Investigates the relationship between memory for prose and the structural characteristics of the semantic representation proposed by Kintsch. Results extend the generality of Kintsch's model across a wide range of ages, and indicate that a proposition is more likely to be recalled when its superordinate is also recalled. (EJS)

Basal readers are supposed to be easy for children to read, but sometimes their language is so unnatural that it's more confusing than helpful. (MKM)

Examines the nature of thematization and thematic progression in children's narrative styles, in order to draw some conclusions regarding the acquisition of textual skills. (AM)

Discusses the problem of the lack of native speakers to judge grammatical acceptability in analyzing a dead language such as Latin, and proposes an analysis on the level of linguistic performance. (AM)

An experiment is described that involved presenting sentences to the subject for study and then testing single words for recognition (the subject had to decide whether the test word was in one of the study sentences). A large priming effect was obtained. (Author/RM)

Shows how subjects' varying levels of academic achievement influenced their judgments of the grammatical acceptability of simple sentences, suggesting that differing levels of deep structure accompany differing levels of education. (RL)

Finds developmental differences in the abilities of eight-year-old, eleven-year-old, and adult second language learners to repeat certain grammatical sentence structures. (RL)

A brief typological sketch of Wappo syntax is presented as well as a detailed presentation of one particular typological characteristic, "subjecthood." An explanation for the unusual surface coding of subjects in Wappo is given. (Author/NCR)

Describes a study using transformational generative grammar to demonstrate that the frequently used structure "verb a verb" in Spanish is to be interpreted in three ways. Conclusions are drawn for the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language. (AMH)

French sentences with a long ambiguous word just before a target phoneme led to faster reaction times than did sentences with a short unambigous word just before the target phoneme. (Author/SW)

Four hundred and twenty-seven deaf students (age 10 to 19 years) and 60 hearing children (age 8 to 10 years) judged the grammaticality of sample sentences which contained infinitival or gerundive complements. (Author/SBH)

Investigation of data from many languages has the following results: (1) the characteristics of classifier languages are distinguished, and four types identified; (2) defining criteria are postulated for classifiers, and it is discovered that every classifier is composed of one or more out of seven categories of classification. (CHK)

Language-disordered (N=30) and linguistically-normal (N=30) first- through third-graders judged the grammatical acceptability of sentences (and attempted to correct those they judged ungrammatical). Results indicated that the judgment task was capable of effectively separating language-disordered and linguistically-normal children at specific age…

Describes rules for the use and interpretation of "verbally determinate ellipsis" involving the English verb group. Discussion covers: verbal determinacy and indeterminacy; verb group vs. verb phrase; the verb group as a five-part system; verb group echoing vs. auxiliary contrasting ellipsis; passive auxiliary; interpretation rules;…