Presents examples of misunderstandings in compliment exchanges in different cultural contexts and analyzes them as instances of pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic failure. Analysis of complimenting behavior norms forms the basis of a set of exercises designed to assist learners in developing the ability to recognize and use compliments…

Discusses the manifestation of sexism in language and makes practical suggestions for overcoming these problems in second-language instruction. Topics covered include forms of address; occupational titles; exclusion of gender; sexual stereotyping; sex differences in language use; politeness; verbosity; and classroom interaction. (CB)

Discusses diverse examples of literary devices by comparing metaphor and humor. Defines and illustrates paronomasia, paradox, oxymoron, anacoluthon, zeugma, parody, jargon, satire, conceit, anachronism, hyperbole, cacography, understatement, and doggerel. A humorous appendix contrasts errors with rhetorical devices. (NKA)

A review of research concerning bilingual (English and Spanish) Chicanos' use of code-switching during spontaneous oral narrative indicates that such code-switching may be organized to achieve more dramatic effects through personalizing (as opposed to objectionalizing) certain parts of the narrative and through techniques of foregrounding and…

Investigation of the linguistic features lost in oral French over a vacation period by English-speaking ninth graders (N=89) revealed significant reductions in total time, speaking time, number of pauses, quantity of production, and grammatical accuracy on tasks requiring production of discourse, suggesting a general deterioration in language…

Considers how foreign language students can be trained to apply focalization to get beyond the mere content-oriented teaching of literature and work toward understanding what authors do in their texts and appreciate how they do it. (CB)

Suggests that Slovene is acquiring a verb-second (V2) word order. Slovene is compared with Serbo-Croat to reveal diverged word order of these languages. Aspects of the history of the Germanic languages are examined for clues on current and possible future changes in Slovene. (Author/LMO)

Indicates a greater effect of hospitalization experience on children's general conception of hospital roles and plots than on specific linguistic markers of the sick-room register. Showed that girls performed better in the role of nurse and mother whereas boys performed relatively better in the role of doctor and father. (JD)

Describes von Thun's communication model which consists of four sides: relationship (you), factual contents (object), self-revelation (I), and appeal (call). Suggestions are made as to which side(s) should be emphasized when teaching the foreign language in the country itself and when teaching it in the home country. (SED)

Finds that preschool children remember lower case letters better if generally encouraged by their mothers to produce verbal responses and if their mothers have specifically taught lower case letters. Discusses three mechanisms that may explain this effect: mnemonic support for the child; membership in sociolinguistic group; and the teacher's being…

Investigation of commonalities in children's language across tasks showed that children with literate and oral speech styles made both contrastive and similar types of adaptations when portraying events through play and oral narration. As they moved from playing to narrating, both groups edited more carefully and employed more explicit language.…

Hesitation serves many purposes, allowing us to choose and combine words better, make discourse more cohesive and regulate its flow, and think. Frequency and length varies with the cognitive activity, but is not always easy to interpret. Foreign language instruction can help students interpret hesitations and use them to advantage. (MSE)

A number of French news texts are examined, and suggestions made for Secondary Grade 2 regarding treatment of their journalistic function. The aim is to develop critical ability in dealing with newspaper information. Emphasis is on learning to recognize and interpret certain "persuasive" characteristics, using comparison. (Text is in German.)…

Speech genres in Cheke Holo (CH) have not been studied extensively. Speech genres related to shouted speech in CH deserves more study because it is commonly used. Culturally speaking, shouted speech is a natural expression of the importance and centrality of CH community and surrounding authority structures, and has a very strong hortatory…

Thematic progression (TP) is examined in the text of a communication between a cardiologist and a general practitioner concerning a patient, offering a clinical diagnosis of the patient's condition. Analysis of the discourse looks at the field, tenor, and mode of the communication as a context for TP. The methods of analysis are first described,…