The duration and timing of the context is which letters occur is shown to influence the perceptibility of the target in experiments demonstrating that early on enhanced word presentations and pronounceable-pseudoword contexts increase letter perceptibility. The perceptibility of letters in strings sharing several or few letters with words is…

An investigation of word-by-word time-course of spoken language understanding focused on word recognition and structural and interpretative processes. Results supported an online interactive language processing theory, in which lexical, structural, and interpretative knowledge sources communicate and interact during processing efficiently and…

Compares the language usage of a working-class couple and a small-town mayor. Uses a Marxian rhetorical perspective to connect language styles and class distinctions. Considers the educational implications of this connection. (RL)

Proposes that dialogue provides children with opportunities to participate with adults in creating linguistic relationships of which they would be incapable alone. Reports the findings of a study of dialogues between mothers and their young children. (FL)

It is argued that informed judgments by a thoughtful teacher may have advantages over the application of a readability formula in assessing the linguistic difficulty of a text. Examples are given. (KC)

Presents reasons for the current upsurge in interest in oral reading errors, including theoretical shifts in how the process of learning to read is to be viewed and evaluated. Stresses the difference between descriptive and linguistic error analysis and develops leads that have emerged from studies using linguistic error analysis. (Author/FL)

Examines "Head Movement" in internally headed relative clauses (IHRCs). The article shows that in some cases, head movement to an external position need not take place and demonstrates that this movement of the head to a sentence-internal position results from the quantificational nature of IHRCs and Diesing's mapping hypothesis (1990,…

Describes a study that explores the perceptions that children (N=36) have about what it means to engage in mathematics. The study, which took place in reform-minded classrooms, concludes that children have a variety of perceptions and most do not feel that success is determined by speed and accuracy. Contains 20 references. (DDR)

Explores the consequences of an implicit theoretical assumption for discourse analysis and argues that the traditional notion of verb as a simple word class is insufficient to characterize the full range of verbal expressions speakers routinely use in discourse. (26 references) (CK)

Examines phonological changes illustrating the changing nature of Hong Kong Cantonese (HKC). The article describes the historical development of syllable-initial consonants, such as nasals, affricates and coronal fricatives, and also the syllable-final stops and nasals in HKC. (24 references) (Author/CK)

Discusses the role of the infinitive in Russian verbal morphology, and points out the advantage of the single-stem system of analyzing and presenting Russian verbs. (32 references) (Author/OD)

Demonstrates second-language acquisition (L2) is module and parameter sensitive. It is proposed that the acquisition of English by adult Japanese speakers is sensitive to the agreement parameter as well as the principle of structural government. (45 references) (GLR)

Briefly characterizes the view of context most widely used in applied linguistics and language teaching. Research about some of the parameters that contribute to greater or lesser conceptual difficulty is outlined. Research about the role of intentionality and causality in narrative is also described. (Author/CB)

Proposes that the optional subject phenomenon in early child language arises because children have not yet acquired the morphological elements (primarily modal and tense) necessary to distinguish subject-taking verbs (e.g., finite verbs) from their non-subject-taking counterparts (e.g., infinitives). (Author/CB)

Describes the International Corpus of Learner English (ICLE), a project at the University of Louvain in Belgium that collects written work from, and analyzes the usage of, advanced adult English as a Foreign Language learners. Recurring combinations and concordances in ICLE are examined. (Contains five references.) (MDM)