This study on the African child had three objectives: (1) to become familiar with the environment of the African child, (2) to investigate the vocabulary to which the child is exposed at home and at school, and (3) to compare the vocabulary of the native language with that of the school. The first part of the study constituted a linguistic study…

The purpose of this paper is to present systematically some facts regarding interdialectal constant and varying features of the semantics of English kinship terminology. The data present some problems for current views of grammar and of linguistic variation. Regarding the former, it is not clear what sort of "rule," what place in…

Paradoxically, linguists' speculations about sex differences in language use are highly plausible and yet have received little empirical support from well controlled studies. An experiment was designed to correct a flaw in earlier methodologies by sampling precisely the kinds of situations in which predicted differences (e.g., swearing,…

Based on the premise that the examination of primordial and universal genres of utterance illuminates universal principles of speaking and meaning, this paper examines the Anglo-Saxon boast, a common form of speaking among Germanic warrior societies during the early middle ages. It tells how Old English literature provides evidence from which the…

This paper presents the results of a quantitative analysis of the historical present tense (HP) in English. The tokens of HP in narrative clauses, such as "he's smiling, an' he picks up the card," are referentially equivalent to their past tense alternants in the phrases, "he was smiling an' he picked up the card." Previous…

The properties of "do", its distribution and meaning, are discussed. "Do" is one of the most common error-zones for Indian learners of English. Two analyses of "do" which account for the distribution and meaning of this element are presented. According to the transformational approach, "do" is introduced in…

Asserting that today's students are no less literate than were students of the past, this paper deplores the "manufactured" literacy crisis and the resultant rush to competency testing. The paper stresses that the current crisis is less one of literacy than a crisis about who is going to control what is taught and which students get into, and are…

Noting that societies are inherently elitist in their structuring, this paper argues that a greater understanding of society and the communication process can be gained by comprehending the nature of communication among the elite and from the elite to the nonelite. It attempts to provide a theoretical foundation for the investigation of elite…

The precision and poetic logic of the language used by Anton Chekhov in his plays, particularly "The Sea Gull," can be explored through an analysis of his use of dialogue, characterization, and imagery. Measuring the nature of a relationship, rather than providing a direct literal interchange, the dialogue is both social, when individual…

This pamphlet is the seventh in a series of ten stemming from the view that language is central to learning, that teachers can gain insights into their work and into learning by examining the language of the classroom, and that current language theory can be the means to such insights. The pamphlet describes a project in which recordings of…

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A STANDARD NORM IN THE BASHKIR NATIONAL LANGUAGE BEGAN, ESSENTIALLY, AS LATE AS THE 1930'S AFTER THE FORMATION OF THE BASHKIR A.S.R. BEFORE THIS, THE BASHKIR LANGUAGE DID NOT HAVE A STANDARD LITERARY FORM. PROGRESSIVE BASHKIR EDUCATORS OF THE LATE NINETEENTH AND EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURIES FOUGHT FOR THE LIBERATION OF THE…

DEPENDENCE UPON SYMBOLS HAS LONG BEEN THE MARK OF CIVILIZED MAN. ALTHOUGH THE MAJORITY OF US HAVE LITTLE TROUBLE IDENTIFYING AND EVALUATING THE REFERENTS OF PHYSICAL SYMBOLS, WE ARE LESS SURE WHEN DEALING WITH THE MORE SUBTLE TYPE OF SYMBOLS CALLED WORDS. WE KNOW THAT A WORD'S MEANING MAY VARY ACCORDING TO SPEAKER, WRITER, LISTENER, READER, OR…

TWO VIEWS OF A DICTIONARY'S PURPOSE CAME INTO SHARP CONFLICT UPON THE PUBLICATION OF WEBSTER'S "THIRD NEW INTERNATIONAL UNABRIDGED DICTIONARY." THE FIRST VIEW IS THAT A DICTIONARY IS A REFERENCE BOOK ON LANGUAGE ETIQUETTE, AN AUTHORITY FOR MAINTAINING THE PURITY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. THE SECOND IS THAT A DICTIONARY IS A SCIENTIFIC…

This report describes an information retrieval system called the Reactive Library (RL) which is designed to aid, but not replace, a person in the task of fitting new experimental findings into the previously available literature. As a tool for increasing communications within a small group of scientists, the RL is based on the assumption that the…

The similarity between the antecedents of listening and the consequences of speaking have long led theorists to believe in their intimate and even natural relationship. A tendency to conflate the two processes is found in articles on speech communication, automatic speech recognition, foreign language learning, and child language. Once this…