Examines how conversations between parents and their 2-year-old children change as a function of the number of family members interacting. Results indicate that parental speech to their young children is influenced by the gender of their offspring and the number of family members interacting in the situation. (Author/RH)

Examines word families, words grouped together by common meaning, orthography, form, and spelling. Discusses ways to encourage children's language acquisition and understanding of how words work in specific contexts. (HTH)

The African concept of time is reinterpreted, emphasizing aspect rather than tense. Examples are taken from Black English. (MC)

Three instructional strategies for teaching nonstandard English speakers are discussed. It is explained that language programs which fail to take into account the linguistic characteristics of native Indian learners may be one of the reasons Indian students often perform poorly on language related school tasks. (Author/PHR)

Several hypotheses are developed concerning the semantic-pragmatic shifts that take place in the development of grammatical markers such as prepositions, auxiliary verbs and sentence connectives. Over time, grammatical markers shift from being primarily referential to more pragmatic meanings, from propositional to textual to attitudinal. (PMJ)

The size of linguistic elements (morphemes, words or word groups) varies proportionately with their frequency. Because word frequency is unstable, this balance can be disturbed. When elements become too long in relation to their frequency, they are reduced. Examples from Latin illustrate the theory. (PMJ)

The necessity for stylistic appropriateness in translation as well as correct content is discussed. To acquire this skill, translators must be trained in stylistics through close examination of their own language and must have practice in translating for different audiences at different levels. (PMJ)

The conventions inherent to language are explored, and demonstrations, engagement, and sensitivity are discussed as factors present in all learning situations in which a person learns to master these complex conventions. (HTH)

Proposes a theory of stress patterns in English phonology based on the role of rhythm, or alternating weak and strong syllables, in determining stress shifts in words. (AM)

Six tentative conclusions about the role of extrinsic feedback in interlanguage fossilization are presented and discussed in light of hypotheses made by Virgil and Oller regarding this phenomenon. Extrinsic factors are those characteristics of the learner which are oriented toward the environment and which act as the interface between the learner…

Discusses problems in contemporary translation theory, particularly in terms of the number of semantic distinctions a given language may draw. (CLK)

This paper gives a complete account of vowel nasalization in Standard Polish. A distinction is made between obligatory and phonostylistic processes. Phonostylistic evidence may serve as a basis for making unambiguous decisions about the structure of underlying representations, intermediate phonological forms, and assimilation of borrowings to the…

Based on a morpho-phonological study of about 800 French adjectives ending in "-esque," this article suggests that the patterns found derive from several partially contradictory surface constraints, with the processes that would tend to eliminate dysphonic configurations (hiatus, repetition) sometimes being blocked by the need to conserve a…

A critic of Deborah Tannen's book "Gender and Discourse" responds to comments made about her critique, arguing that the book's analysis of the relationship of gender and discourse tends to seek, and perhaps force, explanations only in those terms. Another linguist's analysis of similar phenomena is found to be more rigorous. (MSE)

Demonstrates that a comprehensive account of inverted structures in English encompasses more diversity of structural types than is generally recognized and is possible in a constraint-based grammar with monotonic multiple-inheritance and no overridable default specifications. The article points out that the existence of such an account shows the…