Suggests that differences between first- and second-language learners are due to principles of universal grammar (UG) that guide first language (L1), but not second language (L2) acquisition. This view can be reconciled with the idea that L2 learners can use UG principles to some extent in evaluating target sentences. (49 references) (Author/VWL)

Discusses the relationship between communicative function and grammar, and the relationship between initiation and discourse. Using a systemic functional framework, a model is set up with with three planes (semiotic, discourse, and language/paralanguage) and two linguistic levels (grammar and phonology) to demonstrate how situation, communicative…

Discusses a study of the expressive qualities of oral language. Results suggest that there is a natural rather than an arbitrary relationship between words and their meanings. Practical applications of this theory of phonetic symbolism in the area of commercial advertising are presented. (CFM)

Preschool children were given a memory task that required repeating a list of animal names and a sentence imitation task. Results confirmed a relationship between word span and language imitation in younger preschool children and the notion of a memory constraint on early spontaneous language. Increasing mastery of linguistic rules appeared to…

Possibilities and limitations of a natural language processing technology, with its central engine, the parser, are discussed. Observations are drawn from a project by the U.S. Army Research Institute to develop a German tutor, the BRIDGE, which revolves around a parser. (Contains 19 references.) (Author/LB)

Investigates the incidence of segmental and prosodic contrasts in recorded sentence materials and the use of such distinctions in the processing of utterances. The chosen materials involve sites of parsing ambiguity. Results show that in the immediate interpretation of spoken language input, intonational contrasts function as clear structural…

Describes the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Lexical Dictionary (NLD), a machine-aided indexing system used online at the NASA Center for AeroSpace Information (CASI). The functions of NLD system components are described in detail, and production and quality benefits resulting from machine-aided indexing at CASI are…

The nativelike linguistic competence of an adult second-language learner of Egyptian Arabic who was first exposed to the target language after the close of the critical period is examined to determine what factors differentiate her from less successful naturalistic adult acquirers. The role of internalized grammar is discussed. (Contains 43…

Analyzes speech samples from 9- to 12-year olds with specific language impairment. There were few differences between utterances that did and did not include correctly inflected forms; errors occurred on words later in an utterance. Slowed processing in a limited system handling several operations in parallel may lead to the omission of…

Attempts to determine whether children can use social-pragmatic cues to determine "what kind" of referent, object, or action an adult intends to indicate with a novel word. Doubts that children assume that a novel word refers to whatever nameless object is present. Suggests that lexical acquisition rests fundamentally on children's…

Examines whether knowledge of functional properties of a referent for a new name influences children's first guesses about whether that name refers to an object or a substance. Suggests that children do not rely on a single source of information, but rather draw on various kind of information, including perceptual characteristics of the entities…

Discusses the advances made in understanding the brain structures responsible for language. Presents findings made using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomographic (PET) scans to study brain activity. These findings map the structures in the brain that manipulate concepts and those that turn concepts into words. (MCO)

Questions Bloom's (1984) assertion that, because the Chinese do not employ counterfactual conditionals, the Chinese have not developed a labeled cognitive schema that allows them to process counterfactuals "naturally" (as opposed to the English). It is demonstrated that Arabic contains a specific counterfactual marker, yet Arabic…

Focuses on a single rule of grammar to produce evidence of a memory system for language acquisition and processing that is modular; independent of real-world meaning; unaffected by frequency and similarity; sensitive to formal distinctions; more sophisticated than the explicitly-taught rules it subsumes; developed independently of ambient input;…

An aphasic patient is described as one whose poor repetition of sentences and of lists of words contrasts with his or her surprisingly good performance on immediate problem recognition tasks. This result is interpreted as suggesting a distinction between phonological input and output buffers. (41 references) (Author/LB)