This paper explores two related factors which influence variation in duration, prosodic structure and redundancy in spontaneous speech. We argue that the constraint of producing robust communication while efficiently expending articulatory effort leads to an inverse relationship between language redundancy and duration. The inverse relationship…

A discussion of text translatability in simultaneous interpreting (SI) looks at semantic redundancy, the repetition of semantic components essential to creating an utterance, and offers some classroom techniques for teaching interpreting skills. It is proposed that the translatability of a text in SI should be studied in terms of the experiential…

Fries' definition of knowing a language rejects the layman's notion that the criterion is knowing a certain number of words. It involves, rather, knowing a set of items--sound segments, sentence patterns, lexical items--which must be made a matter of automatic habit. Various approaches to testing someone's use of a language have failed to take…

THE SETS OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS PRESENTED IN THIS VOLUME WERE DESIGNED TO CALL INTO THE LEARNING SITUATION THE MOST HIGHLY DEVELOPED COGNITIVE APTITUDES OF INDIVIDUAL STUDENTS. THE ASSUMPTION BEHIND THEIR DESIGN WAS THAT LEARNING DIFFICULTIES IN VARIOUS SUBJECT-MATTER AREAS COULD BE MINIMIZED BY ALTERING THE CONTENT OF TEXTUAL MATERIAL TO FIT…

When first, fourth, and fifth grade speakers played a referential communication game with a fictitious listener, they were more likely to give redundant messages to listeners with whom they had no common shared experience or to strangers than to listeners with whom they had shared a previous experience. (RH)

It has been customary to simplify texts to increase their readability for young readers. Recent studies suggest that it is the predictability of texts that is the key to their readability and that simplification may actually create problems for the reader. (RBW)

An analysis of 205 records in the OCLC Online Union Catalog (OLUC) found considerable duplication among subject access points provided by title, subject heading, and classification number fields. On average, only 4.12 unique access points were found per record. The results suggest that online catalogs might outperform card catalogs more in…

A study was conducted to explore the process of learning from television news and the relationship between audio and visual channels. The subjects, 82 undergraduate journalism majors enrolled in five newswriting classes, were randomly assigned to experimental conditions. Newscasts were recorded from evening newscasts aired by networks, and scripts…

The first phase of this study focused on the effects of message redundancy on communication accuracy of listeners in kindergarten, second, and fifth grades under memory and stimulus-visible conditions. Three nearly identical line drawings, each containing a large number of items in common and at least one distinctive feature, were presented on…

An informal study of four fourth and fifth grade poor readers was undertaken (1) to compare the repeated reading method of instruction with the method of teaching children to recognize lists of words rapidly and (2) to develop an approach that might be helpful in studying the effects of prosodic cues and their contributions to the repeated reading…

Shows that subjects receiving the most "overlearning" (repetitive instruction) remembered the most words, suggesting a linear relationship between overlearning and retention. (RL)

Investigates whether first- and fourth-grade children vary their production of redundant messages (saying more than the minimal necessary to be informative) as a function of sharing common experience with a listener. (HOD)

Parents are often asked to complete behavioral checklists and personality inventories regarding their children when they bring them in for psychotherapy or neuropsychological testing. The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), the Conners' Parent Report Scale (CPRS), and the Personality Inventory for Children (PIC) are frequently used tests. Some…

Examines the role of redundancy, as a universal linguistic feature, in language learning and teaching. (Author/AM)