Examines press releases and product announcements of computer hardware and software companies to determine what computer-related words are used in materials released to the general public. Finds that the computer and its products have had and continue to have a great impact on the English language. (PRA)

A pilot study attempting to determine the feasibility and value of a cognition-based study of classifiers in Chinese demonstrated that the use of the classifier "tiao" was not an arbitrary linguistic device of categorization, but represented some type of human categorization based on an imputed salient perceptual property of extension of…

Two issues are addressed: (1) the scope of linguistics, and (2) the social justice issue of police procedures for dealing with limited proficiency speakers of majority languages. These are explored by examining evidence produced by police in court and the language addressed to second-language speakers by police, particularly official cautions.…

Examines the rationale for research into what constitutes sociopragmatic competence; reviews a series of relevant empirical studies; and reports on one such study of requests, thanks, and apologies made by native speakers and non-native learners of French. (23 references) (GLR)

Discusses the teacher's obligation to help students utilize language which sounds and feels like their own, while helping them to master a language which opens up a larger, wider, deeper world for them and their teachers. (PRA)

Discusses bilingualism in written cuneiform texts from ancient Babylonia and Sumeria. Describes the development of formats and techniques that enabled two or more languages on a single document to coexist harmoniously and productively. (SR)

Describes one teacher's attitudes concerning the disappearance of the use of apostrophes for possessives not only in student writing but also professional media. Provides numerous examples of both. (HB)

States that many technical writing handbooks advise avoiding passive voice. Identifies functions of passive as well as active voice by determining the frequencies of active and passive verbs in 185 documents written by 28 civilian and military members of the Air Force. Confirms the importance of agency in choice of active or passive; reveals other…

Provides a brief introduction to ways functional grammatical concepts can be used to understand the distinctive literacy demands of school science and history texts. Distinguishes this grammar from that of everyday language; examines the characteristic grammatical and discourse forms of content area learning; and discusses developing functional…

Describes a 10-week workshop at an alternative high school in New York City that explored how words come into a language and that involved students in writing their own reference books of words not yet in any dictionary (their "personal dictionaries"). Contains a 22-item annotated dictionary source list. (RS)

Discusses Louisiana's linguistic history, focusing on periods when the state was predominantly French speaking, when it was officially bilingual, when French was threatened to become extinguished, and ultimately when the state decided to preserve its French-speaking heritage. (VWL)

Describes how one high school English teacher uses puns on a regular basis to augment his vocabulary reviews. Argues that doing so aids in developing students' vocabulary, since it compels students to pay closer attention and gives many students a chance to display their creative-thinking skills. (SR)

Drawing from multiple data sources collected during two ethnographic studies in a Latino immigrant community in Los Angeles, this study analyzes community members' perspectives on bilingualism and language uses--views that have largely been neglected in recent policy debates about bilingual education. (Author/VWL)

Suggests that despite intuitively evident connections, there are difficulties with identifying language as a significant cause of conflict escalation. By looking at links between language, discourse, conflict, and conflict resolution, this article aims to see of a discussion of these four key terms can contribute to a better understanding of…

Four suggestions for helping children break the habit of swearing include: realize that swearing is a problem, and it reflects negatively on an individual's character, maturity, intelligence, and respect for others; explain why some words are not acceptable, whether everyone uses them or not; teach children to cope with their emotions in other…