Reports on a study examining the pattern of question selection by English as a Second Language (ESL) students on a writing competence test and the relationship to performance. Results suggest that ESL students heavily favored first and second questions in each set of four questions, and shorter questions in sets. (CB)

Offers several justifications for the claim that code-switching is a positive, not a negative, phenomenon. Included are three examples of "mixtilingual" poetry: poetry "mixing languages" in order to evoke different feelings and images within a certain cultural context. The poems mix English and Spanish, English and Italian, and Italian and…

The language of argumentation, taught increasingly often at the advanced level of French second-language learning, is discussed. Rationale for its teaching, basic concepts within the emerging discipline, and its relationship to traditional language teaching are examined. (MSE)

Argues that, in poetry where phonological patterning is dominant, some deviation from standard uses in the other linguistic systems (grammar, lexis) is inevitable. (Author/CK)

Reports on a study of the size of text windows, defined as a group of words appearing in contiguous position in text, and the effects of varying the window size on information retrieval performance. The characteristics of windows that best match terms in queries are examined in detail. (Contains 10 references.) (KRN)

Analysis of interviews with children ages 10-12, focused on prediction and generalization, reveals a category of words associated with uncertainty. These hedges--about, around, maybe, think--are used as shields against accusation of error. Linguistic frameworks are used to categorize different types of hedges. (Author/MKR)

Caregivers of 55 boys with fragile X syndrome (ages 3-12) and 57 matched controls completed five behavioral questionnaires. Principal components analysis yielded 5 behavioral clusters: abnormal language, tactile defensiveness, poor self-control, poor eye contact/shyness, and hand flapping. Boys with fragile X were four times more likely to have…

Working within the natural semantic metalanguage (NSM) framework of Anna Wierzbicka, this study proposes reductive paraphrase explications for a range of first-person pronominal meanings. It is argued that NSM explications are preferable to conventional feature analysis because they are less subject to charges of arbitrariness and obscurity and…

Makes a case for using transliteration in order to avoid wholesale translation of new words from the natural sciences and technology into Indian languages. Proposes introduction of the Roman alphabet (in a modified form), so that the Indian languages can accommodate new loans within their own phonetic systems without any substantial changes. (SR)

Learners' grammaticality reactions emerge through cognitive processes and relate to the nature of the linguistic stimulus. Discussion of such metalinguistic judgments, particularly learners' tolerance of ill-formedness, attempts to clarify established perspectives, arguing that specific aspects of test strings may influence the saliency of certain…

Historic linguistic consequences were studied in five separate areas of Atlantic Canada's Acadian population. Focus was on certain verbs in the third person present plural and the hypothesis that "allent" and faisent" are the result of hypercorrection. Results suggest complex reasons for their use and an indication of some social…

Acoustic analysis of two vowels thought to be merged in Utah English suggest that there are small but consistent differences between them. A matched guise experiment provides evidence that when the vowels are merged hypercorrection is involved. (33 references) (LB)

Examination of the ability of 300 German learners of English to state relevant rules and supply appropriate corrections to 12 common English errors indicates that, although rules do seem to help students correct errors, students could frequently supply appropriate corrections without knowing rules, which were sometimes difficult to learn. (41…

Reports on a study of a normally developing boy who made pronominal errors for about 10 months. Comprehension and production data clearly indicate that the child persistently made pronominal errors because of semantic confusion in the use of first- and second-person pronouns. (28 references) (GLR)

The marking of past temporal reference in Black English Vernacular (BEV) and Trinidadian English is compared. Similarities in the patterns of variation according to verb type and phonological conditioning suggest that past marking in contemporary BEV preserves traces of an earlier shift from a creole pattern to one approximating the Standard…