Explored the power of intonation of speech addressed to adults and preverbal infants to convey meaningful information to 80 adult listeners. Listeners used intonation to identify speaker's intent with greater accuracy in infant-directed speech than adult-directed speech. (RJC)

Examines several books on the emergence and impact of the New Left which, as a collective resource, may give new direction and impetus to the rhetorical study of movements. Culls recurring themes that might inform the next phase of movement scholarship. Advocates this new scholarship as both due and promising. (SR)

Discusses how studying the 1988 Presidential Debates reveals the importance of ethos in speaking and being elected to office. Asserts that the debates also offer an excellent opportunity to teach propaganda devices or fallacies. Provides two examples from the second Presidential Debate. (MM)

Examines communicative responses to the highly argumentative person. Finds that the adversary's use of verbal aggression provokes male subjects to be more verbally aggressive, but stimulates female subjects to be more argumentative. (RAE)

Examines the role of standardized, performance-based assessment measures in the high school context. Reports validity and reliability information on the "Communication Competency Assessment Instrument--High School Edition," which was used to assess student speaking performance and to gauge the level of improvement as a result of instruction. (SR)

Notes that early care and education professionals interact with many adults, and that the quality of these interactions can be central to the effectiveness of their role. Lists resources for developing effective adult communication skills. (ET)

Discusses aspects of the field (or discipline) of mass communication: social science, behavioral science, community as behavior, the need to go beyond language skills, and prediction and synthesis. Calls for new methods for scholarship that respect the synthetic nature of problem-solving behavior. (SR)

This study compared the reactions of observers to discourses that presented "fitting" gestures with those in which the gestures were mismatched to the meaning of their associated phrase. It found that observers reported different meanings according to the gestures used. (nine references) (MDM)

This study of 43 individuals (ages 9 to 26) with autism, autistic-like, or childhood-onset pervasive developmental delay found that the 8 subjects who experienced regression in their language development were perceived as using less well-developed oral communication skills. No relationship was found between a period of regression and the presence…

Applies techniques of conversational analysis and sociolinguistics to provide an ethnographic account of a mediation in Thailand. (48 references) (LB)

The validity of mean length of utterance (MLU) and a measure of syntactic complexity were tested against the language assessment, remediation, and screening procedure on spontaneous speech samples from 87 children, concluding that MLU is a valid measure of clausal complexity up to 4:5 and that the measure of syntactic complexity is more valid at…

This review highlights research suggesting that absence of audition precludes talkers from developing typical articulatory organizational strategies and affects their abilities to produce specific speech events. The paper describes the operational model adopted for formulating experimental hypotheses and considers five roles of auditory…

Using a qualitative discourse-analytic framework, this paper compares the planned spoken English of a native speaker of Chinese, whose English discourse was perceived to be hard to follow, with a native speaker of U.S. English. Differences in the use of lexical discourse markers, lexical specificity, and syntactic incorporation are discussed. (34…

Responds to an article in the same issue of the journal. Discusses five interrelated issues: whether required speech communication courses should be skills or theory; to what extent skills should be emphasized; the effect on the academic integrity of the communication discipline; the effect of grade inflation; and attracting high-quality majors.…

Responds to a response to the authors' article on the development of a communication studies program at Iowa State University. Discusses some principles that might help others in reviewing their own departmental priorities and mission in developing a major that emphasizes the study of human communication. (RS)