Presents a follow-up of a study of the perceptual acquisition of Thai laryngeal contrasts by native speakers of English, which found that subjects performed better on contrasts in voice than aspiration. This study further investigated possible task effects by examining the discrimination and categorization of the same stimuli in various…

Attempts to overcome methodological problems in studies of vocabulary size. Problems occur when trying to answer the following three questions: (1) how do we decide what to count as words; (2) how do we choose what words to test; and (3) how do we test the chosen words? (31 references) (Author/VWL)

An interactional approach for studies of English as a nonnative language is proposed. The approach entails the adoption of ethnomethodological perspectives on social knowledge, combined with conversation analytic interests in detailing the locally managed character of spoken interaction, and introducing the term "lingua franca" English to describe…

The relationship between prototype meanings and frequency of use is investigated with a view to establishing a foundation for the problem of "prototype acquisition." One polysemous basic verb, "put," is used in this study of native speaker discourse, and implications for both prototype theory and the acquisition of polysemy are…

Discusses some of the ways that researchers participate in constructing and legitimizing new forms of racism, focusing on how researchers have constructed and treated such concepts as mother tongue, ethnicity, and integration. (41 references) (Author/CB)

The socio-contextual model of second language (L2) learning proposes that L2 learning is influenced by aspects of contact with the L2 community, L2 confidence, and identification to both the first language and L2 community ( Clement, 1980; Noels & Clement, 1996). The present study examines how these aspects are linked to individuals' cultural…

In order to investigate second language (L2) processing at ultimate attainment, 20 first language (L1) English and 20 L1 Dutch advanced to near-native speakers of German as well as 20 native Germans were tested in two experiments on subject-object ambiguities in German. The results from a self-paced reading task and a speeded acceptability…

Reviewing the situation of literacy in the mother tongue, the article reports on projects in: (1) Africa--Mali and Nigeria, (2) the Amazonian jungle of Peru in Latin America, and (3) Papua, New Guinea. Psychological, sociological, and educational advantages of the mother tongue are discussed. (MW)

Two experiments are reported which explore (1) into what categories do native listeners divide the perceived pitch contours of their language; (2) into what perceptual units can these overall contour structures be further broken down; and (3) what is the range of tolerance for each unit? (Author/RM)

Examines sociolinguistic pressures now exerted on Gullah-speaking communities, which are similar to the general conditions described for postcreole speech communities or communities in which the traditional language variety is decreolizing or dying. There is sufficient break-down in the formerly rigid social stratification to motivate large…

Part of Lexicography and Dialect Geography, Festgabe for Hans Kurath''. (DD)

Presents and analyzes two studies designed to test native speaker reaction to certain types of errors that speakers of English make when learning German. Aim was to establish the role of the medium, spoken or written, in evaluation of errors. Results show overall ratings of errors in written and spoken language are similar, although with…

An experiment is reported comparing the pluralization patterns exhibited by American college students studying German with those of adult and child native speakers of German. Respondents' pluralization of 30 nonsense words did not reveal significant interference between English and German in this regard. (PMJ)

Describes a set of questionnaires administered to 400 French speakers in France and Switzerland to study variation in the position of the adjective in a noun phrase. The first objective was to separate rigidly structured contexts from those affected by fluctuations, the second was to detect regularities and hesitations in individual behavior. (MES)

Reviews work on the acquisition of complex verbs in American Sign Language (ASL), delineating three lines of research showing how children acquire ASL and discussing possible reasons for the particular fashion in which different children (native learners, non-native learners, and native learners with parents who are non-native learners) acquire…