verb "to be") to use fewer forms of "to be" when writing, and especially, when speaking, where it is more difficult to monitor oral utterances. Uses a "crispness index" (a semantic equation) to measure language processes. Discusses empirical…

"Properties, Types and Meaning (Vol. I, Fundamental Issues and Vol. II, Semantic Issues)," by Gennaro Chiercia et al., is reviewed. The book contains revisions of essays originally presented at a 1986 meeting at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. A critique and application of Richard Montogue's Intensional Logic unites the two volumes.…

Discusses the technical vocabulary of computing, noting some early computing words, semantic change, words that define themselves, semantic ambiguity, and analogies to the real world. (SR)

Statistically measured the degree of simplification of Chinese characters since the 1950s in relation to their frequency of occurrence. Found that the simplification tendency in both the simplified and traditional sets of characters is positively related to the frequency of their use. (11 references) (MDM)

Explores journalistic quoting practices as an interface between written and oral modes of communication, or between text and talk. Examines both prescriptive and performative dimensions of journalistic quoting across the media. States that when quoting, journalists creatively mix and meld text and talk. Suggests that the cogency of news…

Contrasts robotic editing with human editing (discussing descriptive grammar, periodic sentences, theme-rheme concept, right-branching, zeugma, and Irish bulls). Maintains that, for any editing that requires thinking, humans are always superior. (SR)

Discusses a theory that quotations are demonstrations that are component parts of language use. Demonstrations are described as unlike descriptions in two main ways: they are serious rather than nonserious, and they depict rather than describe their referents. (69 references) (JL)

Explores some of the confusion about singular and plural subject-verb agreement in English. (SR)

Describes the conditions affecting the translation and borrowing of acronyms (such as "VHS") among other languages, concluding that the major difficulty in translating acronyms is in balancing intended expressed meaning, represented technicality or potential for common usage, articulation, and perceived acceptability of "foreign" terms. (20…