Appraises R. Kaplan's "contrastic rhetoric" in the light of a multilanguage research project on discourse structure. Concludes that Kaplan's specific analyses are in need of substantive revision. (FL)

Using Burkean analysis, this essay shows how films about haunted houses can serve as symbolic equipment to help audiences cope with real life problems. (PD)

Defines the concept of cynicism and explores issues concerning the role of the cynic in rhetoric, the rhetorical payoff of a cynical ethos, and the function of cynical remarks in rhetorical strategies. (EL)

Describes a study designed to examine variables influencing the way native speakers talk to foreigners and the form native speaker modification may take. Considers five variables: (1) negotiation of meaning, (2) quantity of speech, (3) amount of repair, (4) elaborated responses, and (5) transparent responses. (SED)

Argues that traditional views of organizational communication have fallen short because they misapprehended and oversimplified the realities of rhetorical behavior in organizations and because they offered weak theoretical underpinnings for the study of business communication. (FL)

Describe studies in which day-long recordings were made of nine-year-old children's spontaneous speech. Results indicate that: (1) children aged five to 15 speak some 20,000 words of discourse per day in about two to three hours of pure speaking time; (2) they have an active vocabulary of some 3,000 word-form types. (SED)

The logic of the Japanese language, which differs considerably from that of most Western languages, requires that much analysis be done by the translation process to properly assimilate the intended message. Further research into this is needed to improve both the translation process and training in translation. (MSE)

This introductory article--in a symposium that explores the role of stories in human discourse--defines and sketches the history of the "narrative paradigm." (PD)

Considers the phenomenon of a single utterance having different illocutions at the same time, depending on the relationship between the speaker and different hearers and the differing amounts of shared knowledge among the conversation's participants. (MSE)

Presents a framework for representing hand signs in American Sign Language which can account for surface data in a way that explains underlying properties of sign structure. This model preserves the structural and functional importance of location, movement, and hand configuration and reveals special properties of the hand tier. (Author/SED)

Describes an investigation into the relationship of schizophrenic thought disorder to measures of repetition that include phrase units, proximity of repetitions, and word frequencies to determine whether such measures distinguish schizophrenics from non-schizophrenics and to what extent they are associated with certain attributes of schizophrenia,…

A model grounded in recent ordinary language philosophy is proposed which postulates that subjects employ counterfactual and contrastive criteria of causal ascription, as unified in the notion of an abnormal condition. Two experiments satisfy the three criteria specified for an adequate test of the abnormal conditions focus model. (Author/LMO)

Presents theory of "audience design" which assumes that speakers design their style of talk for their audience, and examines how speakers do this. Also examines the effects on style shift of nonpersonal factors (such as topic and setting) and of referees (the class of persons with whom the speaker identifies). (SED)

Examines the slow growth of a body of knowledge about how information can best be communicated without necessary reference to overt persuasion, from Henry Day's "Art of Rhetoric" through contemporary explanatory rhetoric. (FL)

Argues that rhetorical genre must be defined in terms of rhetorical action rather than form or substance. Proposes a conception of rhetorical genre based on conventionalized social motives found in recurrent situations. Points out the implications for rhetorical education: genres help students understand how to participate in community action. (PD)