Puppetry has potential for illuminating many aspects of human life. One of these aspects, the system of language and speech, is explored here. An examination of the widespread use of a voice-modifying instrument to provide the puppets' voices demonstrates that traditional puppeteers act both as folk linguists and as folk sociolinguists. The study…

The practice of playing taped spoken French just before the beginning of a regular foreign language class rests on the premise that regular exposure to unedited foreign speech sensitizes one to its unique intonation, rhythm, and sounds. It is hypothesized that the ability to identify a language may be the first step in listening. A review of…

This paper reviews the research on second language acquisition and bilingualism conducted in Canada over the past decade (1970-79). The material on second language acquisition is presented under the followinq headings: approaches to second language instruction, individual differences and second language acquisition, and effects of second language…

The use of "wh" forms in questions asked by four children was recorded from age 22 to 36 months, and analyzed. In the emergence of "wh" forms, the children first asked identifying questions with "what" and "who," followed in order by (1) "wh" pronominal questions which ask for major sentence…

Folk tales were read to 32 kindergarten children of varying levels of language ability, as measured by the language scale of the Metropolitan Readiness Test. Recall protocols were parsed into the categories described by N. L. Stein and C. G. Glenn. Low ability children were found to be less likely to recall details of "internal plan" and…

Defining schemas as specific representations of world knowledge, this paper contends that schema theory offers a promising approach toward the development of a comprehensive theory of communication. The paper traces the development of schema theory, reviews current literature on the subject, and points out its potential for use in future…

In two experiments, subjects verified 15 bird and 15 tool names on a list coming under either the category bird/tool (second hierarchical level [L2] of verification) or the category animate/inanimate (fourth hierarchical level [L4] verification). Subjects recalled fewer words following the L4 than the L2 verification. (Author/RM)

Due to the deviance in language and the ideational fusion characteristic of poetry, the reader is engaged in a specialized form of information processing differing markedly from the reading of prose. Understanding occurs when the reader restructures his concept of reality to conform to that of the poem. (Author/SJL)

In two experiments, subjects were interrupted while listening to a two-clause sentence just before the last word of either the initial clause or the final clause. The two experiments together suggest that interclause semantic relations affect the immediate processing of clauses. (Author/EJS)

Comprehensibility ratings and sentence-by-sentence reading times of three-sentence narratives (triples) were studied as a function of the coherence of a triple. In both experiments, reading times did not differ for first sentences, but were longer for third sentences of unrelated than for related triples. (Author/RM)

Argues that generative phonology is not predictive of phonological identification, thus preventing it from achieving descriptive adequacy and limiting its value in explaining human speech perception. The assumption that the unity of the morpheme must be expressed phonologically is rejected. (Author/EJS)

Tested whether listeners' reaction times for monitoring a predetermined phoneme are influenced by phonetic constraints on ordering. Reaction times were significantly shorter for phoneme monitoring in monosyllable-bisyllable sequences than in bisyllable-monosyllable sequences; however, reaction times were not significantly different for high-low vs…

Subjects listened to a story containing sentences with five quantifiers (all, many, some, a few, and none) and were tested to determine recognition of quantifiers. The degree of confusion between any two quantifiers declined monotonically with the separation of the two terms in a linear order. (SW)

A general theoretical framework for studying the representation of prose in memory is presented. The framework emphasizes the relational structure of story characters as determined by major story themes and provides for empirical consideration of author-reader communication. (SW)

In these studies, people recalled additional, previously unrecalled information from stories following instruction to take a new perspective. The data clearly show the operation of retrieval processes independent from encoding processes. (SW)