This paper gives a contrastive analysis of noun phrases in English and Chinese. The syntactic features of the structures, the devices used to mark distinctions in number, case and gender, as well as the similarities and differences between English and Chinese relative clauses are discussed. Partly due to the documented differences between these…

A notable difference between signed and spoken languages is the use of nonmanual linguistic signals that co-occur with the production of signs. These nonmanual signals involve primarily the face and upper torso and are an important feature of American Sign Language (ASL). They include grammatical markers that indicate syntactic categories such as…

This guide is intended for speakers of the Chippewa (Ojibwa) language who read and write in English but would like to develop their reading and writing skills in Chippewa. The writing system used is one developed by Charles Fiero and is only one of many possible standardized writing systems for Chippewa. It was selected by the Chippewa Language…

The construction of general linguistic theories is subject to errors of fact and perspective. The theoretical linguist is inclined by the nature of his work to fall into such errors because he/she is obliged to generalize about many languages on the basis of research done in one or a few. The scope of this task inevitably leads to a failure to…

The Thai Discourse Analysis Project seeks to provide a description of linguistic structures of importance in understanding the nature of Thai speech. Previous studies have been limited, and restricted to consideration of the written language and "literary" speech. The project consists of three phases: the acquisition of recorded texts,…

An approach to reading instruction utilizing communicative styles from the black community is suggested by the metatheoretical framework outlined in this essay. The social class constructs, language deficit models, case histories, surrealistic rhetoric and lyrical quality of black discourse can be conceptualized within the context of the following…

After a discussion of the code-emphasis versus phonics-emphasis controversy, strategies for improving the teaching of decoding skills are presented. It is recommended (1) that only those phonic generalizations that are of high utility be taught, and revisions of phonics generalizations be made to make them even more inclusive and useful; (2) that…

Syntactic differences between languages are the focus of attention in this approach to contrastive study of grammatical categories. The categories of the first language are listed in a "translation-paradigm" opposite the possible categories of the target language after translation of the corpus. Three examples which contrast the clause, verbal…

The relevance of a specific linguistic concept--deep structure--to reading comprehension was investigated. The sample consisted of 87 fifth-grade students who were of above-average intelligence. To study the relationship of children's skill at recovering the deep structure of sentences to reading comprehension, the Deep Structure Recovery Test…

This text compiles papers treating problems in literary analysis which were read at a conference at the University of Toronto, Canada. Papers include: (1) "Elements Phonostylistiques du Texte Litteraire," (2) Some uses of the Grammar in Poetic Analysis, (3) "Morphosyntaxe et Stylistique," (4) "Le Lexique dans l'Oeuvre Litteraire," (5) "Analyse…

A discussion of a semantic approach to teaching these particles. The meaning of -zhe can be best characterized as "incompleteness.' Another characteristic of -zhe in a simple sentence is to change an action verb into a stative one. -Ne in conjunction with -zhe mitigates the incompleteness represented by -zhe. (Author/AMH)

Presents an analysis of noun phrases in which the definite article is used and omitted. Several studies are reviewed and two types of occurrences are distinguished: direct (agent, instrument, object) and oblique (locative, dative). The relationships, perceptible in the deep structure, are blurred in the transformations leading to surface…

Discusses how the different conceptions of a "private world" between native English speakers and native Chinese speakers can result in misunderstandings. The study examines the semantic structures of two Chinese categories, "si" (i.e., private, selfish, illegal) and "gong" (i.e., public, unselfish, official). Results…

Two studies are reported in which the following theory is tested: the agrammatic sentence form that is observed in the spontaneous speech of Broca's aphasics is attributable to the selection of elliptical syntactic structures in which the slots for many of the closed-class words that appear in complete sentences are lacking. (54 references)…

Supports the theory of level ordering by demonstrating, on the basis of productive morphology and phonology, that Turkish has four lexical levels. The first is the principle of Level Economy, which accounts for systematic exceptionality. The second is Level Prespecification, which exempts a root entirely from early lexical levels. Both of these…