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…

Describes "need" as a semiauxiliary and marginal modal and as a full lexical verb in present-day British English from the syntactic, lexical, semantic, and pragmatic points of view. The descriptions given by grammars as well as examples in British-English texts are compared. (14 references) (Author/CFM)

Review of transcripts of supposedly invariant opinion surveys reveals, rather than suppressing their individual linguistic styles, interviewers make changes in scripted introduction and add unscripted answer-acknowledgments and commentary throughout interviews. Although this is a response to U.S. value of individuality in discourse, it conflicts…

Demonstrates that two Tungusic languages, Evenki and Oroqen, that have long been treated as a single language for classification purposes, are better treated as distinct linguistic varieties. Fundamental questions are raised about the current classification of Tungusic languages and a renewed examination is suggested of the role of dialect…

Identifies the major issues that need to be confronted in resolving the controversy over the historical roots of African American Vernacular English. and discusses their implications for reconstruction. (Author/VWL)

Discusses a continuum of language alternation phenomena that spans between the prototypes labeled codeswitching (CS), language mixing (LM), and fused lects (FLs), with CS and FLs representing the polar extremes of the continuum and LM a point in between. (Author/VWL)

Reviews three theoretical problem areas in the field of research into phonological variation in children. Presents the results of a cross-sectional study of two groups of children, aged 6 to 7 years and 10 to 12 years, relating to the deletion of post-consonantal word-final /R/ in French. Examines the mechanism involved in learning words with a…

Discusses some of the segmental and suprasegmental features that give Swazi English a unique accent. (Author/VWL)

Uses data from both sides of the U.S.-Canada border to test a model regarding the way language changes diffuse over space. Two cases are examined: the non-diffusion of phonetic features from Detroit to Windsor and the gradual infiltration into Canadian English of American foreign (a) pronunciations. (Author/VWL)

It has been observed that phonological phrasing in Shanghai Chinese distinguishes certain determiners from others and wh-quantifier phrases from non-wh-quantifier phrases. This article shows that such phonological phrasing distinctions are also found in Hokkien Chinese but in a more restricted environment. (Author/VWL)

Reports results of an instrumental acoustic examination of the vowel systems of ten Jamaican Creole (or Basilect-) dominant and nine Jamaican English (or Acrolect-) dominant speakers, and links phonetic features with sociolinguistic factors. Nature and relative role of vowel quantity and quality differences in phonemic contrast are considered.…

Discusses two conflicting hypotheses concerning the nature of the New Zealand English short vowel system. Concludes that both hypotheses are to a certain extent wrong and to a certain extent correct. (Author/VWL)

Focuses on vocalization of /l/ in nine Australian and New Zealand cities. Discusses an instrument designed to include all relevant phonological environments; demonstrates the strategic potential of moving from a unilocality to a multilocality sociolinguistics; conceptualizes a variationist isogloss; and proposes a conception of geography that…

Reviews evidence suggesting that word recognition requires use not only of acoustic-phonetic and lexical information, but also discourse information. Argues there is much variability in causal continuous speech and that there is no simple way to predict or constrain these phonological changes. Suggests one way listeners deal with this variability…

Examined the influence of language gender systems on perception. Spanish-speaking (with a gender system) and English-speaking (with a limited gender system) participants from three age groups assigned typical male or female names and attributes to objects. Language gender tags influenced Spanish adults' and early adolescents' choice of gender…