Reports the results of three experiments investigating comprehension and memory for slang metaphors. The experiments examine the thesis that the special pragmatic properties of slang should make these metaphorical expressions easy to understand and remember, especially since speakers frequently share information about the conventional meaning of…

Describes two experiments which examined the way in which kindergarteners, first graders, and adults spell syllables like /spa/,/sta/, and /ska/. The proportion of voiced spellings was found to decrease with reading level. The nonstandard spellings were fairly prevalent among children, but almost nonexistent among adults. (SED)

Discusses research which shows that bilinguals in a word recognition task are able to process the words of a language in a language-specific manner without any influence of their knowledge of the surface or conceptual represenations of words in the other language. (EKN)

Investigates the drawing of two types of inferences in English as a second language--presuppositions and implications--from English sentences containing factive and implicative predicates. Results show (1) better comprehension of implied meaning over presupposed meaning, (2) better performance on semantically positive predicative then on…

Contrasts two definitions of communication strategies: the interactional definition in which the central function is the negotiation of meaning, and the psycholinguistic definition in which communication strategies are related to individual language users' experience of communicative problems and the solutions they pursue. (EKN)

Teachers of communication are aware that communication contains both content and relationship dimensions, or style and substance, which deliver attitudes and ideas to an audience. The key in transmission of meaning is how the sender selects each word or delivery device to trigger the desired response in the receiver. How style influences substance…

Appraises some of the major research in Spanish-English code-switching which has implications for determining the linguistic competence of bilinguals and the manner in which the two languages are represented in the cognitive apparatus. (EKN)

Emphasizes that, in order to comprehend, a reader must chunk the many words of a sentence into meaningful groups of words. Offers suggestions for developing "thought units" in the upper grades. (FL)

Discusses how paralinguistics information of a voice is remembered without apparent intent and concludes that this happens because the connotation of the voice influences the meaning of what is being said. (EKN)

Describes a semantic priming task using both words and pictures as primes and targets in an investigation of the order of access to certain kinds of stored information. Results suggest that naming represents a shallower level of processing than categorization for both words and pictures. (EKN)

Investigates the role of story schemata (setting, theme, resolution, plot, etc.) in adults' metacognitive monitoring of overall knowledge of stories. (EKN)

A standard reaction time procedure and a response signal procedure were used on data from eight experiments on semantic verifications. Results suggest that simple models of the semantic verification task that assume a single yes/no dimension on which discrimination is made are not correct. (Author/PN)

The purpose of the present experiment was to compare the effects of conceptual and orthographic distinctiveness on recall, clustering, and subjects' verbal reports of mnemonic strategies. Although recall was facilitated by both conceptual and orthographic isolation, the two manipulations produced clear differences in the other dependent measures.…

Invites a different look at metaphorical abstraction in hopes of raising realizations about language processes, writing processes, and the mental activities involved in both. (RL)

Describes five experiments in which instructions to rehearse previously presented pictures increased the likelihood of their being identified in a later test. Results show recognition was higher for cued than uncued pictures and that the effect of cuing diminished as the lag between presentation and cuing was increased. (Author/BK)