Analyzes classification of "legal language," clarifying terms such as "variety,""genre,""register," and "discourse," and related issues in languages for special purposes, particularly as they apply to professions. Argues that "genre," not "register," is the most appropriate term…

"Javanais" refers to a French linguistic variation, often viewed as slang, in which a word's original form is masked through affixation or displacement of sounds and syllables. Its history and linguistic theory are reviewed. Three types of javanais (verlan, infixing javanais, largonji des louchebems) are compared, and implications for…

The study discusses the position of the protolanguage in the hierarchy formed by idiolect, dialect, and diasystem. The article emphasizes that linguistic study contains a great many diachronic events and hypothesized synchronic features that are implausible, yet possible. (30 references) (CK)

Provides new evidence from Spanish and English self-paced reading experiments on relative clause attachment sites. Suggests that a principle like Late Closure is universally operative in the human parser. Proposes that a second factor is the principle of Predicate Proximity. Discusses the origins and predictions of the theory combining these two…

An analysis of pronoun separation (dislocation) in oral French distinguishes and examines the morphosyntactic patterns of three types, focusing on the relationship between the dislocated syntagm and the clitic pronoun. Three ways to test the stability of the dislocated element are outlined. (MSE)

Focuses on Elman's (1990) statistical analyses of the hidden unit activation patterns in his simple recurrent network on sentence prediction, first to highlight the feasibility of such analyses and then to show how connectionist explanations contribute to the development of effective explanatory theories. Argues for the evolutionary nature of…

Provides an account of the functions of "sumimasen," one of the expressions used for apology and thanks in everyday Japanese conversation. The study observes the different socio-cultural contexts in which this expression occurs, using a database of 10 hours of daily conversation. The study attempts to relate "sumimasen" to…

Examines the dual mechanism hypothesis, which argues that the apparent contrast, in English inflectional morphology, between a rule-based default procedure, generating regular past-tense forms, and listed irregular forms stored in an associative net, reflects universal constraints on the properties of possible morphological systems. The study…

Argues that two influential studies of multilingualism in India are misleading in that they claim India's situation is unique and cherish this uniqueness as a value. It is proposed instead that this sociolinguistic diversity is inherently conflict-producing and leads to loss of "weak" languages, similar to documented situations in other…

Language-spread policy (LSP) is policy promulgated by groups seeking to spread their languages to speakers or communicative domains. LSP can be internal or external, overt or disguised, and related in different ways to national policy. Intent may be to increase native-language advantage in international communication, disseminate ideology, create…

This study presents evidence collected from basilectal texts that the natural semantic metalanguage (NSM) mental predicates "think, know, want, feel, say, see, hear" have clear lexical equivalents in Hawaii Creole English (HCE), and that these HCE predicates occur, with minor qualification, in the syntactic configurations predicted by…

Presents issues regarding the practical relevance of applied linguistics and the relationship between researchers and the institutions and practitioners with whom they work. Suggests that applied linguistics needs to constitute its intellectual base within practical work outside the academy rather than applying theory to practice. (54 references)…

Examined the marked delay in language acquisition suffered by babies with Down Syndrome and how early treatment affects the subsequent observed development among 36 subjects in Spain. Found statistically significant differences in language acquisitions in favor of newborns, compared with 90-day-old through 18-month-old infants who experienced…

Recent research in second language acquisition found that learners reached higher levels of achievement when grammar practice included the processing and negotiation of meaning. Explored the degree to which certain textbook activities reflected earlier findings. Activities for two grammar points from Italian texts still rely heavily on…

Research on social markedness and second language pronunciation is reviewed, and some general conclusions are drawn. A number of issues arising from this research are identified and inherent difficulties in forming hypotheses, performing analyses, and interpreting data are discussed. (30 references) (Author/MSE)