Describes a study of undergraduates that investigated the ability of readers of computer-mediated communication (CMC) such as electronic mail to identify the gender of the author when messages were selected for language characteristics identified in previous studies as being associated with both group development and gender. (Author/LRW)

A study analyzed oral narrative and emergent storybook reading by 40 children (half with language impairment) ages 2-4. Children with language impairment were less able to produce language features associated with written language, used past-tense verbs less frequently in both contexts, and used personal pronouns less in the oral narratives.…

Offers an explanation for the gap in the paradigm of the verb "be" where amn't is expected to be found. The explanation is base on a combination of multiple-default inheritance and function-based morphology, as embodied in word grammar. (Author/VWL)

Brule and Isleno dialects of Spanish came to Louisiana from the Canary Islands simultaneously in the 18th century but have remained relatively isolated from each other and face extinction. Although they show common evidence of their origin, each has distinctive lexical, phonological, and syntactic features, some from contact with Acadian French or…

Describes a partially ethnographic study of written discourse based on texts produced on three floors of an academic building, each containing a different academic community. It is proposed that such an approach can be used to study text-community associations, explore inhabitants' textual careers, piece together group-specific sets and systems of…

Responds to a commentary on a 1996 paper that surveyed pronominal systems with first person n and second person m and showed that the n:m system is insufficient to prove genetic relatedness among languages exhibiting it, suggesting that the commentary was based on misunderstandings. The response addresses the commentary's discussion of study…

The production and perception of syllable stress by 15 children (ages 10-13) with severe or profound hearing impairments were compared to 15 controls. Children with hearing loss had higher fundamental frequency, duration of syllables were longer across stressed and unstressed syllables, and they were less successful in conveying stress…

A study analyzed frequency of occurrence of consonants, vowels, and diphthongs, syllabic structure of the words, and segmental structure of the 311 monosyllabic words of 500 words that occur most frequently in English. Three mannerisms of articulation accounted for nearly 75 percent of all consonant occurrences: stops, semi-vowels, and nasals.…

Explores the predictors of early mastery versus error in children's acquisition of American Sign Language. Hypothesizes that the most frequent values for a particular parameter in prelinguistic gesture will be the most frequent in early signs and the most likely sources of substitution when children make errors. (Author/VWL)

Investigates stress placement in the English of Spanish Speakers and in speakers of Nigerian English and Singapore English. Reveals that these three varieties have in common several patterns of stress placement that are distinct from British or American English. Shows that these patterns cannot be accounted for by transfer. (Author/VWL)

Examined effects of counselor use of exclusive versus inclusive language (using generic pronouns to describe both genders) on evaluations of the counselor. Results with 88 female and 44 male college students indicated that language style affected evaluations, with participants rating counselors using exclusive language as more sexist. (SLD)

Considers if American Ebonics is a different language from English or if it is a dialect of English. Discusses how American Ebonics relates to the larger Ebonics picture. Focuses on the grammatical patterns of Ebonics that diverge the most from standard English. Addresses pedagogical implications. (SC)

Provides a detailed voyage into the bilingualism of two Israeli Hebrew-English bilinguals. Compares their patterns of discourse marker employment at two points in their lifetime, twelve years apart. Finds that after 12 years, cognitive and discourse markers show further grammaticization quantitatively, whereas interpersonal discourse markers show…

Analyzes functional linguistic variables (sentence beginnings, frequency of verb types, material between subject and verb, end-sentence cohesion patterns) in hard news and human interest stories in "The Houston Post." Results supported functional theories about word order. Proportions of verb types in news stories differed from those in…

The adverbial phrase "a lo mejor" (at best) does not take the subjunctive, although other adverbial expressions of possibility may be followed by either indicative or subjunctive. Examines statements co-occurring with "a lo mejor" from the viewpoint of statement and mood, taking into account communicative discourse function. The study shows that…