Reports part of a continuing project to develop a theory of children's first-language acquisition using computer modeling techniques. Notes the correspondence of structures formed by the computer program with recognized structures in English. Discusses anomalies in the program's performance. (RL)

Shows, by discussing presupposition and speech acts, that the interplay between background information and linguistic surface is highly subtle and complex. These ideas are not always obvious to teachers, let alone English as a Foreign Language students. An examination of background information and speaker's intentions will facilitate an…

Examines structural ties that children use to join their sentences into a coherent paragraph or composition. (HTH)

Discusses the relationship between language and culture and the value of the study of foreign language as culture in a liberal education curriculum. Describes an approach to language teaching which focuses on the contrasts between the native and the foreign language in order to improve students' understanding of cultural differences. (MES)

Reaction time to detect a phoneme target in a sentence was faster when the target-containing word formed part of the semantic focus of the sentence. Sentence understanding was facilitated by rapid identification of focused information. Active search for accented words can be interpreted as a search for semantic focus. (Author/RD)

Examines recent attempts to explain children's word use and selection through recourse to information theory. It is concluded that information theory cannot account for the complexities involved in early word selection. (AM)

The methodology used to determine readability of English texts (cloze procedure and word lists) is not applicable to foreign-language material. Linguistic variables are proposed as the basis for readability formulas. Contrastive and error analysis are possible strategies. (JB)

Presents a list of 46 new socio-political terms in Spanish that are being used more frequently in literature today. Definitions of the terms are included as well as the sources where the terms were used. (NCR)

Pleads for proper consideration, in teaching French, of the continuing process of evolution of the language. Discusses, as an example of language change, the past participle construction in respect to distribution, morphology, and syntax. (IFS/WGA)

Presents methodological and factual analyses of children's use of imitative speech as a strategy in language acquisition. The impact of conversational interactions and picture-story books on the speech of one girl aged 20 to 32 months is demonstrated. Four methodological problem areas are analyzed. (Author/RH)

All the irregularities of all common French verbs are reduced to five categories in the "passe simple." This system facilitates learning the tense without memorizing each irregular verb independently. (PMJ)

This article discusses a study designed to obtain some information regarding the nature of the awareness children have of their own articulatory activity and the level of mental development at which this awareness appears. (Author/CFM)

Analyzes the various factors affecting the decline or the maintenance of the distinction between /e/ and /E/ in Poitou, France. (AM)

A phoneme confusion matrix consisting of 1,620 spontaneous speech errors was analyzed. It is shown that there is no tendency for linguistically unmarked consonants to replace marked consonants and that sound segment errors almost always involve the movement of unitary segments and not the movement of component distinctive features. (SW)

Discusses classroom experiences that provide opportunities for upper-grade students to note meaning emphasis alternatives (primary and secondary, "modal" and "nonmodal") across linguistic contexts. (FL)