It is proposed in this paper that there are two rules involved in Finnish vowel harmony--prescriptive and descriptive. The prescriptive rule requires a back vowel in the suffix whenever there is a back vowel in the root; the descriptive rule lets the value of the last non-neutral vowel spread to the suffix and additionally involves an analysis of…

A syntactic analysis of the behavior of the Japanese causative is presented within the framework of Tree Adjoining Grammar (TAG). Three points are made: (1) certain aspects of the case-marking in the Japanese causative construction can be accounted for if it is assumed that the formation of the causative involves verb-movement, and that…

A discussion of Japanese topic construction argues that topicalization is merely an attachment of the topic particle "wa". It also proposes that other operations associated with this construction, such as movement and base-generation, are not specifically related to topicalization but can be explained in terms of more general rules of…

An examination of the extent to which the polylectal grammar, a unified grammar constructed by a listener that subsumes the dialect differences that he has to cope with in a multidialectal situation, is an appropriate means of modelling listeners' receptive command of dialects other than their native one presents evidence that cross-dialectal…

This report discusses research and theory that explore relationships between comprehension and knowledge acquisition. Studies are reported that indicate the lack of a one-to-one correspondence between initial comprehension activities and abilities to remember. It is noted that the value of comprehensive activities depends on how people must later…

To conceptualize a reader's comprehension of text as a semantic and interpretive processing of information, it is necessary to take note of interactions among persons and texts and conditions under which the texts are to be comprehended. A Computer-Assisted Language Analysis System (CALAS) was constructed which focuses on the text as any…

A general semantics perspective of science fiction writer A. E. van Vogt is presented in this paper. The first major section of the paper contains a biographical sketch of van Vogt and traces the influence of A. Korzybski's work on general semantics, "Science and Sanity," on his writing, while the second major section provides an…

Discusses an approach to translation based on textual linguistics. The student/translator first looks at the foreign language text as a whole, then analyzes its parts, and finally arrives at a new synthesis (the translation) that is comparable to the original text. (CFM)

Proposes that a traditional rule of French grammar concerning the impersonal expression (il + est + adjective + de + infinitive) is so oversimplified as to be fallacious and untenable. (MSE)

A model of the theories people use to explain social phenomena, based on the traditions of structuralist linguistics and political theory, is presented and discussed. How such a model can be used to analyze the ideological content of the social science curriculum is examined. (Author/RM)

The logic of the Japanese language, which differs considerably from that of most Western languages, requires that much analysis be done by the translation process to properly assimilate the intended message. Further research into this is needed to improve both the translation process and training in translation. (MSE)

The use of graphics for teaching the structure of the target language is examined as an extension of the traditional use of graphics to teach vocabulary and text comprehension. The concept is illustrated with examples from several languages. (MSE)

Examines how, under Western influence, punctuation was adopted in Japanese texts in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. (FL)

The dislocation of sentence elements in spoken French is seen as allowing the speaker to free himself from certain constraints imposed on word order, position of accents, and grammar. Dislocation is described, its various functions are enumerated, and implications for second language instruction are outlined. (MSE)

Three lexical decision experiments tested the claim that lexical access is based on a word's basic orthographic syllabic structure (BOSS). No evidence was found that BOSS is a word's unique lexical access entry, and one experiment suggested that morphemic units are more likely to be access codes than purely orthographic units. (MSE)