To explore the relationship of language use and speech adaptation to role and context, the spontaneous speech of a 5-year-old boy was recorded in three different situations: playing alone, playing with a friend of the same age, and playing with his mother. (Author/SW)

Discusses three experiments designed to examine the problem of the internal representation of meaning of a verbal stimulus. (Text is in Italian.) (CFM)

This article describes a series of experiments concerning the relationship between cognitive processes and learning a second language. Similarities and differences between first language acquisition and second language learning by children and adults are discussed. (CFM)

A study is reported investigating the average American's attitude toward faultless English spoken with a foreign accent. The results seem to indicate that the attitude is negative. The possibility is suggested of a link between this attitude and the unpopularity of foreign language study in the United States. (Author/RM)

Argues that reading, like speaking and writing, is an active language process in which readers display their sophistication as functional psychlinguists. While it is difficult to understand these active, underlying processes, authors advocate the use of oral reading as a data base. Presents a typology of miscues and demonstrates how they provide…

Forty-eight Black children, ages 4 to 9 years, who utilized features of Black English in their oral language, participated in a study which investigated selected linguistic features believed to be a function of age among children. (Author/MH)

A sketch of the development of functionalism in relation to other linguistic theories and a brief analysis of the present state of the research. Topics covered are: form versus function; the impasse between distributional and transformational grammar; and transformational grammar according to Harris. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

Preschool children were required to act out a series of two-event sequences conjoined by either "before" or "after." Performance was markedly superior for meaningfully ordered sequences than for arbitrarily ordered sequences. It is suggested that the meanings of "before" and "after" must be acquired in situations which provide contextual support.…

In retelling 20 stories, 23 nursery-school children often refused to produce sentences in which causation was stated directly, but readily retold causation-implied utterances. Other results are discussed. (Author/RM)

Asserts that quantitative analysis facilitates the linguistic study of variability in language. The implications of such study for education are in the areas of individual diagnosis and placement. Quantitative analysis is less comfortable to linguists when it is used to generalize or obscure linguistic differences. The latter seems to be the more…

Suggests a parallelism between children's mastery of mental language and their thinking about the world. Recounts a study in which children's mastery of verbs was measured and a relationship between reading skill and looking to the text to justify answers was established. (AEW)

The Communication Committee of the South African National Council for the Deaf is currently developing an artificial sign language which could be used with all of the country's ethnolinguistic groups. Guidelines and constraints for developing such an artificial language are outlined. (CB)

A response to the numerous reports calling for reform in teacher education points out that, if foreign language instruction is to benefit from such reform, subject-matter specific research must be conducted to inform the profession. (CB)

The systematic confounding and belittling of deaf people's language systems have negatively affected their language and learning skills. Deaf individuals must recognize this form of oppression and their own personal power by taking control of research and study in this field. (CB)

Reviews the notion of communicative competence in light of its relevance for issues in literacy and the teaching of reading. Defines four components of communicative competence, i.e., grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic competence. Discusses their role in the reading process in light of linguistic theory and classroom research.…