A study investigated the importance of three elements of intonation (tone units, key, prominence) in three readers of English radio news. Results indicate intonation is used to present the structure of information as the speaker intends it to be interpreted. Intonation functions can be categorized simply under a few discourse functions easily…

A study in interlanguage pragmatics investigated the effect of three types of rejoinder (positive, negative, absent) on non-native informants' choices of strategies to perform complaints, requests, and apologies. Results show strategy choice differentially affected by rejoinder type, suggesting that findings from studies using different production…

This study compares patterns of consonant-to-consonant timing at word boundaries in English and Russian and investigates the roles of transfer and the emergence of linguistic universals in second language (L2) articulation. Native Russian speakers learning English and native English speakers learning Russian produced phrases in English and Russian…

Patterns of language maintenance among immigrants have been researched widely, and lie at the core of daily life for immigrant families. The present study reports on a questionnaire developed to assess various aspects of language maintenance, focusing on parent-child communication. Parents and children of 307 immigrant families living in Sydney,…

This paper reports the results of an experiment with 21 Italian children (age 2;8-5;11) and 29 U.S. children (age 2;7-5;9) who were tested on their knowledge of verb raising to C in main WH-questions, an obligatory movement process in adult Italian and English. Along the lines of recent movement and feature checking theories, it is proposed that,…

The encyclopedia is designed as a reference work on the history, structure, and use of English. The first section outlines five phases in the development of the English language (origins, Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English, Modern English) and then proceeds to the varieties of world English and perceptions of English and its future.…

The discussion of case in grammar focuses on the ways relationships between words in sentences are marked. It describes the familiar systems of suffixes, from languages like Latin, and also the roles of prepositions, postpositions, and the use of the pronominal elements on verbs. One feature of case, the recurrence of apparently idiosyncratic…

Six working papers on phonology, primarily concerning less commonly taught languages, are presented are in this volume. Titles include: "Non-Uniqueness Condition and the Segmentation of the Chinese Syllable" (Benjamin Ao); "Theoretical Consequences of Metathesis in Maltese" (Elizabeth Hume); "Cs and Vs or Moras: The Case…

This paper explores the features of rhythm that make English difficult for speakers of Chinese and suggests some techniques for helping students speak English with an English rhythm. The focus is on information obtained during a workshop: the rhythmic differences between Chinese and English, word rhythm in English, and sentence rhythm in English.…

An analysis of verbs in Tlingit, a U.S. Northwest Coast Indian language, begins with an overview of its situation and usage and of previous research. The second chapter sketches its phonological and syntactic characteristics. Subsequent chapters deal specifically with the verb. An analysis of verb categories distinguishes two groups: argumental…

Papers in various aspects of phonological research and theory include: "One-Step Raising in Gbanu" (Mary Bradshaw); "ATR Harmony in Konni" (Mike Cahill); "Prosodic Structure in SiSwati" (Rebecca Herman); "The Deletion of /w/ in Seoul Korean and Its Implications" (Hyeon-Seok Kang); "Tense, Aspect, and…

In a study with seventh- and eighth-graders, Spanish-English bilinguals (n=41) and English monolinguals (n=48) used brief English contexts to choose among possible meanings for unfamiliar words. Two types of errors were compared: transfer errors, which were answers consistent with Spanish but not English syntax, and non-transfer errors, which were…

A study of two contemporary American novels, told in first-person narration, explored the distribution and function of relative clauses in literary narrative. For comparative purposes, data from oral conversation, 2 written expository works, 6 other novels, and 20 short oral narratives were also considered. Three types of relative clause are…

A study investigated the role of the interpreter in doctor-patient communication by analyzing four complete medical interviews at a large urban hospital, each involving one of two Russian interpreters on staff. Both interpreters were native Russian speakers recently immigrated to the United States. Patients were middle-aged and elderly immigrants…

An approach to teaching expository writing in English as a Second Language (ESL) to native speakers of Chinese is offered. It is based on a comparison and classification of rhetorical patterns in the two languages. Chinese rhetoric contains a wide variety of methods of presentation, including both direct and indirect, or metaphoric, forms. It is…