Describes a mental game in which (1) the identification of some vividly recalled literary excerpt is postponed and, instead, the source is described as much as possible and (2) the source is identified and checked to see if the description accurately represents it. Uses this game to discuss the relation between speech and literary discourse. (JD)

Discusses Mikhail Bakhtin's vision of the continuous affluence of language and claims it celebrates the polymeric nature of discourse as opposed to the traditional triangular paradigm which proves hopelessly inadequate.

Indicates that, of the 11 types of regrettable messages that people reported, most (1) were said to those with whom they had a close relationship, (2) resulted from unchecked drives or feelings, and (3) were recognized and regretted immediately. (JD)

The first study indicates that (1) both messages and message sources differed significantly as a function of the sophistication of the strategies employed by the message source and (2) female sources were more positively evaluated than male sources. The second study reveals that evaluations of comforting messages varied as a direct, linear…

Discusses glosses, that is, formulations which, on their occurrence, are adequate but which turn out to have been incomplete, ambiguous and perhaps misleading. Examines the ways in which a coparticipant's activities may result in a speaker either maintaining or revealing the gloss. (SED)

Presents a model of rhetoric based on territorial motives. Suggests five general principles for analyzing the territorial content of discourse and discusses territorial rhetoric and rhetorical theory, territoriality and style, and two fallacies of criticism. (EL)

Illustrates the existence of meanings in conversation that are not based on the listener's interpretations by analyzing the conversations from a family therapy session. Transcripts of the conversations are appended. (HTH)

Describes a study of the use of the terms "will" and "gonna" in the speech of two three-year-old girls. The results suggest that one of the functions of "will" and "gonna" is to impart different causal relations to the two practices of "undertaking" and "planning." (HTH)

Advances the development of a classification system, based on the salient speech act distinctions made by ordinary people, which can be of practical use in characterizing extended segments of discourse. Presents an attempt to use speech act theory in the quantitative study of interpersonal communication. (HTH)

It is proposed that, in regard to the question of whether linguistic theory is a friend of the literary translator, the imposed opposition of theory and practice gets in the way of working from the basis of the implied discourse that supports literature's communicative function. (MSE)

The concept of information as it is used in ordinary discourse is elucidated, using philosophical methods of conceptual analysis. Five essential and four derivative properties of the phenomena of information are identified. This information concept is contrasted with several proposed concepts in information theory literature, communication theory,…

Shows that Antin's talk poems satisfy basic needs. Discusses Antin's view on an art that addresses the concerns of "common life" and concentrates on feelings that do not depend on elaborate and evasively self-sustaining formal constructs. (EL)

Presents results of a study indicating that constructive and dramatic play contexts affected language to the extent that children use more exophora in the constructive context and more linguistic verbs, third-person pronouns, and displaced reference tenses in the dramatic context. (HTH)

Analyzes salutations in 75 letters of application. The 28 applicants who used masculine greetings used four different forms. The 47 who used sex-neutral greetings used 19 different forms. Looks at the applicants' qualifications, sex, and region of the country in which they live as factors influencing the writers' choices of salutations. (SED)

Describes some of the major structural features of the modern Japanese written language as they are manifested at the level of graphology. (FL)