Analysis of the use of the connective "but" by 3- to 9-year-olds indicated that all most commonly used the word to signal semantic relationships and for pragmatic functions. Younger children most frequently used "but" when causal or precausal relationships existed, and older children used "but" more to encode complex contrast. (Author/CB)

Three- and four-year-old children were asked to perform a judgement task in which they chose between incorrect English transitives and intransitives and their correct adult equivalents. Purely semantic or syntactic models fail to explain the findings as well as does a model based on semantic/syntactic transitivity. (SED)

Concludes that semantic maps do not work alone, but must be built in class during discussion of vocabulary. Shows that discussion alone works well for most students. (FL)

Compares the vocabulary learning effectiveness of the mnemonic keyword method and two semantic-based approaches (semantic mapping and contextual analysis). Concludes, among other things, that the keyword method is superior to the other two strategies with respect to students' ability to recall word definitions. (FL)

Results of a study of two methods of morpheme quantification--one by suppliance in obligatory contexts, the other by target-like use--produced substantially different percentages of accuracy for subjects' production of the morphemes progressive "-ing," progressive auxiliary, and past irregular. This demonstrates that, as a consequence of applying…

Describes a study that explores whether less fluent non-native listeners attend more to syntactic than to semantic cues by testing three groups: native English-speakers and advanced and intermediate non-natives. Results show that semantically acceptable responses increased progressively for intermediate, advanced, and native groups, while…

Presents reading activities for second language students to demonstrate how new vocabulary and concepts can be introduced and practiced in stimulating, meaningful way. Students also learn that facts within a story relate to what has been read and what will be read, and their knowledge and skill at problem-solving is more important than individual…

Discusses the differences between the English native and nonnative speaker's creation and use of nominal compounds. A comparison between English speakers and Japanese native speakers indicates that not only must nonnative speakers acquire rules in order to effectively compound words in English, but that rules must indeed exist, indicating that…

Discusses acquisition of phrasal verbs by learners of English as a second language, and examines problems of selection, semantics, and usage restrictions of these verbs. Because even advanced learners have difficulties with these verbs, two groups of verb phrases are suggested: one for active use and the other for passive. (SED)

Describes the details of a semantic extension of the American Sign Language lexical item "stuck," as it was used during the 1981-82 school year at a U.S. high school. Sees this semantic extension as indicative of poor communication between teacher and students at the high school. (SED)

Three levels of metacommunication knowledge and five factors that influence the understanding of speaker meaning in oral language were identified in pilot interviews with children and adolescents. (HOD)

Suggests structure based on two sets of principles for deriving meaning from data: Shannon's measure of entropy, which provides means of measuring amount of information in message; and Ranganathan's faceted classification scheme, which provides means of determining number of meaningful data. Syntax, meaning, and semantics of data are discussed.…

Examines genetic influences on language by assessing 158 preschool twins on vocabulary comprehension, semantic knowledge, morphology, syntax, and articulation. Vocabulary comprehension was significantly influenced by heredity, whereas performance skills were influenced by between-family environmental factors. (Author/AS)

Discusses physiological, psychological, and social effects of speed of articulation and introduction of both productive and receptive fast-talk exercises at early stages of language learning. By helping English as a second language students with the phonological, functional, semantic, and syntactic components of English, students move closer to…

Expands on study by Brown and Hanlon which showed that parents seemed more attuned to semantic value of their child's speech rather than grammatical form. However, this more recent study suggests that language learning environment presents subtle cues, distinguishing between well-formed and ill-formed sentences, evidenced by mothers' inclinations…