How does the lack of articles in Russian influence the distinction between restrictive and nonrestrictive relative clauses? The problem is discussed in comparison with German. Russian disposes only of facultative, but nonambiguous instruments. Certain determiners allow a precise differentiation between two kinds of relative clauses. (Text is in…

Describes rules for the use and interpretation of "verbally determinate ellipsis" involving the English verb group. Discussion covers: verbal determinacy and indeterminacy; verb group vs. verb phrase; the verb group as a five-part system; verb group echoing vs. auxiliary contrasting ellipsis; passive auxiliary; interpretation rules;…

This book presents a grammatical documentation of Kham, a previously undescribed language from west-central Nepal which belongs to the Tibeto-Burman language family. Its verb morphology has implications for understanding the history of the entire Tibeto-Burman family. The book, based on extensive fieldwork, deals with all major aspects of the…

As an optional movement, "scrambling" in Japanese has been one of the major obstacles to the Minimalist Program, in which movements occur only when necessary. One theorist has argued, in an attempt to accommodate this phenomenon to the Minimalist Program, that verb phrase-adjunction scrambling should be analyzed as base-generated constructions and…

After teaching the basic suprasegmental patterns, an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher can profitably continue with those other patterns which are useful in distinguishing meanings and whose absence on the printed page will sometimes result in double meaning. (Author/JM)

Continuing series on aspects of French grammar. (DS)

Investigated how prosodic cues in motherese assisted infants' language acquisition. Infants oriented longer to speech interrupted at clausal boundaries than to matched speech interrupted at within-clause locations. The prosodic qualities of motherese provided infants with cues to units of speech that corresponded to grammatical units of language.…

A study investigated the effectiveness of teaching French cleft constructions (e.g., "qui est-ce qui...) by three methods: in a contextual presentation; traditionally; and in a presentation influenced by syntactic theory and explaining the internal structure of the phrases. Results suggest formal grammar instruction should focus on familiar…

Explores the role of lexical phrases in language teaching. Lexical phrases are an important feature in language use and language acquisition and offer advantages for language teaching. (Author/VWL)

The structure of the noun phrase (NP) in Alsea, an extinct language of the Oregon coast, is examined with particular attention to the behavior of a clitic occurring in second position within the NP. A presentation of the basic facts includes the following: referential(s) and the deictics, possessive pronouns, third-person possessive, the ergative,…

The serial verb construction (SVC) in Edo (Bini), a language spoken in Nigeria, is examined, and an analysis that systematically characterizes the notion of functional relationship of verbs within these constructions is proposed. It is argued that the verbs in series are sensitive to different semantic and grammatical phenomena and are therefore…

Relative clauses are useful for differentiating clearly between similar ideas. Exercises that demonstrate this purpose of relative clauses, or other grammatical constructions, can provide useful practice for students. More generally, an approach to teaching grammar that asks what purpose a structure serves can enable teachers to design exercises…

A description of the creole language spoken in the Roper River area of Australia's Northern Territory, this paper is intended for the practical use of Europeans working in the area. An introductory section discusses the role and status of pidgins and creoles in modern Australia, the development of creole in the Roper River area, and the…

Three experiments were conducted to test the psychological relevance of objectively quantified word collocations. The first experiment showed that perceived frequency of word combinations roughly followed the objective count. Another recurrent quality of words, constructional tendency, was supplemented as independent variable in the two following…