Demonstrates through statistical sampling that variability in the use of the so-called Spanish "personal a" can be explained by the importance of the role that marked nouns have in discourse and applies that notion to a case study from Hispanic literature. (CB)

Presents a sequential model describing routine telephone openings. Tests a model against tape recorded and transcribed data in naturally occurring telephone openings. Finds a distinct minority of telephone openings proceed precisely as the model might predict, but that routines do provide templates against which emergent usages are marked. (MS)

Examination of the relationship between linguistic forms and the functions they serve in one- to two-year-olds' (N=6) early talk about agentivity and control found that the subjects systematically employed different self reference forms to mark distinct perspectives on agency. 34 references. (Author/CB)

Uses transcripts of eight aviation accidents and 14 flight simulator sessions to study mitigation. A four-degree scale is developed to quantify the use of mitigation: (1) high mitigation; (2) low mitigation; (3) direct utterance; and (4) aggravation. Mitigation is sensitive to social rank and sometimes less effective than direct utterances in…

An investigation looks at complex English sentences that are used to represent two ordered events and containing "before" or "after" subordinate clauses. It is concluded that text evidence is directly relevant to an understanding of language processing. (25 references) (Author/VWL)

Muriel Spark's "Miss Pinkerton's Apocalypse" deploys major elements of narrative organization to demonstrate, in a very brief text, the nature of literary discourse. Analysis of the narrator's voice, the relationship between the story and the text, and the dialogue show how each explores the narrative's essentially fictive nature. (Author/CB)

Argues that the rhetorical impact of "Agnes of God" stems from the unconventional treatment of dialectical conflict, and from the film's "dialectical disorientation." Discusses rhetorical implications of form, arguing that "Agnes of God" is representative of a class of highly configural films that function to jar…

Examines the 1982 film "The Year of Living Dangerously" to illustrate how an explicit argument may be implicitly enacted in a rhetorical artifact through a rhetor's rhetorical choices. (MM)

Investigates the role of paragraph markings in text: how informative paragraph cues are and how they affect interpretation. Reports one study asking subjects to reinstate deleted paragraph markings. Reports a second study examining the effect of paragraph boundaries on reading time, ratings, and judgment of important ideas in the text. (JAD)

Argues that it was the failure of the decision-making process, rather than the mode of risk assessment, which led to the decision to launch the Space Shuttle Challenger. Identifies the phrasing of the decision question and a shift in the burden of proof as specific problems of the process. (MS)

Examines approaches to discourse and television, working from the specific example of the television situation comedy "Designing Women" to the general functioning of discourse in television narrative. Positions "Designing Women" within the sitcom genre. Suggests that "Designing Women" activates television's…

Critically examines community development assumptions through historical analysis and mapping of political discourse. Using the methods of Foucault, Said, and Gramsci, demonstrates how participatory research, concerned with releasing people's knowledge through transformation, can expose and resist dominant discourses. (SK)

Explains that when organizations face crises, their rhetorical response often follows two steps: assessment of causes leading to the crisis, and a search for potential solutions and preventive measures for the future. States that epideictic rhetoric designed to sustain or regain the organization's reputation is effective in both steps. Examines…

Presents and describes seven pictograms that correspond to the seven common propaganda devices described in another article in this issue. (SR)

Examines the frequency and discourse functions of 752 active transitive clauses in a 66,500-word corpus of 16 research articles in the physical sciences. Finds the overall rate of actives was only 34%, the choice of active voice was often dictated by the demands of information structure, and that the specific discourse functions of active clauses…