Irrespective of the traditional reconstructions related to the theory of well known families of languages such as Indo-European or Semitic, some researchers have aimed at rebuilding super-families, going as far as a Proto-global family. Several puzzling agreements between their proposals and the reconstructions made by the genetics populations…

Research supported by the Committee on Scholarly Activities of the University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio. (DS)

Special issue devoted to neurolinguistics and neuropsychology. (VM)

Work supported in part by a Social Science Research Council research fellowship to R. L. Cooper. (VM)

Authors suggest a reanalysis of the data and a replication of the experiment described by J. S. Baratz in a previous issue of Child Development (EJ 008 114). (MB)

Results suggest that children acquire speech registers concurrently with language and that the progression of acquisition varies more for registers than for grammatical forms. (Author)

Reaction to another article in this issue, "How Not To Analyze the Syntax of Children" by Roger McCaig, pp. 612-18. (SW)

Studies of second language acquisition often employ analytical concepts defined relative to the target language. This practice can be a serious obstacle to investigation of crucial questions about the nature of the learners' languages. This comparative fallacy's drawbacks are illustrated through a framework designed to study interlanguage…

Reviews the methodological issues raised by previous research into the language used by thought-disordered and nondisordered schizophrenics. (FL)

While computers have a definite role to play, current language research involving artificial intelligence is headed in a wrong direction and is unlikely to contribute to a scientific theory of language. (Author/MV)

Addresses the need for replication studies in the field of second-language acquisition and discusses the problems surrounding standards of reporting research. Notes a lack of uniform standards in reporting second-language learners' proficiency levels and proposes ways to achieve more thorough reporting of research that will allow others to engage…

A review of the status of research on literacy concludes that vagueness and ambiguity of definition, measurement, methodology, and evaluation continue to grip the large body of literacy research, debates, and programs, with the underlying assumptions made about the concept of monolingual societies resulting in overly simplified and speculative…

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…

Surveys research on formal and informal second-language learning strategies, covering the effectiveness of research methods involving making lists, interviews and thinking aloud, note-taking, diaries, surveys, and training. Suggestions for future and improved research are presented. (131 references) (CB)