Compared the use of selected epistemic modals in the English speech of Chicano barrio residents and Anglo visitors to the community. Transcribed conversations served as the database. Discusses the epistemic modal functions used the most disparately between groups. Differences are shown to relate to cross-culturally different uses of epistemic…

Proposes a shift from ideological critiques of the English language teaching industry to an exploration of the emancipatory potential for minority groups in appropriating the language systems of dominant social groups so as to take their own cultural visions into the forums of everyday politics. (Author/VWL)

Attempts to use a construct of literary theory to solve a linguistic problem: the notion of narrative perspective to explain tense variation in Bulgarian narrative. The specific phenomenon of variation is between the past indefinite and the indirect tenses in passages where all the verb forms should be indirect. (24 references) (Author/CK)

Relative own-language preference (ROLP) depends on: the publication share of the language and the self-citing rate. ROLP and the openness of one language with respect to another can be represented by partial order. Logarithmic dependence on the language share(s) seems a natural additional requirement for measuring language preferences. Gives…

A study identified second-person singular pronoun usage among Salvadoran speakers living in Houston, Texas, to see what changes, if any, have been caused by contact with other Spanish speakers with different speech patterns. Although the results confirm some linguistic behavior observed by others, some unexpected facts and diverging trends were…

Highlights how language of journalists and academics to describe children's experiences reflects and influences the position and rights accorded to children in the English-speaking world. Contends that children's low status is perpetuated through "textual abuse" in academic literature on children's rights. Maintains that children are…

A survey was conducted on the language practices of 58 engineering personnel working on the Witwatersand in South Africa. Found that a high standard of English is crucial for professionals in a field with a policy of "English only" at management and inter-departmental levels and in written communication. (Author/VWL)

Linguistic analyses suggest that the nongeneric use of the English definite article "the" falls into four major categories: cultural, situation, structural, and textual. Aims to determine whether these uses present different levels of difficulty for English-as-a-Second-Language students and whether they are acquired at the same time. (Author/VWL)

Reports the use of students' native language by teachers in the foreign language classroom. The project was undertaken by French teachers in Australia. The teachers' aim was to investigate the use of the native language in a context that actively promotes an immersion approach to foreign language teaching (Author/VWL)

Looks at how the best writers of English from the 1600s to the present use punctuation in their nonfiction. Finds three bases for punctuation: intonation, grammar (or syntax), and semantics (or rhetoric). Shows that these authors do not regularly and consistently follow the institutionalized rules. Argues for rhetoric-based punctuation because its…

Discusses the importance of teaching the interactional use of language in English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) business writing classes, and addresses some common problems that result from inappropriate business communication. Highlights the interactional use of language as opposed to the transactional use of language. (Author/VWL)

Discusses a shift in the distribution of first person plural pronouns, as well as changes in the patterns of use of the corresponding verb inflections, in spoken Brazilian Portuguese across four generations of speakers from Rio de Janeiro. (Author/VWL)

Little research has been conducted to determine what roles the first and second languages play in the reading strategies of L2 readers or how these roles vary at different proficiency levels. this study attempts to address these two issues. Eleven active speakers of Japanese, at two proficiency levels, were asked to think aloud--in the language of…

Examined writers' use of lexical repetition changes in relation to writing topic, cultural background, and development of writing ability. Multiple regression analysis indicates writing ability measures are the most important variables for predicting changes in repetition usage, with less significant effects found for cultural background.…

Reports on language shift on a micro level in a study carried out on 10 cross-language English/Afrikaans marriages. Explores the language dynamics, attitudes, and usage patterns within these families, and reports on the relative levels of success in achieving family bilingualism. Provides an overview of factors influencing language usage in these…