Examines children's progression in the use of humor in language from taking folktales seriously, to using humor for shock, to using humor to alter social environments. (HTH)

Locates and analyzes the following verbal alignment devices in job interview talks: accounts, formulations, meta-talks, and qualifiers. Results reveal--among other important implications for the job interview process--that interviewees, by assuming a timid, powerless role, may be yielding in a way that jeopardizes their being hired or future job…

Examines the characteristics of diglossia and applies them to the current sign language situation in the United States. Concludes diglossia does not exist and argues that what is really happening is code switching between languages and style shifting within a language. (EKN)

The gender-linked character of descriptive terms recurrent in studies reporting gender differences in children's play is examined. It is suggested that such terms are linked to gender as a socially determined classification, influencing observation and interpretation of gender-related behaviors. (Author/GK)

Presents a sampling of documents from the ERIC datebase on the role of gender in communication. Includes documents in the following categories: instructional strategies, secondary school studies, gender and language choices, intercultural situations, and communication practices. (PD)

Proposes that in the quest for truth, teachers and students concern themselves with the prevalence of information overload, euphemisms, and doublespeak. (JL)

Concludes that there may be some need for teachers to alter their language of instruction so as to eliminate specialized terms that create confusion among beginning readers. (FL)

Presents a series of exercises designed to provide freshman composition students with a base for analyzing works rhetorically, to point out how language can be used persuasively, and to illustrate how satire functions. (FL)

Contends that language names "Hindi" and "Urdu" denote two styles of same language in spoken mode, resulting in duplication of personnel and resources in Britain in language maintenance programs. Survey data show little consensus regarding what constitutes each language when spoken and that nationality and religion are…

Reviews the methodological issues raised by previous research into the language used by thought-disordered and nondisordered schizophrenics. (FL)

Reports a preliminary investigation into the pitch correlates of politeness formulae produced by English and Japanese informants of both sexes. Because of differences in sociosemiotic function of pitch, Japanese females' pitch is more differentiated from the Japanese male pitch than is that of the English female from the English male. (Author/PJM)

Examines recently coined American Sign Language signs to show how the ASL lexicon is expanded. Included are elicited signs for relatively new objects or ideas, signs referring to metalinguistics concepts in ASL, signs used as jargon or specialized vocabulary, and signs "invented" by young deaf children. (Author/PJM)

Analysis of the communicative skills of a nine-year-old deaf boy with minimal schooling showed pantomiming and gestures to be his major mode of communication. Certain semantic patterns prevailed. Use of left or right hand also had semantic correlates. Formal and idiosynacratic signs were discovered in the boy's vocabulary. (Author/PJM)

Discusses "language-in-use" as an index of rhetorical efficacy, suggesting that the substance and form of verbal reactions to discourse may reflect the degree of audience internalization. Concludes that language-in-use assists the critic in determining whether changes in thinking and behavior are occasioned by words or actions, or both. (JMF)

Discusses the Greek contribution to the alphabet and the development of written communication. Contrasts oral and written traditions and the impact of each. (JMF)