Examines the syntactic and semantic relationship between verb forms I and II in modern standard Arabic. The main function of form II verbs was causative/factitive, with the core elements of the causative including (1) agent-subject, (2) action-process verb, and (3) patient-object. (CB)

Considers children's understanding and use of contrast in language, including discussion of the role contrast plays in adult speech, the kinds of contrast commonly exemplified, and possible tests for sameness or difference of meaning. (CB)

Examines the relationship between children's attribute saliency and metaphor interpretation. Findings indicate that attribute saliency for the individual perceiving the metaphor plays a key role in the interpretation process. (Author/CB)

Nearly all Russian verbs with shifting past tense stress without "-sja" will develop a pattern of stress with "-sja" that has either fixed end stress in all four past tense forms or has shifting stress. (Author/LMO)

Considers the frequently indefinable distinctions between descriptive and prescriptive English grammars, using examples of standard English and dialects to illustrate the uses of each. (Author/CB)

Indicates that, of the 11 types of regrettable messages that people reported, most (1) were said to those with whom they had a close relationship, (2) resulted from unchecked drives or feelings, and (3) were recognized and regretted immediately. (JD)

The first study indicates that (1) both messages and message sources differed significantly as a function of the sophistication of the strategies employed by the message source and (2) female sources were more positively evaluated than male sources. The second study reveals that evaluations of comforting messages varied as a direct, linear…

Shows that "usted" has two functions: showing lack of solidarity and showing extreme solidarity, with "tu" falling somewhere in between on the continuum. Discusses the increasing use of "tu," especially among younger people, and presents some possible reasons for this. (SED)

A review of linguistic research on the nonmanual components of American Sign Language shows that the signer's face, head, torso, and eyegaze have important linguistic roles. The author's study illustrates how different combinations of facial and head movements signal different kinds of questions: yes-no, wh-, and rhetorical. (Author/CL)

Discusses several linguistic features at the phonological, morphological, structural, and semantic levels that should be investigated when applying comparative methodology to distant relationships. Advises caution in proposing proto-forms for distantly related languages, as they can obscure useful identification markers. (EKN)

This article explores the kinds of cues young children use as a basis for extending early works in an effort to label novel referent objects. Proposals that intend to explain how first words are extended and used to refer to objects or events for which no words explicitly exist are discussed. (DF)

This article discusses the pluralization of surnames in Spanish. (Text is in Spanish.) (CLK)

This article discusses various definitions and uses of the Spanish verb "to contemplate." (Text is in Spanish.) (CLK)

This article discusses the words formed by the addition of the suffix "-oide" in Spanish. (Text is in Spanish.) (CLK)

This article maintains that linguistic generalizations are likely to be invalid when they are based on data whose synchronic status is not well-defined. An example is made of the universal principles of grammatical rule ordering proposed in a 1974 study by Koutsoudas, Sanders, and Noll. (CLK)