Under the assumption that, with the exception of certain learned, retarded, and borrowed words, the bulk of any language undergoes sound changes that are regular over any given geographical area, over any given time span, and in any given sound environment, these sound changes have been reduced to logical terms and have been programmed to generate…

Semantic-cognitive language sampling procedures to assess language development are used at the Kennedy Center Experimental School which serves handicapped children from 3 months to 6 years of age. A half hour of natural language is transcribed with a written description of the context. Fifty consecutive sentences or 100 utterances are selected and…

The present paper reports on an experiment designed to test the semantic analysis of Spanish mood vs. the traditional analysis in terms of government, by testing preferences for the Present Indicative or the Present Subjunctive following expressions of varying certainty. Two separate tests were conducted, in which subjects were given the option of…

Based on an extensive computer-aided examination of representative published American writing, this book examines and compares how various kinds of prose employ the diverse forms of parallelism. A scale of rhetorical value for assessing the cooccurring rhetorical devices of repetition is also presented. The chapters are entitled: "Balance or…

This paper draws from data on 123 languages to examine the semantics of comparative systems in an attempt to define as closely as possible the relationships that exist among three basic types of constructions and among their constituents. It is determined that superlatives mark absolute disparity, that comparatives mark relative disparity, and…

This paper attempts to show that traditional generative phonology as formulated by Chomsky and Halle (1968) fails to account for the optional dropping of the schwa in French, and attempts to formulate a theory which can account for this phenomenon. The crucial factor governing the schwa-dropping process is the number of consonants preceding the…

The topic of black dialect, a timely concern in education and society, should include an understanding of the relationship between language and culture and an understanding of the differences within ethnic and environmental influences contributing to linguistic diversity. Characteristics in black dialect which reflect its descent from African…

Four realizations of the copula occur in English, two in both Anglo and Black English and two in Black English and in some varieties of Anglo English but not in standard English. This paper describes the use of the copula in English and identifies the phonological, syntactic, and semantic factors which are believed to condition its realization in…

Ten linguistic groups of Canadian Indians composed of a number of subgroups speaking related languages or dialects have been determined. Six major cultural areas (geographic) have been identified by cultural characteristics and linguistic affiliation of their inhabitants. Tables for each Canadian province identify Canadian Indians by band or…

This book, geared particularly toward beginning college and university students, treats style within the framework of general language variation, the discussion focusing chiefly on linguistic differences (both written and spoken) observed in everyday life, rather than on those found in poetry and belles lettres. The discussion is divided between…

To determine to what extent listeners respond to the vocal content of "how" of spoken messages, this study investigated the effects that the two vocal variables or rate (speed) and intensity (loudness) had on the responses made by 445 English-speaking high school students to messages spoken in an unfamiliar tongue. The basic messages were recorded…

In a series of three experiments involving 104 individuals, the effect of chunking sentences (the spatial separation of sentences into small groups of meaningfully related words) upon the reading rate and comprehension of mature readers was investigated. Passages and questions from a standardized reading test were displayed via an…

Twenty-five Philippine languages and dialects were studied to determine the manner in which words, clauses, sounds, and sentences group together to make up units larger than the sentence. Data obtained were analyzed according to tagmemic theory. The introduction to this volume (see also AL 002 032 and AL 002 033) gives a brief orientation to the…

To understand decisions made concerning language usage in "Webster's Third New International Dictionary," it is necessary to realize what standard usage is and how it changes. The definition of standard usage, given in 1932, as that language used by well-educated persons remains valid and depends more and more on professional writers for guidance.…

The "virtues" and "defects" of both present English spelling patterns and proposed spelling reforms are examined in this article. In lieu of reform, the author proposes that new spellings be accepted as the demand is overwhelmingly felt. An enumerated series of observations deals largely with phonetic and spelling interrelationships. (RL)