This report discusses the stress patterns of Bengali as spoken in Bangladesh. One of the findings indicate that every word has stress in the first syllable, with additional stress in the first syllable of the first word of the phrase. The Bengali language does not have penultimate and antepenultimate stress. Because there is no rule for changing…

A study of silent and filled pauses in second language speech analyzes (1) which types of pause are produced, (2) which are the functions of non-juncture pauses, (3) whether pauses co-occur with other hesitation phenomena, and (4) whether the occurrence of pauses is associated with second language proficiency. Subjects were 15 intermediate and…

This discussion of the development of oral proficiency in a second language first examines relevant research and then suggests guidelines for designing classroom techniques for teaching oral proficiency. Research in cognitive psychology is reviewed, focusing on information processing theory and forgetting theory. Research discussed in the area of…

Methodological problems caused by an ethnocentric view in analyzing another culture are discussed along with some aspects of culture analysis in general and stereotypes about other cultures and their functions in cross-cultural communication. It is suggested that miscommunication is subject to various norms and value systems that are not made…

An argument is made that new kinds of transnational literature (i.e., literature that is no longer linguistically and/or culturally rooted in national categories only) are rapidly multiplying in the changing geography of the world. It is suggested that for linguists this trend offers new sources of data, new insights into the operation of language…

"Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics" is intended as a forum for the presentation of the latest original research by the faculty and students of the Department of Linguistics and other related departments of the University of Kansas. Papers in this volume include: "Some Issues in Japanese Accent" (Kenneth Miner);…

The college instructor preparing students for a career in high school teaching should incorporate into his or her course a unit on linguistic diversity. It is part of the instructor's responsibility to provide some training that prepares teachers for the wide diversity of dialects they will encounter in teaching students from places like the…

Traditionally, the study of language patterns has been viewed primarily in terms of rules of grammar and discourse and of vocabulary choice. Researchers are now exploring the nature of collocations, or patterns of word sequence or co-occurrence in discourse. Most of the attention has been focused on colorful collocations, not on more ordinary…

This paper explores the nature of content and language across the curriculum in relation to the Targets and Target-Related Assessment (TTRA) initiative. The TTRA is an assessment initiative designed to improve the quality of individual learning from Primary 1 to Secondary 5 in Chinese, English, and Mathematics in Hong Kong. A picture of content…

This paper reports on a paper to develop two computer text corpora, called Hong Kong Texts on Hong Kong," at the University of Hong Kong English Centre. These corpora are intended to serve as a resource for teachers and researchers who need information on English usage in published text in Hong Kong. The aim of the report is to disseminate…

Two experiments investigated the relationship between Spanish phonology and Spanish second-language (L2) learners' spelling success. Specifically, they examined: (1) differences in proportions of initial, middle, and final consonants spelled correctly by L2 learners; (2) differences in proportions of initial, middle, and final vowels spelled…

Word processors have been shown to favor a local perspective over a global perspective on the text during writing. Recently, advanced outline processors or "idea processors" have appeared that allow the writer to represent and handle structural aspects of a text so that the writer may compose the text within an outline and experiment with…

A group of studies on child language development between ages 2 and 3 is presented. The studies, originally published between 1970 and 1989, are the result of a longitudinal research program. An introductory section describes the contents, offers background information on several different perspectives (developmental, learnability, cross-cultural)…

This paper presents an analysis of the meanings and uses of two reflexive morphemes in the Mohawk language. Reflexive "atat" is shown to have both reflexive and reciprocal meanings. It is also realized in kinship terms and in the transitive pronominal prefix "yutat." Semi-reflexive "at" has some reflexive functions,…

Reading and writing have traditionally been treated as separate processes, but some research on the relationship suggests that the two processes should be taught together. It is also proposed that skill in recognizing a text's main idea is a summarizing skill, demanding the cognitive and linguistic prerequisites appropriate to the text type. Good…