Summarizes cognitive mentoring and uses it to analyze positive self-talk using the "thinking mirror" (an ordinary mirror in the classroom used to initiate reflective moments for children) as a classroom strategy. Shares guidelines for implementing positive self-talk during written communication endeavors using the thinking mirror. (RS)

Explores the ethical issues involved in transcribing. Argues that the challenge for the transcriber is to produce transcriptions that are accurate and readable but that are also reflexive in how they make explicit to the reader the constructed nature of written talk, a role giving rise to the problematic nature of accuracy and readability. (27…

Examined the understanding of general correspondences between print and language and specific correspondences in alphabetic and nonalphabetic languages on the part of monolingual (English) and bilingual (French-English, Chinese-English) 4- and 5-year-olds. Bilingual children understood the general symbolic representation of print better than…

Investigates the interaction of lexical and non-lexical processes in spelling through lexical priming of non-lexical spelling in Polish. Explains that orthographic choice for nonwords was assessed under free and primed spelling conditions for both adults and children using direct and associative priming. Finds that lexical orthography influences…

Two models of language contact, one concerning linguistic development and the other a general model of language contact, are suggested as a result of a recent study of written languages in India. (Author/MSE)

The investigation compared the transparency of 11 different types of symbols with 40 nonspeaking mentally retarded subjects (ages 4-20). Analysis indicated a hierarchy of difficulty with actual objects the easiest and Blissymbols and written words the hardest to understand. Results have implications for selecting initial symbol systems for…

This study investigated prekindergarten children's uses of written language within the context of their symbolic play. (PCB)

Points to introspective evidence that both writers and readers experience auditory imagery of intonations, accents, and hesitations in written language. Suggests that some aspects of this "written language prosody" are made partially overt through punctuation. (RAE)

Examined strategies used by 12 kindergarten nonreaders who tried to relate spoken words to segments of written sentences. Results suggest that children may first succeed in establishing correspondences between temporal order of spoken words and spatial order of written words when a sentence contains only one functor word. Results show the complex…

Presents diverse theories and concepts of style. A step-by-step analytical procedure for the stylistic examination of texts is provided, which ranges from a brief summary to which other levels of analysis are related, through diction, register tone, punctuation, clausal and sentence types, paragraphing, schemes of construction, and figures of…

A model is described for the analysis of information management and cohesion in written discourse. Concepts of discourse analysis are defined, specifically information management, syntax, semantic reference, lexicon, cohesion, and intonation, with examples taken from scholarly publications in psychology, biology, and history. (48 references) (VWL)

Investigates the extent of variation in children's language performance in a picture description task arising from mode (oral or written) versus degree of demand for decontextualization. Finds that children manipulated the wide range of the oral form of the contextualized/decontextualized continuum more skillfully than the written form. Finds no…

Steps aside from conventional ideas about diagrams to examine how they work. Brings to bear ideas from a perceptual psychologist, a communication theorist, and a philosopher. Introduces the papers in this special issue as diagrams for worldmaking. (SR)

Reviews and discusses claims for, and objections to, the literal intelligence of computers and of documents. Topics discussed include contrasts between spoken language and written language; the Turing test, including linguistic responses to questions; the presence or absence of intentionality; and Plato's "Phaedrus" and its concern with…

Using a large database of written text and a simple statistical technique, this study looks at the issue of teaching conditionals and other "if" forms. (four references) (JL)