Victor Raskin's taxonomy of knowledge, based on semantics theory, is adapted and applied to composition in English as a Second Language (ESL). Raskin's classification of knowledge as linguistic and encyclopedic is converted to a continuum from textual to extra-contextual, with contextual knowledge situated between the two. Textual knowledge is…

A study investigated whether second language (L2) learners' participation in negotiation with native speakers (NSs) meets their needs for data on L2 lexical and structural features. The question was addressed through an analysis of NS utterances of negotiation that were produced as 20 native speaker-non-native speaker (NS-NNS) dyads carried out…

Linguistically inclined scholars such as Ragnar Rommetveit and Michael Halliday offer a sociocognitive understanding of writing that challenges current writing theories, which focus attention on processes to the virtual exclusion of the writing product. These linguistic scholars provide ways of understanding context, not as fixed or concrete, but…

A discussion of the visual aspect of second-language reading processes proposes a theoretical model of reading and reports on research into the kinds of questions second-language students ask in class. The model of reading outlined is based on the operations of the human eye. Just as the operations of the lens (focus) change the picture at the…

A construction occurring in African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is examined: NPi "call" NPi V"-ing", as in "the woman call herself working." First, a number of reasons that such a form might be overlooked or dismissed as an AAVE dialect form are outlined. Then the sociolinguistic method is applied to the…

This paper examines Dakhota phonology and morphology and how they relate to each other in lexical phonology. Earlier research on Dakhota lexical phonology claimed that structure preservation applies throughout a lexical derivation and may only be shut off by exiting the lexicon. Although work by Kellogg (1991) in Lakhota attempts to uphold this…

A discussion of functional language proficiency considers several widely-accepted theories of cognition, draws parallels between specific stages of intellectual maturity and development of second language proficiency, and suggests ways in which teachers may be able to help students progress from one stage to another within the context of foreign…

A discussion of English-speaking children's use of subjectless sentences contrasts the competence and performance explanations for the phenomenon. In particular, it reviews evidence indicating that the phenomenon does not reflect linguistic competence, but rather performance constraints. A tentative model of children's production is presented…

Many tone languages exhibit some form of downdrift or automatic downstep, the lowering of high tones separated by low tones. In extreme cases, the realization of high tones at the end of a domain (such as the sentence) may be lower than the realization of low tones at the beginning. Tone languages with this property are cross-level tone languages.…

Text analysis systems, imposing coherence measures derived from the reader's and writer's notions of how a text functions in communication, produce descriptions of texture, or the totality of cohesive ties in a text. The question is if cohesion analysis, more than offering a linguistic description of text, can serve as a psychological model of…

This experiment in adult learning processes was carried out in a course in applied linguistics in which the students were teachers with experience in teaching English as a foreign language. Consideration of the importance of process in such a situation derived from dissatisfaction with the lecture and tutor-led seminar methods, from the…

Materials for teaching the Lakhota language, developed by the University of Colorado Lakhota Project, are written in a special new orthography. A careful description of and uses for this orthography are presented in this article. (Author/AH)

Implications of the Conference on College Composition and Communication position paper on The Students' Right to Their Own Language are considered. (JH)

A link between the acquisition of native-like second language pronunciation ability and certain personality constructs, such as empathy, is asserted. The influence of language on person and person on language is investigated. (Author/RM)