Presents data that challenge the view that the omission of functional categories by children with specific language impairment is a manifestation of the same immaturity characterizing the grammar of young children without impairment. Data include atypically high omissions or even almost total absence of determiners in the speech productions of a…

This instructor's manual accompanies the student text, "Italian (Programmed), Volume 1," which covers virtually the entire sound system of the Italian language and introduces the basic grammatical categories (gender, number, unit noun markers, person, and tense). The manual contains the instructions on how to use the materials and the following…

The ability of children between the ages of two years and four years, eight months, to produce locative pre- or postpositions was investigated in English, Italian, Serbocroatian, and Turkish to discover universals of conceptual and communicative development. (Author/AM)

Arguments about the existence of language-specific neural systems and specifically about the independence of syntactic and semantic processing have focused on the event-related brain measures (ERPs) as tool to monitoring moment-by-moment the cognitive processes underlaid. In the present experiments, the available evidence indicates that the ERP…

A discussion of young children's production of English utterances with missing constituents focuses on the omission of subjects. The theory that young children have different grammars from those of adults is disputed, and it is suggested that, instead, subjects are omitted due to performance factors. Processing limitations in child language are…

A curriculum guide is presented for three sequential courses in Italian at the senior high school level in the Province of Alberta. The guide includes the following: outlines of goals and objectives, the rationale for the inclusion of Italian in a high school program, specific minimum expectations at the end of the third course for each language…

This book represents, in part, the written record of the "Linguistic Symposium of Romance Languages: Application of Generative Grammar to Their Description and Teaching," held at the University of Florida, Gainesville, in February 1971. The aim of the Symposium was to bring forth contributions in the description of Romance languages, to draw…

Examines the transplantation of dialects of Italian abroad, particularly to Canada. Argues that any discussion of the language of immigrants from Italy has to start from the premise that they brought their dialect, not Italian, to their new home. Conclusions indicate that "Italo-Canadian" shares many linguistic characteristics with…

The distinction between core and peripheral grammar made in government-binding theory sheds light on some questions concerning the acquisition of the inflectional morphology of different languages. The schedule for acquisition of the inflectional system may be determined not by the learning of particular affixes but by whether inflection is a core…

This study analyzes two versions of "Little Red Riding Hood" as told by a bilingual three-year-old girl in English. (CFM)

Derivations of the term "gerund" are examined as they pertain to native English speakers learning French, Italian, and/or Spanish. The form's etymology is chronicled from Latin, and its current usage in student textbooks in the three languages is examined. A solution to the terminological confusion surrounding the term is proposed. (41…

A discussion on the nature of language argues the following: (1) the concept of a closed and finite rule system is inadequate for the description of natural languages; (2) as a consequence, the writing of variable rules to modify such rule systems so as to accommodate the properties of natural language is inappropriate; (3) the concept of such…

Italian pedagogical texts in general hold the position that the partitive is not obligatory as it is in French. However, some of these texts devote a great deal of time to repetition and transformation drills while others never mention the construction at all until the chapters on the pronoun replacement of accusative complements. Italian phrase…

Discusses what constitutes adequate language proficiency on the part of the language teacher for the classroom and the problems associated with defining and measuring the language skills of language teachers. Considers these issues in the context of an Italian language proficiency project undertaken at the University of Melbourne, Australia. (39…

Argues that teaching about Italian dialects ought to form an integral part of the Italian curriculum and offers ideas on what could be included in such a course. Points out that the study of these dialects can teach students about the history and synchronic structures of standard Italian as well as the role of Italian sociolinguistics as it…