Tests competing hypotheses concerning the source of cross-linguistic communication difficulty. Subjects rated four versions of Chinese-produced English discourse for comprehensibility. Results indicated that the effect of discourse miscues on comprehensibility was highly significant, whereas there was no significant effect for order of ideas. (45…

Discusses a rhetorical competence theory that is primarily concerned with an abstract understanding of the rhetorical and cognitive processes that underlie rhetorical acts. Presents the theory as an analogical system based on the four master tropes: metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony. Draws upon the systems of analogical reasoning, problem…

Examination of oral proficiency interview discourse suggests that the extent of interviewer accommodation is an overlooked criterion for gauging the authenticity of the interview as simulated conversational interaction and that misplaced accommodation could threaten interview validity and the rating process. (61 references) (Author/CB)

Presents a comprehensive study of a select set of conversational texts to establish the following: (1) the texts are Indian in formal linguistic terms, (2) there are discoursal markers (interactional features) that are Indian or are, at least, "nativized" in Indian English. (seven references) (GLR)

Examines the activity of storytelling at dinnertime in English-speaking, Caucasian-American families. Demonstrates that, through the process of story conarration, family members draw upon and stimulate critical social, cognitive, and linguistic skills that underlie scientific and other scholarly discourse. (SR)

Demonstrates that in spoken discourse many clauses introduced by "subordinating conjunctions" are actually neither structurally nor informationally subordinate. Suggests that the study of linguistic complexity must include spoken as well as written discourse and take account of cultural and situational language contexts. (SR)

In an examination of patterns of cohesion devices in conversations, this study measured variances in high- and low-competent communicators. It demonstrates that the cohesive strategies exhibit differences attributable to the cognitive models that speakers use to hold information "in focus" and thereby establish meaning. (Contains 38 references.)…

Two books are reviewed: "The Discourse of Advertising," by Guy Cook, and "Competing Discourses, Perspectives and Ideology in Language," by David Lee. Each focuses on several issues central to discourse studies as the catalyst of critical thought and critique of traditional methods in language and linguistics. (Contains one…

Analysis of the distribution of punctors, a class of markers commonly classified as nervous tics, fillers, or signs of hesitation, in one corpus of French is presented. Some aspects of their conditioning are explained in terms of the interaction of etymological, discursive, syntactic, and social constraints. (Author/MSE)

Introduces a multistate probabilistic causal chain notation for describing the knowledge structures implicitly represented by the subjective conditional probability distribution. Proposes a psychological process model of how story comprehension and recall processes operate using causal chain representations. Compares the model's story-recall…

Using a discourse interview method, the way that professionals read resumes was investigated. Results showed that professional readers shared a special inferential reading of resumes; however they did not share the kind of consistent reading that might result in a formula of how to write resumes. Shortcomings of popular prescriptions for writing…

Analyzes judicial rhetoric in U.S. Supreme Court civil liberties cases. Finds three related inventional strands: a rhetoric of efficiency, an evolving reasonableness standard, and appeals to tradition and majoritarian morality. Shows how these rhetorical turns have redefined the Court's role and transformed the Court from the guardian of…

This article challenges the assumption that actors, action, spatial scenes, and temporal events are primitives out of which narratives are formed. Then, a number of empirical investigations are presented of how children of different ages and languages differentiate between language forms and functions in their construction of actors, actions,…

The work of two theorists are compared by focusing on a limited number of central issues for a language-based theory of learning (LTL), including long-term goals and a genetic approach; language and social activity; appropriating culture; thinking in school; sociosemantic variation; enculturation; and intellectual consequences. The combined…

Provides an acoustic profile of the prosody of right-dislocations in French, using the CECIL computer hardware and software package to analyze 28 right-dislocations occurring in a corpus of natural French discourse. It was found that, although right-dislocations appear to fulfill various functional roles in discourse, no correlation appears…