Different languages code messages in different ways and use different channels for sending messages; thus there are many places for misinterpreting and mishearing messages in an intercultural context. To move from one language to another requires a description of the total language communication system, one that has its universals in social and…

Clozentropy procedure is a method whereby researchers pretest messages to determine their levels of comprehensibility among given audience members. It is often used to measure the English language proficiency of foreign students. The procedure utilizes a passage of prose from which words are deleted on either a random or systematic basis and…

Misinformation and ambiguity as features of social communication in Northern Thai villages are examined. The questions of how well Northern Thai villagers understand each others' verbal communications, and how accurate their statements actually are, are considered. (Author/RM)

This study found that there are striking similarities between the pattern of interruptions in male-female interchanges and those observed in the adult-child transactions. (Author)

Investigation of the extent to which recognition of a foreign accent is affected by reducing suprasegmental or segmental information involved the reading of five Dutch sentences by native (N=9) and non-native (N=9) speakers. Results indicated that suprasegmental aspects of speech do play a part in a foreign accent. (CB)

Various types of translation problems in cross-cultural research are translation of questions or other verbal stimuli, vocabulary equivalence, equivalence in idiom, grammar, syntax, and back-translation. (Author/SB)

The status of bilingualism in Cameroon is unusual in that both French and English are foreign languages. Although French seems to be predominant, the official intent is to establish bilingual primary schools to create completely bilingual individuals. This approach is costly, difficult, and perhaps unnecessary. (CHK)

Effective communication is sending a message so that it is received the way it was meant. Barriers to effective communication, or "noise," may include mental blocks, technical jargon, social norms, or values. Feedback, paraphrasing, impression checking, and behavior description are ways to improve communication and facilitate learning…

Focuses on semicommunication and accommodation and discusses two longer extracts from a large corpus of authentic communication from Scandinavia. Various aspects of a comprehensive model of semicommunication are presented and discussed, showing code switching and accommodation are not considered antagonistic but rather as scalar phenomena covering…

The intelligibility of crosslanguage voice communication in American English was studied in situations where the phonemes of that language are uttered by American speakers and identified by speakers of German, French, and Mexican Spanish and in situations where they are uttered by speakers of German, French, and Mexican Spanish and identified by…

Provides a model that explains persistent obstacles to clear communication--notably culture, tradition, conditioning, distractions, and feedback--and suggests means of overcoming them. (JW)

This book presents a range of views on the concept of the native speaker, considering psycholinguistic, linguistic, and sociolinguistic aspects. It examines the Critical Period Hypothesis; the role of the standard language; the kinds of knowledge (metalinguistic, discriminating, communicational, and skills) that the native speaker possesses; and…

Discusses a number of studies related to white attitudes and black images, noting that there appears to be a definite impact on transracial communication--e.g. on the amount of understanding that persons from different racial backgrounds can achieve in a situation of verbal interaction--of the changing image of black Americans. (Author/JM)