Discusses the cognitive processes involved in constructing linear orderings from pairwise relationships of information items. Examines the effects that sentence types used in presenting information have on these processes, and tests two models designed to clarify the acquisition of spatial knowledge and the processing of locative and comparative…

Uncertainty was researched as a perceptual structure which mediates the transition from sensorimotor activity to language. The guiding notions are that the attentional system is geared to uncertainty from the beginning of life and that a speaker's language use is coordinated with this system as it emerges. (Author)

Study examined native Japanese speakers at two levels of English language experience and compared performance to native American-English speakers to determine whether Japanese-English bilinguals with intensive experience conversing with native English speakers would identify and discriminate /r/ and /l/ perception. Concludes that native Japanese…

This experiment investigated whether three- and four-year-old children show systematic preferences for animate or inanimate nouns to function as actors and objects of simple active and passive voice sentences. The children had to choose from several toys a suitable referent for a nonsense word used in a sentence. (Author)

Transcripts of 11 young children's speech to adults were found to include hints and question directives. (FL)

Reviews the book that reports the results of research conducted by Edward Klima, Ursula Bellugi, and others. The book aims to show American Sign Language as a true language and to detail the representational devices that the language employs. A chapter by chapter summary of the reported research is given. (PJM)

Contains status reports of research in three areas of speech production: functional properties of the speech production apparatus, control principles underlying speech production, and the biological basis of the speech production process. (RL)

Considers three different topics in speech research from the viewpoint of the physiology of the speech production mechanism: laryngeal control for voicing distinctions, articulatory dynamics in normal and dysarthric cases, and central mechanism of skilled movements. Includes a summary of a discussion on speech production. (RL)

Notes the parallels between N. Chomsky and M. Halle's "The Sound Pattern of English" and A. N. Whitehead and B. Russell's "Principia Mathematica." Uses these parallels to distinguish "formalist" v "substance-based" generative phonology. Suggests that a modification of the "formalist" program is ultimately more satisfactory than the…

Notes that the empirical research in language psychology can be helpful in reorganizing the domain of literary studies. Presents a survey of the major considerations in regard to such an undertaking and provides a specific demonstration. (FL)

Concludes that (1) conditions that precipitate vocabulary acquisition (appealing sound, "adultness," strong emotion, peer usage) are closely associated with both social affect and social environment and that (2) words are rarely learned as a result of traditional teaching methods. (FL)

Presents analyses of problems in translating the French structure "'etre' plus past participle" in English, German, and Spanish. (AM)

Describes what happens phonetically when the posterior A-vowel in French loses its phonemic significance. Posterior /A/ and anterior /a/ are contrasted using new information on the current phonetic status of this vowel. (NCR)

Elaborates on an earlier work that shows how the relaxation of certain grammatical constraints provides clues to variation in language usage. Demonstrates how style shifting may contribute to variation. (NCR)

Explores the hypothesis that representation, as measured by object permanence attainment, is the main prerequisite for language acquisition. Differing definitions of representation, differing assumptions about cognitive stages, and differing criteria for assessing cognitive abilities such as object permanence may account for some of the divergent…