Presents two questionnaire experiments that investigated the processing complexity of a variety of nested constructions in Japanese. The results are discussed in terms of the syntactic-prediction locality theory. (Author/VWL)

Studies the effectiveness of the keyword method of learning vocabulary employed by students with limited English proficiency (LEP). Finds this method appears to be effective in helping LEP students to recall word definitions rapidly and efficiently, to comprehend sentences, and to retain vocabulary learning over a one-week period. (NH)

Focuses on the structure/function relationship of the brain and language. Reviews the basic theories concerning cortical structures and language representation. Presents a call that highlights the need to examine the areas of listening, memory, and information retrieval for a more sophisticated analysis of the complex relationship between cortical…

Examines whether letter-name knowledge facilitates learning spellings in which the names of one or more letters can be heard in the pronunciation of the words. Results suggest preschool Portuguese children who know the names of the letters can learn to read by processing letter-sound relations in words; however, children may not use this mechanism…

Focuses on nonverbal and extralinguistic activities as an aide to learning. Body language, movement, and action, simultaneously simple and omnipresent, are useful at the level of comprehension. These activities suggest images or result from verbal instigation. This visual imagery fills in the gaps between one's mother tongue and a foreign…

Three experiments investigated the nature of productive forward linking (from semantics to syntax) and productive reverse linking (from syntax to semantics) in language-impaired children. Found that the normally developing control subjects showed a good use of productive forward and reverse linking, whereas the language-impaired subjects…

Argues that interviewers' communication with interviewees while conducting cross-cultural and bilingual research too often depersonalizes and disempowers their subjects. The authors describe a better approach that stresses the comprehensibility and accuracy of translation and the need to pay attention to cultural and linguistic identity of the…

Describes a connectionist model accounting for newborn infants' ability to finely discriminate almost all human speech contrasts and the fact that their phonemic category boundaries are identical, even for phonemes outside their target language. The model posits an innately guided learning in which an artificial neural network is stored in a…

Reports language acquisition experiments with simple recurrent networks solving phoneme prediction in continuous phonemic data, which suggests the network output could function as a source for syllable boundary detection. The phoneme prediction network simulates the necessary "bootstrap" to discover syllabic segmentation in unsegmented…

Describes language acquisition processes occurring in a community of interacting agents, in which coordination of joint attention leads to the development of structures, internal and external, that support organized behavior. It is argued that the simulation model demonstrates the plausibility of propositions arising from such processes, and that…

Three experiments investigated the developmental progression of reliance on object function versus object shape to extend novel words among 3- and 5-year olds and adults. Findings indicated that children focused on shape, whereas adults focused on function when extending novel words, suggesting a developmental change in the consideration of these…

Compared online processing of Catalan phonemic contrasts in Spanish-dominant and Catalan-dominant Catalan-Spanish bilingual undergraduate students. Results supported hypothesis that L1 (first language) shapes the perceptual system at early stages of development in such a way that it will determine the perception of nonnative phonemic contrasts,…

Reports the results of three experiments that used vowel and tone monitoring tasks to investigate the role of tone information in processing Mandarin. (Author/VWL)

Gives a brief characterization of the ways second-language acquisition researchers use the computer to elicit second-language (L2) production data or to record how L2 learners process L2 input. Eight tasks and/or techniques are described. Discusses the use of computer technology in ongoing investigations that pertain to the acquisition of…

Explored in three experiments children's understanding of emotion in speech. Found gradual developmental change from 4-year-olds' focus on content to adult's focus on paralanguage. Children exhibited greater response latencies to utterances with conflicting cues than to those with nonconflicting cues. They accurately labeled affective paralanguage…