Points out that language abuses--whether jargon, euphemism, or malapropism--blur the distinction between words. Stresses the need for English instructors that can teach students the grammatical rules and inspire them with a love of language. (MM)

Some grammatical points often left unexplained about the meaning, use, and teaching of these verb forms are outlined and discussed, drawing on textbooks and usage literature. Comparisons are made between the several forms, and traditional grammatical approaches are compared and contrasted. (MSE)

Assumptions about comprehension of utterances are challenged in two experiments using as an example the verb phrase "to do a Richard Nixon on a tape" (i.e., erase it). It is argued that creating meanings, as with this phrase, works differently from selecting senses for utterances and that many require a mixture of the two. (MSE)

Describes the functioning of Murray's Interpersonal Communication Laboratory (first established in 1949) designed to help students internalize the principles of general semantics and apply them to everyday problems in communication. (PD)

Examines the syntactic structures of Library of Congress subject headings pertaining to sociology, and centers on the use of grammatical categories in modifiers of the focal nouns. It is found that more than one syntactic type may correspond to a given semantic type. Eleven references are cited. (FM)

Six different categorization tasks were studied in an investigation of the effects of semantic relatedness on categorization performance. An intersection model is proposed to account for the findings, which are generally inconsistent with decision-bias theories and with simple versions of spreading activation theory. (Author/PN)

Two experiments were undertaken to evaluate the influence of automatic semantic processing of pictures on word judgments. Results indicated that (1) perceptual factors influence responding in these types of tasks, (2) picture processing can facilitate word processing in some circumstances, and (3) incompatible background pictures can interfere…

Past studies of autistic children's memory for linguistic materials have shown that autistics have a special linguistic coding difficulty. Because the autistic deficit stems from a failure to use semantic and syntactic knowledge or from a failure to acquire such forms, future research should explore the mechanics underlying this deficit. (PJM)

Examines language frontier and transitional zones along the Belgium-northwestern France linguistic border as area occupying important position in linguistic contact research. Gives examples of variant forms in the morphosyntactic, semantic, stylistic, and lexical forms. (Author/BK)

The value of teaching children to look objectively at language as they make the transition from reality-bound sentences to linguistically correct sentences is examined. (HTH)

In view of the call by reformers and critics for a new definition of education itself, the author investigates some of the difficulties in formulating such a definition by utilizing the study of language as well as linguistics, semantics, and etymology. (Author/SJL)

Describes a study which examined learning disabled children's understanding of conversational rules for initiating repair of a communication breakdown. Results show learning disabled children were less likely to request clarification of inadequate messages and made fewer correct referent choices than normal children, but analyses suggest this…

Lists terms from current sociopolitical language, continuing from an earlier issue of "Yelmo" and covering the second half of the alphabet, "J" to "X". Provides definitions and context quotations for all items, and in some cases, notes on their historical origin. Includes borrowings from English and from some regional…

Analyzes the uses of "quien" as an interrogative and a relative pronoun with numerous examples from standard spoken Spanish. Emphasizes syntactic and contextual factors, as well as stylistic variations, and explains the contrast between "quien" and "que" as subjects of a relative clause. (MES)

The authors review research on attempts to promote speech acquisition in severely handicapped students. Studies on verbal imitation, syntactic forms, and semantics are summarized. Implications for instruction are noted, including careful selection of responses likely to occur in the child's normal environment and which have intrinsic reinforcing…