Two experiments investigated 4- to 5-year olds' understanding of semantic relations and methods for incorporating new words into their lexicon. In one experiment, 24 children were shown a picture of a container and told that an object called "X" was hidden inside it. Children were asked questions about the object X and about…

Basic words have been defined as those from which other words can be derived semantically. The assumption underlying the instructional utility of a list of basic words is that a knowledge of them would provide a key to the understanding of a much larger set of related words. Although it has been shown that there are far too many basic words in the…

Causative constructions have been observed to have an iconic relationship between form and meaning. In Nepali, the citation form of a verb ends in "-nu." By inserting the morpheme "-au" before "-nu," one can change the verbs into corresponding causative verbs. In addition, Nepali has several causative verbs that form…

Methods of data collection are reviewed that were used in 39 studies of interlanguage pragmatics, defined narrowly as the investigation of non-native speakers' comprehension and production of speech acts, and the acquisition of second language-related speech act knowledge. Data collection instruments are distinguished according to the degree to…

The relationship between turn-regulation, the phonetic features of pitch, and loudness is examined in a study of two recorded natural conversations in Akan. Analysis of patterns in turn-delimitation suggests that (1) diminuendo loudness, a low pitch height, and falling pitch movement are treated by turn-occupants and their co-participants as…

A study of reciprocals in Japanese compares two kinds: (1) a verbal suffix "aw"; and (2) an NP argument "otagai." Although "otagai" appears to be taken care of by syntactic binding theory, it is proposed that there is no evidence for the existence of a syntactic position of the object NP in the case of "aw." The suffix can be characterized as…

Recent proposals concerning the relationship between thematic structure and syntactic structure, including the idea of thematic hierarchy, when used with certain language-specific properties, offer insight into some problems concerning the Mandarin Chinese phrase structure condition (PSC). The PSC is such that the internal structure of XP contains…

Three studies investigated the effects of concrete versus abstract wording and negative versus positive premises on the difficulty subjects had in solving several kinds of reasoning tasks. Subjects for all three studies were college undergraduates who received booklets containing either hypothetical, disjunctive, or linear syllogisms. Each booklet…

An alphabetical working list of about 1,000 languages that have appeared in the linguistic research of the Center for Applied Linguistics in the last 15 years is presented. A standard name for each language is provided, with an indication of alternative names for the language and the geographic location of the native speakers. An explanation for…

Reports on an experiment designed to study the role of letter stems in the identification of printed words. The stemmed letters b,d,g,h,l,p and t were used. Results showed that the suppression of the letter's body has more detrimental effects on identification than the suppression of the stem. (Author/RM)

Article focused on the acquisition of sign language by chimpanzees in comparison with the acquisition of spoken languages and sign languages by human children. (Editor/RK)

This article discusses monodirectional bilingual dictionaries, which are more efficient than bidirectional ones because they address the native speaker of only one of the languages in question and eliminate redundant information, such as pronunciation conventions which the native speaker is already aware of. (CLK)

Results are described of a study of vocalizations of two female infants, classified as cry, discomfort, and vegetative sounds, recorded between one and eight weeks of age. The implications for later speech development are discussed. (Author/RM)

This article discusses the role of boundaries in Yuman languages and gives a general idea of Yuman phonology. Basic units in the morphology and syntax are also delimited, as a result of the examination of boundaries. (CLK)

This new appendix is meant to complement the bibliography published in Yelmo 18-1974. (Text is in Spanish.) (DS)