The purpose of the study was to devise a program of speech retraining for the college-bound Negro student that could be effected in a relatively short time and be implemented by a typical college speech department. The subjects were black students, recently graduated from high school, attending the Upward Bound program at the University of South…

This report on speech research contains papers describing experiments involving both information processing and speech production. The papers concerned with information processing cover such topics as peripheral and central processes in vision, separate speech and nonspeech processing in dichotic listening, and dichotic fusion along an acoustic…

Drawing a distinction between lexical and phonological variation reveals differences in sociolinguistic patterning. A comparison of dialects within the Durham, England speech community is discussed on these levels. Phonetic motivation, speech style, and social and situational factors are shown to interact in complex ways in connected speech…

Testing of a second-language phonological acquisition model with four beginning learners of Spanish supported the claim that transfer processes decrease over time while developmental processes increase and then decrease. Analysis also revealed a hierarchical organization of processes in second-language acquisition and an interaction of the native…

Review of neurolinguistic and psycholinguistic research regarding older (over 40 years of age) second language learners suggests classroom implications for dealing with this population's pronunciation problems and ways to capitalize on their superiority to younger students in terms of higher order linguistic processing. (CB)

Describes a summer program in France designed to teach French to Americans using teaching techniques drawn from dramatic arts courses. The theory behind Ionesco's method is that the living language of the theatre facilitates linguistic and communicative competence in students. (MSE)

Prelinguistically deafened children (n=28) with cochlear implants performed imitative and structured spontaneous sampling speech tasks. Results found children who had used implants for at least two years acquired some intelligible speech; children who received implants before five years of age showed greater benefit than later recipients; and…

Eighteen language/learning-disabled adolescents were compared with 18 nondisabled adolescents and 18 linguistically matched nondisabled preadolescents on requesting assistance from listeners who vary in power and familiarity. The language learning-disabled adolescents were sensitive to social and contextual features and modified their requests…

Explains the use of a computer-assisted language-learning tool that utilizes acoustic data in real time to help Japanese second-language learners improve their perception and production of English consonants. The basic features of the speech-learning software that runs on a networked workstation and is used for pronunciation training are…

This transcript of and guide to a two-cassette course designed to assist Filipino immigrants in erasure of their foreign accents can be used for either individual or group study. Narrative and taped demonstrations of American English that pinpoint typical phonological barriers and pronunciation difficulties are outlined. The author's own system of…

Intended to introduce instructors to a number of sources for helping students improve their speaking habits in voice and articulation courses or in courses in acting, interpretation, or public address, this annotated bibliography contains 38 entries in two main groupings: (1) texts and instructional materials; and (2) reference sources for…

An analysis of Amuzgo, a language within the Otomanguean family of Mexico, suggests that it is an active-static language with patterns similar but not parallel to those of Chocho. In the report, data on the characteristics of Chocho are summarized, theory and research on active-static languages is reviewed, and the data on Amuzgo are presented.…

One of a regular series on the status and progress of studies on the nature of speech, instrumentation for its investigation, and practical applications, this report covers the period of January 1-June 30, 1984. The 14 studies summarized in the report deal with the following topics: (1) sources of variability in early speech development, (2)…

This is the first in a series of articles on general phonetic characteristics of American English. Language research techniques of spectrographic analysis, spectrographic synthesis, articulatory motion-picture study, and statistical calculation are briefly described. Thirty-five areas of phonetic difference for comparison of English to Spanish,…

Beginning chapters of this volume define language and describe the sound, stress, and intonation systems of English. The body of the text explores extensively morphology, phonetics, phonemics, and the process of communication. Individual chapters detail such topics as morphemes, syntactic devices, grammatical systems, phonemic problems in language…