Offers a detailed analysis of the English suffix "-ee" (employee, refugee, etc.) based on 1,500 naturally occurring tokens of 500 word types. Argues that certain semantic constraints, taken together, amount to a special-purpose thematic role that actively constrains productive use of derivational morphology. (Author/MSE)

Argues that a 1997 study of WH-movement in American Sign Language (ASL) proposing leftward syntactic movement uses incorrect interpretations of the data and can not account for the facts of the language. A previously-proposed position that ASL WH-phrases move rightward, and that universal grammar must allow the option of rightward movement, is…

Tests hypotheses from the model for contact-induced language change as formulated in Thomason and Kaufman (1998) and Thomason (1998). The model correctly predicts the asymmetries between the mutual influences of the Germanic and Romance varieties in Brussels, Belgium and Strasbourg, France, making it a very powerful tool for describing the…

Summarizes a keynote address that tested hypotheses from the model for contact-induced language change as formulated in Thomason and Kaufman (1998) and Thomason (1998). The model correctly predicts the asymmetries between the mutual influences of the Germanic and Romance varieties in Brussels, Belgium and Strasbourg, France, making it a very…

Seven peer commentaries are provided in response to a paper that tested hypotheses from a model for contact-induced language change as formulated in Thomason and Kaufman (1998) and Thomason (1998). The model correctly predicts asymmetries between mutual influences of Germanic and Romance varieties in Brussels, Belgium and Strasbourg, France,…

Responds to peer commentaries written in response to a paper examining the model for contact-induced language change as formulated in Thomason and Kaufman (1998) and Thomason (1998). The model correctly predicts asymmetries between mutual influences of Germanic and Romance varieties in Brussels, Belgium and Strasbourg, France, making it a very…

Language patterns of family business owners were explored by identifying discourse styles and emphasized ideas in four presenting contexts: business, family, intersection of family and business, and business success. The content analysis supports the existence of a general discourse style within family businesses and of similarities and…

The dominant viewpoint regarding phonologically driven speech errors is that segments are the units responsible behind the errors. The goal of this paper is to illustrate the point that other potential candidates for explaining these speech errors, which have gone largely unnoticed, provide a better explanatory framework for speech errors than do…

Clark and Fox Tree (2002) have presented empirical evidence, based primarily on the London-Lund corpus (LL; Svartvik & Quirk, 1980), that the fillers "uh" and "um" are conventional English words that signal a speaker's intention to initiate a minor and a major delay, respectively. We present here empirical analyses of "uh" and "um" and of silent…

The Lexical Approach (LA) is founded on the belief that, in order to achieve a high level of accuracy "with fluency," learners of a foreign language need to commit to memory vast numbers of multi-word expressions. However, since it is far from clear that the methodology currently associated with the LA holds out well-founded hope that phrase…

There is no question that English, and especially American English, enjoys high prestige among German speakers. This popularity resulted in a growing importation of English loans into German. The influence is decidedly asymmetrical. In this article, the author discusses the English language's influence on German, covering: (1) a brief history of…

Studies on classroom interaction have typically focused on relationships between turn-taking patterns and some larger unit of analysis of varying length and nature. However, two questions still left unanswered are how teachers talk differently from students in general and how linguistic variation between two participants might relate to…

Purpose: This study tests the hypothesis that toddlers with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) will show differences from contrast groups in preferences for attending to speech. Method: This study examined auditory preferences in toddlers with ASD and matched groups of (a) typical age-mates, (b) age-mates with nonautistic developmental disabilities,…

We show how emergence offers new explanations for the behaviour of metaphorically-used expressions. Analysis of metaphors in two types of natural language data are combined: detailed analysis of continuous discourse, which offers wealth of context and the possibility of monitoring emergent forms as the discourse unfolds, and computer-assisted…

Background: This project examined the intermodal perception of temporal synchrony in 16 young children (ages 4 to 6 years) with autism compared to a group of children without impairments matched on adaptive age, and a group of children with other developmental disabilities matched on chronological and adaptive age. Method: A preferential looking…