Explores the speech of six nonnative speakers of English to achieve a greater understanding of what comprises fluency. Suggests that fluency is a complex, high-order linguistic phenomenon, and that the intuitive judgments about fluency level may take into account a wide range of linguistic phenomena. (SR)

Examines the impact of listeners on speakers' later memory for events. Shows that attentive listeners facilitate long-term memory, whereas situations with distracted listeners are difficult to distinguish from situations with no listener and with no recounting at all. (SR)

Compares three theories of coherence relations that differ in formality, broadness of coverage, and linguistic detail. Applies them to the concrete task of text analysis. Organizes the information according to principles of linguistic "stratification,""metafunction," and "paradigmatic/syntagmatic axiality," providing a three-way classification…

Tests D. Schiffrin's hypothesis that the choice between "CAUSE so RESULT" sequences and "RESULT because CAUSE" sequences is determined by topic continuity against British conversational data from the London-Lund Corpus of Spoken English. Produces results similar to Schiffrin's. Concludes that these studies reveal a cohesive…

Investigates whether children's representations of the linguistic description of a goal-directed event was similar to their representation of the same event observed visually. Finds that mode of presentation did not affect the recall of most important actions, but that verbal description led to recall characterized by greater cohesion than visual…

Tests and confirms two hypotheses about the representation of knowledge in memory: that a person's mental representation of a newly learned body of knowledge has two parts (the information presented, and a product of the person's thinking about it); and that a body of knowledge learned from experience is organized into distinct…

Investigates the comprehension of combined concepts (such as "peeled apple") in discourse through four experiments by having people verify features that were true of the phrase. Discusses experiments and results. Argues against a compositional model of conceptual combination in which both the modifier and head noun are accessed…

Proposes an alternative model of language comprehension regarding how people understand idioms in which literal meanings are systematically used to constrain the use and variation of conventional idioms and to generate novel idiom variance. Presents three experiments on how people process variant idioms. (SR)

Investigates creation and interpretation of nonlexicalized categories within discourse, as indicated by the use of general extenders. Shows that such categories are locally contingent, depend on contextually salient features for identifying similarity among members, can be created through contrast or contiguity, and clearly depend on assumptions…

Describes 11 common dogmas of understanding (convictions that are impervious to evidence) that have led researchers to ignore or dismiss many features of everyday language. Discusses evidence against them, and some of the dangers they pose for the study of understanding. Argues that using language is fundamentally social, and that social features…

Outlines an attempt to use artificial intelligence formalisms as a formal language of description for the complex conversational behavior that occurs in ethnographic interviews. Discusses three kinds of coherence and uses them to analyze the text of an interview. (FL)

Transcripts of 11 young children's speech to adults were found to include hints and question directives. (FL)

Notes that the empirical research in language psychology can be helpful in reorganizing the domain of literary studies. Presents a survey of the major considerations in regard to such an undertaking and provides a specific demonstration. (FL)

Investigates the degree to which listeners are sensitive to the social relations expressed in choice of a name when referring to a third person during a conversation. Concludes that the social information inherent in names is picked up by readers and encoded into memory. (HB)

Finds that zero quotatives (where direct speech is reported with neither a reporting verb nor an attributed speaker) are found when a speaker is clearly constructing attitude; where the omission of a quotative may serve some dramatic effect; and at sights where conversational partners are displaying strongly convergent behavior. (SR)