A review of studies on children's syntactic development in Spanish focused on their use of subordinate clauses within complex sentences. Results suggested that, although they made some developmental gains from 2 years of age, 10-year-olds had not acquired the full range of semantic and syntactic expression characteristic of adult use of…

Explores data regarding the elision and epenthesis of the Spanish intervocalic /y/ and the underspecification of Spanish vowels and semivowels. Results lead to the proposal that such elision results from the Obligatory Contour Principle, operating on an autosegmental tier defining front vowels and /y/. (56 references) (CB)

Examines how Spanish is taught to Hispanic bilinguals. Discussion focuses on how the oral proficiency movement directly affects the teaching of native Spanish speakers. Key issues and problems stemming from the language teaching profession's attempts to apply the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages/Educational Testing Service…

The dequeismo phenomenon is occurring more frequently in spoken Spanish in both Spain and in Latin America. Introduction of the preposition "de" before "que" in nominal complements exploits one recourse in Spanish, namely the deictic capacity of prepositional "de" as a marker or introducer of the speaker's…

Multiple regression analysis of data regarding college students' oral proficiency in using the present subjunctive after residence in a Spanish-speaking country found a significant positive relationship between length of residence and subjunctive proficiency, and a nonstatistically significant positive relationship between formal study and…

Reviews some features of the vernacular variety of Brazilian Portuguese that occur in the colloquial speech of educated persons, focusing on pronominal complements, reflexives, verb forms, verb tenses, and noun/modifier agreement. (CB)

Examines how six major areas of foreign language education in Florida have been significantly affected by the proficiency movement. These areas include oral testing, curricular goals, instructional materials, teaching methods, state and county initiatives, and standards of achievement for teachers and students. (11 references) (GLR)

Examines the Brazilian Portuguese use of verb tenses in oral narrative episodes as a device to mark certain utterances that have a cohesive function in relating the episode to the overall purpose of the narrative, facilitating the listener's interpretation of the discourse in a global fashion. (CB)

A review of research concerning bilingual (English and Spanish) Chicanos' use of code-switching during spontaneous oral narrative indicates that such code-switching may be organized to achieve more dramatic effects through personalizing (as opposed to objectionalizing) certain parts of the narrative and through techniques of foregrounding and…

Analysis of the literature of second language learning as applied to language laboratory use suggests that the emphasis be placed on listening comprehension prior to and independent of productive oral use of the target language, both to establish comprehension and to sustain student motivation. (MSE)

Examines such universal linguistic phenomena as simplification, overgeneralization, transfer, analysis, and convergence, and their corresponding theories regarding creolization, language acquisition, and language loss. A study of the Spanish verb system of Los Angeles bilinguals indicates that the continuous influx of new Spanish-speaking…