The emotional states of an adult male American speaker, as reflected in 30 utterances, were evaluated by 12 subjects on nine 7-point semantic differential scales. The subjects also evaluated the utterances on similar scales for pitch, loudness, and speed. Significant correlations were found between some acoustic variables and the judgments of some…

At present a computer system cannot be constructed for handling the totality of a natural language in any significant way. It is, however, possible to construct a system for communication in a narrow field of discourse. A working model for a specialized discourse based on a recognition grammar is discussed. Some properties of the recognition…

In order to mechanize the processing of natural language, the linguist must make the machine interpret the meaning, or semantic content of the language, in some way or other. This means that the machine should extract not only syntactic but also semantic information from the source sentence through the analysis of it. In this paper, the authors…

It was hypothesized that by age 8 children would manifest an adult meaning system, and that 5-year-old children would not. An adult meaning system allows an adult to transcend component word meanings and integrate, in the presence of a speaker, the underdetermined and the factual proposition into a meaningful whole. Subjects were 60 5- and…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not certain attitudes can be modified through laboratory procedures using positively evaluated words within a classical conditioning paradigm. It was hypothesized that evaluations of Vietnamese and Negroes would become more favorable after pictures of each were paired with the presentation of…

The design of codes and formats for information storage must be guided by the requirements of the processes in which the stored information is to be used. In the case of medical data, a code must be designed to facilitate several different processes, including case management, administration, evaluation and research. Design of such a system can be…

The principles and practices of general semantics can be taught to college classes within the context of quality science fiction writings. The works of A. E. van Vogt and Robert Heinlein are particularly useful in exemplifying the details of general semantics. These works and some other science fiction are based upon the Korzybskian principles of…

Current linguistic theories, such as interpretive and generative semantics, are judged theoretically unsound and practically unsuitable for pedagogical purposes. Although the concept of case must be included in a grammar, current case theories are also rejected. The concept of case is redefined, as are the defining criteria for each case. A noun…

"Weasel words"--newly minted phrases and words or novel interpretations of old words which may be "intentional slants, distortions, and outright coinages inspired by a purpose of profit, propaganda, or, at the very least, personal or institutional prestige" are exposed as they appear in the language of violence, dissent, the right, the left, the…

The capacity to appreciate and produce metaphoric language is thought to develop at adolescence. Yet metaphors are frequently noted in the speech of preschool children. To resolve this apparent contradiction, a test probing metaphoric capacity was devised. Matched groups of subjects ranging in age from 3 1/2 to 19 were required to indicate…

This study examines the effect of expectation (children's judgments as to the probable actor within a given sentence) upon comprehension of passive sentences, the relationship of syntactic comprehension to the paradigmatic-syntagmatic shift in word associations, and the effect of sex on each. Forty first-graders and 40 kindergarteners were blocked…

The document describes a sub-proposal which became a part of the Fox Valley Technical Institute's attempt to identify learning styles and their relationship to learning experiences in vocational-technical education. The sub-proposal consisted of the identification of a sub-set of learning styles and a determination of their relationship with the…

This teacher's guide for use in the elementary grades was prepared as a result of the 1970 Local Materials Workshop on Outdoor Education, Madison, Wisconsin. It develops the concept of a land ethnic as expressed by Aldo Leopold in "A Sand County Almanac". A filmstrip is employed to discover the meaning of several words pertinent to…

A previous study by Begg and Pavio found that subjects presented with concrete sentences were able to detect subsequent changes in meaning better than changes in wording. In contrast, with abstract sentences, wording changes were detected with greater facility than were changes in meaning. The present study assesses the effect of comprehension on…

A project undertaken to advance the systematic analysis of public responses, attitudes, opinions, preferences, and values relating to the environment is discussed in this report, the fifth in a series of eight. The reports fall into two general categories: five describe and compare responses to representative milieus in New York, Boston, Cambridge…