Proposes, as a follow-up to a previous article about applying a phonological reading model to technical communication, that educators and practitioners of technical communication would benefit from a thorough understanding of the speech instinct. Explores the speech instinct, how humans developed it, and how it has been and still is fostered by…

A summary on the state of the art of communication apprehension and reticence by two great adversaries. Concludes that empirical research has now matured to a point where it can spawn a practical technology. (PD)

Explores use of phrase 'taken for granted' including 'accept as true' and 'to fail to give subject's due.' Suggests latter usage has been noticed by few dictionary compilers, and EFL learners find it difficult to use and understand. (Author/BK)

Recounts examples of incorrect language usage involving redundancies, such as "revert back," and "in the modern world of today." (RS)

The paper argues that listeners are unable to judge unit-by-unit occurrences of stuttering acceptably. Reasons for this state of affairs and its implications for therapy, theory, and research are analyzed. An alternative speech production definition with its implications is proposed, and a diagnostic method of validating authentic stuttering is…

Conversational style often overrides what is said, affecting who gets heard and what gets done. Women's linguistic styles often make them seem less competent and self-assured than they are. Better understanding of speech styles will make managers better listeners and communicators. (SK)

Answers some of William Page's criticisms (see preceding article, EJ 227 456) regarding the use of rhetoritherapy v behavior therapy to deal with students who exhibit communication apprehension. Argues that rhetoritherapy deals with people who have problems, not with problems. It is concerned with what can be done about the problem, not what the…

Conversations are cooperatively achieved speech events. In introducing a new topic, there are specific procedures followed to close the old topic. Because these procedures take place over a series of utterances, both/all participants must cooperate to close a topic. Analysis of conversations among adults who know each other suggests that there are…

The pronunciation and use of /s/ in the isleno dialect of Spanish, a dying language spoken in a small ethnic enclave in southeast Louisiana, is examined. Today, there are fewer than 20 fluent speakers of isleno Spanish, which has been described as a fossilized derivative of the speech of Canary Island peasants with additions from Spanish sailors.…

Contrasts Japanese language habits with Western language habits, asserting that Japanese need to speak more concisely, express themselves clearly and frankly, and eliminate superfluous polite language and preliminaries in order to be successful in the efficiency-oriented civilization that is a product of Western culture. (RAE)

Introduces and comments on articles in this symposium issue. Contends that speech teachers have methods to overcome communication problems. Challenges them to sort their methods out, test and phrase them in clear language, document assertions from their own classroom investigations, and eventually build a theory to help people improve their…

Offers an appreciation of the work of Ring Lardner, and especially of his humorous use of the vernacular. Laments that so much of Lardner's writing is no longer in print. (RBW)

Introduces alternative approach to a controversial issue in Czech linguistics--the semantics of verbs of the type "rikavat,""delavat," and so on. The article demonstrates that these verbs can be called habitual verbs in the Peircean sense of the term "habit," and the key to the semantics of these verbs is recognizing…

A discussion of women's oral discourse patterns focuses on the uses made of minimal responses, hedges, and tag questions. The analysis draws on transcriptions of conversations among a group of women friends over a period of months. It is proposed that the conventional treatment of these forms as "weak" is inappropriate in all-female…

It is argued that second-language classroom communication is often limited by the lack of instructor use of tonic pronouns. Two uses of the pronoun form that should be used from the beginning of the second-language program to promote authentic communication are described. (MSE)