This paper considers meanings used for the terms "affect,""emotion," and "mood" and suggests that feeling states should be defined in terms of duration, subjectivity/objectivity, the role of cognition, and the phenomenological level. A study of patients' facial expression and vocal acoustics is described to offer empirical support for the…

Investigates young children's understanding of homophones in two different linguistic contexts. Results show that the linguistic context is an important factor in young children's understanding of word meaning. (six references) (GLR)

A cognitive systems approach of linguistic knowledge is outlined. According to this view, linguistic knowledge or cognitive grammar is part of the coherent structure and function of a cognitive system that is able to process language. (97 references) (JL)

A systemic model for a semantico-grammatical approach to language teaching is presented along with an illustration of its usefulness in finding underdeveloped parts of the semantico-grammatical system and a description of a successful preliminary trial in treating them. (18 references) (VWL)

Ways are described in which studies on grammaticalization in second-language learning are a challenge for second-language acquisition theory. This article introduces four articles on grammaticalization. (21 references) (LB)

Using examples from a conversation between birds, drawn from a story, the importance of nonverbal aspects of conversation is examined. Several kinds of nonverbal cues are discussed, including the common history of the interlocutors, their current relationship, turn taking, and the interplay of these factors. (MSE)

Some basic notions of cognitive grammar are introduced in a discussion that emphasizes the importance to linguistic semantics of the way in which we construe a perceived situation. It is concluded that developing an optimal account of semantic structure and of grammatical structure are best conceived as simultaneous, mutually informative…

Argues that "outbound anaphora," contrary to the argument of Postal, is fully grammatical and governed by independently motivated pragmatic principles. The felicity of outbound anaphora is demonstrated to be a function of the accessibility of the discourse entity that is evoked by the word-internal element and to which the anaphor is…

Argues for the description of thematic roles as two-cluster concepts called Proto-Agent and Proto-Patient, each characterized by a set of verbal entailments. It is asserted that an argument of a verb may bear on either or both proto-roles to varying degrees, according to the number and kind of entailments provided by the verb. (133 references) (JL)

Discusses the kind of rhetorical questions that convey opposite assertive meanings, as in "who cares?" which imparts the meaning of nobody cares. For Chinese learning, rhetorical questions usually carry extra attitudinal meanings that their equivalent declaratives may not have. (Contains 13 references.) (JP)

Although both Chinese and Japanese allow resultative compounds of the form V/cause-V/result, Japanese resultative compounds do not show the semantic ambiguities seen in Chinese compounds. An argument that three factors explain this difference supports the claim that many differences among languages can be accounted for with universal principles…

In two experiments, preschoolers interpreted a novel count noun applied to an unfamiliar stuffed animal as referring to a basic-level (such as a person or a dog) kind of object rather than to a context (such as a passenger) or a life-phase (such as a puppy) kind of object. (MDM)

Looks at the meaning of the verb "report," to make an argument for a view of genre as a cultural activity and a view of literacy involving children in the development of personal perspective. This argues against a text-based view of genre and a pedagogy that relies primarily on the modeling of "considered texts." (10…

Presents eight problems in the description of English, inviting readers to comment or provide solutions to the conundrums. Suggestions and solutions for eight previous conundrums are included. Most focus on semantic or grammatical points that might puzzle learners of English as a Second Language (ESL). (MDM)

A method of testing semantic differential scales for bipolarity is developed using a new conception of bipolarity that does not require unidimensionality. Assessment of Fielder's Least Preferred Coworker instrument with 63 college student subjects using multidimensional scaling revealed its significant departures from bipolarity. (SLD)