Examination of sex-based differences in the form of English compliments and in the frequency of various compliment response types in a corpus of 1,062 compliment events found several differences in men's and women's usage. Compliments from men were usually accepted, especially by female recipients, but compliments from women were met with a…

Distinguishes between two widely different states of culture, manifest-prescriptive (involving myths, beliefs, values, dogmas, and ideologies) and personal-tacit (involving uniqueness and individualism) and explores how the gap between these two states relate to nonverbal communication, language and cultural values, and ethnic relations. (CB)

Uses transcripts of eight aviation accidents and 14 flight simulator sessions to study mitigation. A four-degree scale is developed to quantify the use of mitigation: (1) high mitigation; (2) low mitigation; (3) direct utterance; and (4) aggravation. Mitigation is sensitive to social rank and sometimes less effective than direct utterances in…

Presents definitions and examples of usage of late-twentieth century American words and terms, including: bite, dramedy, photo op, photo opportunist, safe computer practice, sound bite, teflon, trapdoor, vaccination program, computer virus, and wait state. (CB)

The fourth in a series of articles on the relationships of European languages to their cultures looks at the role of the theater in Italian culture and the theatricality of the Italian language. (MSE)

Discusses the use of terms to describe sociolinguistic situations in multilingual societies and proposes several new terms to facilitate such descriptions. (CB)

The essentially sociolinguistic position of Bhatt and Martin-Jones on language awareness is assessed and analyzed in terms of applicability to the majority population. The question of whether bilingualism is a linguistic or social phenomenon is addressed, followed by an argument for including this issue in language awareness teaching. (Contains 10…

Whereas in Quebec the use of English is seen as a threat to the French language, English words are often used in France, particularly in advertising. They imply certain values: British words suggest elite status; U.S. ones promise technological progress, freedom, and fun. The adaptation of English words is described. (18 references) (Author/LB)

Explores the active role of the sign language interpreter in resolving simultaneous and overlapping speech, guided by social and linguistic knowledge of the entire communicative situation in making linguistic choices about what to interpret. (29 references) (Author/CB)

The arbitrariness of linguistic categories is discussed. Consideration of some other fields of human activity suggests that the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is true, and it is suggested that the process of grammaticalization might be understood as a kind of ritualization. (57 references) (Author/LB)

A brief review of social constructivism as a general movement and how it has been applied in particular to scientific knowledge precedes a review of investigations into the role language and linguistic activities have in the social construction of knowledge. A 39-citation unannotated bibliography is included. (CB)

Examples from a variety of sources (history texts, newspaper reporting, courts) are used to show that truth telling is commonly subordinated to other goals, especially the self-justification or the profits, power, and prestige of those promoting the lies. (24 references) (Author/LB)

Investigates the communicative treatment of secrets, presenting examples from recorded communicative interactions in a wide range of social milieus and settings in which the participants revealed knowledge of secrets, tried to dig out old secrets without appearing to be doing so, and occasionally, appeared to be hiding some items of knowledge from…

Examines the use of introspection in applied linguistic research to raise critical language awareness. Provides an example of the author's diary to illustrate the social, cultural, and political processes that underlie language learning. Implications, including those for teaching methodology, for humanistically oriented language educators are…

Describes 11 common dogmas of understanding (convictions that are impervious to evidence) that have led researchers to ignore or dismiss many features of everyday language. Discusses evidence against them, and some of the dangers they pose for the study of understanding. Argues that using language is fundamentally social, and that social features…