Multiculturalism takes on a broader definition in this intercultural communication paper. All groups which exert influence on an individual's way of thinking are classified as cultures. An overview of intergender communication offers insights into women's history and ways patriarchal forces have shaped gender roles. A discussion of General…

The value of markedness theory in constructing explanatory models of linguistic meaning is questioned, particularly the claim that a single relationship (marked vs. unmarked) accounts for all differences in asymmetrically paired terms. It is argued that because unmarked terms vary greatly in the distributions that identify them as unmarked,…

A study examined the acquisition of a reading vocabulary for abstract and concrete words in 62 second-grade children. Words had been learned as part of a basal reader program or as part of outside reading. Word recognition speed and reading accuracy were examined for abstract and concrete words using lexical decision and word naming tasks. Results…

An analysis of the use of the English particle "also" in discourse is presented. First, previous analyses of "also" and of related particles "even, only" are outlined and critiqued. It is argued that these analyses draw inadequate conclusions about the particles' usage patterns and meaning. A formulation of the…

In a statement-response-reply format, a proposition concerning the study of semantics is made and debated in three papers by two authors. In the first paper, it is proposed that semantics is not the study of the concept of meaning, but rather a neurolinguistic issue, despite the fact that semantics is linked to context. It is argued that semantic…

This paper begins with an outline of some desirable properties of a communicative-pedagogical grammar. This serves as a theoretical point of reference for the subsequent description of a narrowly bounded semantic area, that of regret and relief. Conceptual analysis reveals a systematic relationship between these two emotions, which is…

The Seri language contains over 50 kinship terms and represents one of the most highly elaborated kinship systems described to date. This paper discusses Seri kinship terminology and centers around, but is not limited to, the set of obligatory possessed noun stems that are inflected with the following possessive prefixes":…

This paper addresses the microsemantic and macrothematic analyses of science and popular science texts from the fields of economics, medicine, and technology used in the "LSP [Languages for Specific Purposes] Texts in the 20th Century" project. Results show that the frequency of the relations is different within various parts of the…

This paper discusses the theoretical status of Vendler classes in grammar and utterance interpretation. In the 1950s Zeno Vendler outlined a taxonomy of verb classification which grouped verbs into four equal categories: (1) activity terms; (2) accomplishment terms; (3) achievement terms; and (4) state terms. Although Vendler's taxonomy still has…

From the beginning of life, a child's acts of meaning are joint constructions, enacted through dialogue between himself and a significant other by reference to whom he is achieving a personal identity. When the child begins to control his material environment, he begins the transition to systematic symbolic construction. At the same time, he is…

There is an obvious morphological relationship between complex words such as "man-eater and self-locking" and phrases such as "eats men and locks itself." The perception of derivation suggests semantic relatedness and provides evidence for the notion of analytic synonymy and by extension, analytic hyponymy. However, judgments…

All beginners at simultaneous interpreting falter at the flow of oral language, unaware that their short-term semantic flow of oral language, unaware that his short-term semantic memory can be managed more efficiently if used to store units of meaning rather than discrete words. Beginners must learn to listen for sense from the start and focus…

Prepositions are usually presented as prepositions of time or place, and prepositions associated with certain verbs and adjectives. However, this type of presentation overlooks the bases for preposition usage and in turn fails to convey those bases to learners. An alternative approach to the analysis of prepositions from a notional perspective is…

The relationship between interaction with the caregiver and the emergence of play activities during the one-word period was examined. In particular, investigation centered on Vygotsky's views regarding the importance of social interaction as the source of the child's knowledge of the world. To empirically examine the role of the caregiver,…

An extensive literature review led to the formation of a framework for vocabulary instruction that can be used to analyze the relationship between knowledge of word meanings and comprehension and to suggest more effective means of vocabulary instruction. The framework posits two types of information students hold about words--definitional and…