Participants (aged 5-6 yrs, 9-10 yrs and adults) rated (using a five-point scale) grammatical (intransitive) and overgeneralized (transitive causative) uses of a high frequency, low frequency and novel intransitive verb from each of three semantic classes [Pinker, S. (1989a). "Learnability and cognition: the acquisition of argument structure."…

Within a discrete two-stage model of lexicalization, semantic errors and errors of omission are assumed to be independent events. In contrast, cascading and interactive models allow for an influence of word form on lexical selection and thus for an inherent relationship in accounting for both error types. A group of 17 aphasic patients was…

This article investigates how linguistic expressions of time--in particular, temporal adverbs and verb tense morphemes--are used to establish temporal reference at the level of brain physiology. First, a formal semantic analysis of tense and temporal adverbs is outlined. It is argued that computing temporal reference amounts to solving a…

In this response we address some of the significant issues that Tony Brown raised in his analysis and critique of the Special Issue of "Educational Studies in Mathematics" on "Semiotic perspectives in mathematics education" (Saenz-Ludlow & Presmeg, Educational Studies in Mathematics 61(1-2), 2006). Among these issues are conceptualizations of…

Tutorials and digital learning objects provide librarians a quick, concise mechanism for delivering information and training on a wide range of library topics. The semiotic theory promoted by Charles Sanders Peirce (Wiener, 1958) and Howard Smith (2005) contains implications for enhancing the effectiveness of library tutorials through the…

In response to uneven academic outcomes and resistance to reading and writing among ELLs in a Canadian grade 7 classroom, teachers and university-based researchers collaborated to introduce a podcast project in which children learned new digital and multimodal literacy skills as a pathway to success in academic literacies. Throughout the four…

The present study builds on previous research, which demonstrated higher levels of depressive and interpersonal conflict language in first-person narrative accounts of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicide attempt (SA) in borderline personality disorder. The present study was designed to examine the semantic similarity of time-sequences…

Pictures are rarely used as the principal research material in research on the teaching profession. This article presents the central analytical concepts and method development of such a study. The research material consisted of pictures that art student teachers created from a given theme: Who are you as a teacher? The theoretical frame combines…

In this article, I explore the role of semiotic import (Van Leeuwen, 2005) in the composing processes of three bilingual students (six to seven years old) emerging as writers of English. Using social semiotic (Van Leeuwen, 2005) and design (New London Group, 2000) frameworks, I trace a qualitative "micro-history" of how the students imported…

In order to explore the impact of a degraded semantic system on the structure of language production, we analysed transcripts from autobiographical memory interviews to identify naturally-occurring speech errors by eight patients with semantic dementia (SD) and eight age-matched normal speakers. Relative to controls, patients were significantly…

This cross-linguistic study investigated Semantic Verbal Fluency (SVF) performance in 30 American English-speaking and 30 Finnish-speaking healthy elderly adults with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Despite the different backgrounds of the participant groups, remarkable similarities were found between the groups in the overall SVF…

This article reports on a case study from a design-based research project that investigated how students make sense of the disciplinary tools they are taught to use, and specifically, what personal, interpersonal, and material resources support this process. The probability topic of binomial distribution was selected due to robust documentation of…

This paper reports a part of a study on the construction of mathematical meanings in terms of development of semiotic systems (gestures, speech in oral and written form, drawings) in a Vygotskian framework, where artefacts are used as tools of semiotic mediation. It describes a teaching experiment on perspective drawing at primary school (fourth…

Framed in theories of new literacies, this article presents the story of Carol, a ninth-grade English teacher, who constructed lessons around semiotic analysis and constructivist learning in multimodal formats as an integral part of her instruction. Her students constructed identities as more competent, literate beings through guided participation…

In this article we report on the 'sense-making' by children of a 'scientist' and 'science'. We investigated these conceptions through drawings by using the Draw-a-Scientist Test (DAST) developed by Chambers. We conducted the research in two urban schools; a public school located in a low-income previously designated black (African) suburb, and a…