Studied conversation in a role play of assertive behavior of 58 college students and compared this with stylistic complexity derived from publications on assertiveness training. Results showed that for both samples assertive speakers used significantly more words, phrases and clauses than passive speakers. (LLL)

Analyzed pieces of verbal protocol in a group (N=13), demonstrating structures of cognition and language as they pertain to numbers occurring in verbal productions. Analysis suggested that these linguistic anomolies, though atypical, are not anomalous but are clear cases representing processes of cognition and language. (LLL)

An analysis of long-distance anaphora, a binding phenomenon in which reflexives find their antecedents outside their local domain, is presented, using data from English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Icelandic, and Italian. It is found that no approach deals with long-distance anaphors exclusively and elegantly. The binding domain…

A descriptive introduction to the Vietnamese language is presented. An introductory chapter gives an overview of the population using Vietnamese, its affiliation with Chinese and other languages, dialects, role in religion, history, writing systems, syllabic structure, and body language. Chapter 2 describes its sound system, syllable boundaries,…

Four papers on Native American languages include these: "Reduplicated Numerals in Salish" (Gregory D. S. Anderson), which analyzes these patterns in Salish and compares them with other Salish languages; "Unitariness and Partial Identification in the Bella Coola Middle Voice" (David Beck), which argues for a single morpheme,…

Describes and suggests the significance of syntactic imagery, poetic effects created through expressive grammatical structures. (MM)

Compares discourse in several different media and finds that strict sequentiality is not a universal feature of discourse. Concludes that discourse in nonreal time media, such as electronic message systems, has multiple threads. (FL)

Reports on a classroom experiment testing the hypothesis that the distance across which readers must integrate information is a factor in reading comprehension. Concludes that secondary school students found it more difficult to resolve semantic relationships beyond the sentence than those within the sentence. (FL)

Describes a study designed to test if, when children describe actions, they consider the role an entity plays in an action, independent of the animateness of the entity. Results indicate that young children have relational intentions which are independent of animateness. (EKN)

Reveals that the important connectives in industrial arts textbooks are different from those found in textbooks for other subject areas. Provides a framework of connectives designed to help teachers prepare instructional materials. (FL)

Four experiments were conducted to determine the source of difficulty of Wason's THOG problem. The THOG problem permits examination of the way people tackle a novel hypothetico-deductive problem. The results are interpreted as demonstrating the importance of problem presentation in problem solving. (Author/PN)

Describes a reading experiment with two groups of English speaking children attending French immersion programs. The two groups, from grades 3 and 6 respectively, were tested in both English and French for their ability to recognize spelling patterns and to make positive transfers from one language to the other. (MES)

Reports part of a continuing project to develop a theory of children's first-language acquisition using computer modeling techniques. Notes the correspondence of structures formed by the computer program with recognized structures in English. Discusses anomalies in the program's performance. (RL)

Shows, by discussing presupposition and speech acts, that the interplay between background information and linguistic surface is highly subtle and complex. These ideas are not always obvious to teachers, let alone English as a Foreign Language students. An examination of background information and speaker's intentions will facilitate an…

Examines structural ties that children use to join their sentences into a coherent paragraph or composition. (HTH)