A framework for the study of discourse, based on the analysis of three superordinate features of discourse (asymmetry, hierarchy, and continuum), is proposed in this paper. The paper begins by noting the confusion in terminology that exists in the world of composition pedagogy and theory; pointing to the need for a framework for testing,…

Experiments were carried out to determine (1) the degree of agreement with which subjects identify paragraph boundaries in unindented prose passages, (2) if a significant proportion of cues to paragraph structure are formal in nature, (3) if the identification of paragraphs in different kinds of prose differentially depends on semantic (as…

Volume II of "Discourse, Paragraph, and Sentence Structure in Selected Philippine Languages" begins with an explanation of certain assumptions and postulates regarding sentence structure. A detailed treatment of systems of sentence structure and the parameters of such systems follows. Data in the various indigenous languages are…

The author examined relationships between message organization, message uncertainty, and verbal learning. Message organization was manipulated by varying the distance between repeated subject-verb-object triples in a sequence of sentences. Message uncertainty was defined as the uncertainty (variability) of word selections for subjects responding…

Today's paragraph is not a logical unity, and we should stop telling our students that it is. (DD)

Describes a study that analyzes the naturalistic productions of "because" and "so" by 96 children, aged three-and-a-half to nine-and-a-half years of age, while narrating personal events. Analyzes results in terms of such factors as: correctness, types of causality, nature of actor/recipient, time of causality, producer, and linguistic issues. (SED)

Bororo is an unclassified language spoken in central Mato Grosso, Brazil. Field work done under the auspices of the Summer Institute of Linguistics; paper written with the partial support of the National Science Foundation. (RS)

Paper presented at the 4th International Congress for Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science, August 29-September 4, 1971, Bucharest, Rumania. (RS)

Special issue devoted to language and history. (VM)

Based on part of a dissertation submitted to the University of Michigan in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree. Revised version of a paper given at the 80th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, Houston, Texas, November 1970. (VM)

Refers to an article by H. Sopher entitled "Discourse Analysis as an Aid to Literary Interpretation." Argues that such interpretations are more clearly supported by a surface structure analysis. Proposes a different approach based on the use of grammatical and syntactic features. (Author/MES)

Builds up a profile of causal development in 10-year-olds based on their recall of history and science texts in which the amount of causal connectivity differed. Finds that causal connections play an important role in expository text recall, and that subjects who have a strong causal profile also, generally, perform well in English. (PA)

Describes a model that displays structures necessary to map between the conceptual and external levels in database management systems, using an algorithm that maps the syntactic representations of tuples onto semantic representations. A technique for translating tuples into natural language sentences is introduced, and a system implemented in…

Reports on two experiments examining the influence of intensity (the quality of language indicating the speakers'/writers' attitude toward their topic) on inferential processing. Finds that high-intensity passages triggered inference making during recall more readily than did the texts low in intensity. (SR)

Explores four views of the role of interclausal connectives as a set of linguistic devices that help the reader interpret a narrative text. Finds that interclausal connectives carry meaning, connect textual meaning at both local and global levels, and mark discourse continuity and discontinuity both in the text and as inferred by the reader. (SR)