Results arising from a prosodic and interactional study of the organization of everyday talk in English suggest that news receipts can be grouped into two categories: valenced (e.g., "oh good") and non-valenced (e.g., "oh really"). In-depth investigation of both valenced and non-valenced news receipts shows that differences in their prosodic…

The current study investigated whether bilingualism affects the processing of sub-lexical representations specifying the sound structure of words. Spanish-English bilinguals, Mandarin-English bilinguals, and English-only monolinguals repeated English tongue twisters. Twister materials had word or nonword targets (thus varying in whether lexical…

Cumulating evidence suggests that the establishment of high-quality phonological representations is the "cognitive precursor" that facilitates the acquisition of language (spoken, signed, and written). The authors present two studies that contrast the nature of bilingual profoundly deaf children's phonological representations derived…

This study investigated Spanish-speaking learners' awareness of a non-distinctive phonetic difference between Spanish and English through a delayed mimicry paradigm. We assessed learners' speech production accuracy through voice onset time (VOT) duration measures in word-initial pre-vocalic /p t k/ in Spanish and English words, and in Spanish…

Purpose: Several acoustic cues specify any single phonemic contrast. Nonetheless, adult, native speakers of a language share weighting strategies, showing preferential attention to some properties over others. Cochlear implant (CI) signal processing disrupts the salience of some cues: In general, amplitude structure remains readily available, but…

The development of Spoken English in Pakistani teachers training institutions working in public sector has never been assessed. This study explores the extent of improvement in English speaking skills among prospective teachers of one year teacher education program at three public sector universities in Punjab, Pakistan, where English is the…

At the hospital, nurses' telephone calls to doctors mostly revolve around obtaining doctors' intervention in a medical case. To achieve this, nurses need to make the doctor's intervention relevant, by explicitly requesting it or, more indirectly, by reporting a medical problem. Two recorded telephone conversations have been selected for analysis…

This study examined potential differences in vocabulary found in picture books and adult's speech to children and to other adults. Using a small sample of various sources of speech and print, Hayes observed that print had a more extensive vocabulary than speech. The current analyses of two different spoken language databases and an assembled…

An increasing number of deaf children with additional disabilities receive a cochlear implant (CI). International studies on cochlear implantation in deaf children with additional disabilities show less and slower speech and language gains, but improvement in overall quality of life. In order to qualify the concept of quality of life this study…

Word finding difficulties are often seen in children with language difficulties. Their problem is readily observed and has led to investigations of its nature and encouraged attempts at intervention. Semantic errors in their naming suggest that their knowledge of items is poorly developed and that therapies to strengthen it may be effective.…

Purpose: This study explored visual speech influence in preschoolers using 3 developmentally appropriate tasks that vary in perceptual difficulty and task demands. They also examined developmental differences in the ability to use visually salient speech cues and visual phonological knowledge. Method: Twelve adults and 27 typically developing 3-…

Generic noun phrases, or generics, refer to abstract categories ("Dogs" bark) rather than particular individuals ("Those dogs" bark). Study 1 investigated how parents use gestures in association with generic versus particular reference during naturalistic interactions with their 2- and 3-year-old children. Parents provided…

This paper examines the production of word-initial stops by two simultaneous trilingual sisters, aged 6;8 and 8;1, who receive regular input in Italian and English from multiple speakers, but in Spanish from only one person. The children's productions in each language were analyzed acoustically and compared to those of their main input providers.…

The purpose of this course is to revive the commonplace book and revise it for the digital age. Though by the early modern period (c. 1500-1800) assembling quotations and other material had long been a trusted means of moral and rhetorical development, it was during that time that so-called "commonplace books" came into being as…

Adolescence is a time in young people's lives when identities are being constructed and what their friends say is particularly important. The teenage years are a critical period in terms of attitudes to language, yet there have been relatively few studies of student metalanguage and, to our knowledge, no studies which have considered age-graded…