This paper discusses Esperanto as a planned language and refutes three myths connected to it, namely, that Esperanto is achronical, atopical, and apragmatic. The focus here is on a synchronic analysis. Synchronic variability is studied with reference to the structuralist determination of "marginality" and the dynamic linguistic…

This paper suggests that new approaches are needed in the study of language standardization. One such approach is the consideration of standardization in terms of processes, i.e., in terms of series of related events, rather than as a group of unrelated discrete happenings. Borrowing is one recurring feature in language standardization, and in…

Bull (1965) has proposed that grammatical gender in Spanish is not an intrinsic characteristic of nouns but rather a matter of matching terminal sounds of nouns with those of adjectives and determiners. One implication of this theory is that the child has a cognitive understanding of the matching of terminal noun sounds with particular adjective…

This is a comparative analysis of the Japanese and American languages and cultures. The following are discussed: verbs, kinship terms, category terms, apologies and thanks, honorifics and postpositional particles, and levels of usage. A final section relates conclusions about linguistic patterns to culture patterns. (AM)

Seven objective measures of language production--number of words, T-units, subordinate clauses, clauses of all types, words per clause, words per T-unit, and clauses per T-unit--were applied to 269 compositions written by seventh, ninth, and 11th graders to test assumptions about the relationships between quality of writing and students' age and…

Although spelling instruction has traditionally treated almost every spelling word as requiring a separate learning act, recent research indicates that over 90% of American-English orthography actually is determined by a set of rules for unit phoneme-grapheme relationships, based with decreasing productivity upon three levels of…

Because of the vast differences between the ghetto child and the middle class child in home environment, parental models, language development, and the ability and desire to communicate, an elementary school language program which will educate both must differ radically from traditional orientations and practices. Such a program should provide the…

A delineation of the differences between speaking and writing should clarify the functions and possible future of prose. Speech has a speaker to provide language with inflectional stress and a visible audience to respond immediately to that language. On the other hand, prose ("an art of written language")--which is separated in time from an…

Although technical and social engineering and planning have made tremendous progress, an almost prescientific attitude regarding language planning still prevails in some linguistic circles. (Language planning is defined here as the "methodical activity of regulating and improving existing languages or creating new common regional, national or…

This study of 10 intonation curves, representative of speech patterns in French, entails spectrographic analysis of the variations of fundamental frequency, intensity, and duration. Discriminatory auditory tests are based on semantic oppositions caused by single intonation contrasts. The seven distinctive classes called "intonemes" are: (1) minor…

At vowel onset following unvoiced consonants in /h-cvc/ utterances spoken by two talkers, Fo began high and fell about seven percent in the first five centiseconds. At closure of voiced oral obstruents, Fo suddenly dipped about ten percent, remained flat, suddenly rose about twenty five percent at opening of closure, and, after vowel onset,…

Reflecting the increasing interest in language by teachers of English, articles in this collection: (1) describe and attempt to justify the exploration of living language as it is actually used--"Learning to Evaluate the Spoken Word" by M. C. Dobson, "Exploring the Language of Persuasion" by Sandra Williams, and "Language at Work" by J. H. G.…

This programmed workbook and test booklet is designed for use with the Unit I reader for the beginning audiolingual Latin course. The workbook allows the student to work without direct teacher aid, to work and review at his own speed, to correct answers immediately, and to pursue good independent study habits. Like the reader, the workbook is…

This paper presents a rationale for a disclosure approach to value analysis and describes the components of this approach, which involves student construction of value profiles of his own mythic thought, or mental framework, vis a vis a specified concept. The rationale is discussed in terms of the relationship between value study and mythic…

It is possible to perform a structural analysis of similar conversations and define units within particular types of conversations to discover the regularities underlying the considerable variation in natural communication. Convergent communication consisting of an exchange of information in pursuit of a mutually agreed upon goal can be seen as a…