The theory of articulatory setting, originally published in 1964, is outlined and expanded on, drawing on experiences with Polish and English. The theory proposes that each language has a unique configuration of articulators accounting for or establishing the natural sounds of that language that give it phonological unity and differentiate it from…

The longitudinal study compared the speech of two children (beginning at age 3) with cleft palate and inadequate velopharyngeal closure in an attempt to identify the patterns of production observed prior to surgery and the course and rate of change in production following surgery. Subjects' speech samples were evaluated prior to pharyngeal flap…

In 1985, the Global Method of Structural Analysis (GMSA) for teaching reading was introduced to first and second graders in Mexico. Breaking away from the more traditional educational methods, it established a basis for more flexible education and effectively utilized critical thinking skills. The preparation stage (reading readiness) begins in…

A discussion of two aspects of Hindi phonology, schwa deletion and vowel nasalization, compares two theories concerning the processes behind these phenomena. A non-linear analysis is compared with a more traditional, linear notation. Results indicate that in most cases, both sets of rules work equally well but in some, the linear explanation is…

To determine the usefulness of the commonly taught phonics rule, "only pronounce the first vowel in words that contain adjacent vowels" (the VV rule, with the first "v" pronounced with the long vowel sound), two new studies applied it to words with adjacent vowels in several lists and dictionaries. The first study analyzed words containing…

Intended for staff working with trainable mentally retarded students, the manual presents communication goals and activities. The first of the manual's three components provides outlines of 20 communication goals, each of which contains an explanation of the goal, lists of skills or associated content material, and specific activities for…

Some basic starting points in Soviet psychological, educational, and psycholinguistic research are reviewed, with emphasis on the difference in perspective and terminology between Soviet and Western research. It was found that the concept of units and levels of analysis is evident in Soviet psycholinguistic research. The development of this and…

A study examined final vowel qualities in the speech of seven English speakers from the urban Tyneside area of England. It focused on variations in the pronunciation of the final "y" (e.g., city, happy, tiny) and their explanation by way of (1) the resonance characteristics associated with the articulatory gesture, (2) the…

Nonverbal communication is an important and little-understood aspect of human communication. This book deals primarily with two aspects of nonverbal communication: paralanguage and kinesics. "Paralanguage" includes vocalizations such as hissing, shushing, and whistling, as well as speech modifications such as quality of voice (sepulchral, whiny,…

Reports on the 1974 visit of the Linguistics Delegation to the People's Republic of China, specifically to two schools for the deaf. Outlines the role, goals, methods and curriculum of education for the deaf in that country. (CLK)

Described are the rationale, procedures, and evaluation results of a 3-year-project in which paraprofessionals were trained to administer programed materials to students (in grades 1-5) who had articulatory errors. Evaluation of the program's effectiveness with 134 students is said to have revealed a total correction rate of 83.5 percent for the…

This is a report on an investigation of the correct production of /s/ in spontaneous speech of children. A greater incidence of incorrect production was found for pre-boundary /s/ than for /s/ in other lexical positions. Lexical position is related to articulatory inconsistencies in child speech. (SC)