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This panel discussion seeks to determine the role of babbling and of nonlinguistic behavior in language acquisition. A central question is whether there is a continuity between babbling and speech. The paper presents the views that: the infant's ability to assimilate and adapt to his environment antedates the maturation of his visual and auditory systems; generalization in infant cognitive behavior takes place before symbolization; babbling is systematic and reflects phonetic preferences found in later speech; from the physiological point of view babbling is an integral part of speech acquisition. The panel concludes that: a definition of terms is necessary; the variance between child and adult speech presents a special problem; neurological studies are relevant to language acquisition; there is a continuity between babbling and speech; and further research is needed. (AM)

THE RELATION IS EXAMINED BETWEEN SIMPLE VOWEL SOUNDS IN ENGLISH AND VOWELS ASSOCIATED WITH GLIDES, OR SEMIVOWELS, SOMETIMES REFERRED TO AS "COMPOUND PHONEMES." THESE COMPLEX VOWEL NUCLEI PARTICIPATE IN MORPHOPHONEMIC ALTERNATIONS WITH SIMPLE VOWEL NUCLEI, AS FOR EXAMPLE, IN THE ALTERNATION OF VOWEL NUCLEI IN THE PAIR "SLEEP/SLEPT." THE SYSTEM UNDERLYING SUCH REGULAR ALTERNATIONS IS DESCRIBED AND RULES ARE GIVEN TO ACCOUNT FOR THE PHONETIC SHAPES OF THE ALTERNATIONS. THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUCH A SYSTEM RESTS ON THE ASSUMPTIONS THAT (1) FORMS PHONETICALLY DIFFERENT BUT MORPHOPHONEMICALLY RELATED ARE BASED ON THE SAME UNDERLYING FORM, AND (2) THE UNDERLYING SYSTEM COULD BE EVALUATED BY CONSIDERATIONS OF OPTIMAL SIMPLICITY IN THE SYSTEM AS WELL AS IN THE RULES FOR DERIVATION OF SUPERFICIAL PHONETIC SHAPES FROM UNDERLYING MORPHOPHONEMIC SHAPES. ENGLISH COMPLEX AND SIMPLE VOWEL NUCLEI ARE CLASSIFIED IN TERMS OF DISTINCTIVE FEATURES AND THE TWO SETS ARE DISTINGUISHED BY THE FEATURE OF TENSENESS VERSUS LAXNESS IN THE VOWELS UNDERLYING THE NUCLEI. THESE RULES ACCOUNT SYNCHRONICALLY FOR PHENOMENA WHICH ARE THE RESULTS OF THE SO-CALLED "GREAT VOWEL SHIFT" AND CAN BE ACCOUNTED FOR SYNCHRONICALLY BY ONE RULE FOR THE TENSE VOWELS AND ANOTHER FOR THE LAX VOWELS. (KL)

THE FOUR STUDIES INCORPORATED IN THIS PROGRESS REPORT ATTEMPTED TO ANALYZE STABILIZED LANGUAGE PROCESSES AND TO EXAMINE THE COMPONENTS OF LANGUAGE PERFORMANCE, RANGING FROM SYSTEMATIC PHONETICS TO LOGICAL DISCOURSE. THE FIRST STUDY REPORTED WORK ON HUMAN AUDITORY SENSITIVITY AS A FUNCTION OF FREQUENCY AND INTENSITY. THE NEXT TWO STUDIES WERE ADDRESSED TO THE ANALYSIS OF LANGUAGE PROSODY, IN ONE CASE, NATIVE LANGUAGE, AND IN ANOTHER, PROSODY AS A SECOND LANGUAGE. THE LAST STUDY DEALT WITH A REFORMULATION OF THE AREA OF ATTITUDE CHANGE AND SELF-PERCEPTION. OTHER RESEARCH PROJECTS IN PROGRESS ARE DESCRIBED AT THE END OF THE REPORT. (GD)

The purpose of the investigation reported in this document is to determine the range of errors in the spontaneous speech of Puerto Rican children of intermediate English ability in order to provide specific information on phonetic and morphological deviations from standard English for use in curriculum development. The study first considers common pronunciation problems, many attributed to the influence of Spanish. Problems with vowels, diphthongs, consonants, consonant clusters, stops, and spirants are discussed. Syntactic problems with auxiliaries, tense and number, object complements, negation, structures difficult to understand, and miscellaneous lexical items are also considered. Examples of the errors are provided. (VM)

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 continuum. Speech production topics covered include the activity of the intrinsic laryngeal muscles in voicing control, velopharyngeal function in oral/nasal articulation and voicing gestures, laryngeal adjustments for vowel devoicing in Japanese, vowel stress and articulatory reorganization, tension in some American English vowels, and word-final stops in Thai. One paper in the collection concerns reading machines for the blind. The final paper discusses the evolution of human speech anatomy. A list of publications and reports is provided along with author and title indexes to the previous status reports on speech research. (VM)

The second of a two-volume guide for instructors in the Defense Language Institute's "German: Basic Course," this text concentrates on the phonology and the most common structural patterns of the language. The vocabulary includes 575 items. Each of the seven lessons, structured about social activities, is meant to be mastered in six classroom hours. Daily lesson units include: (1) grammar notes, (2) cultural notes, (3) notes on the writing system (lessons 12-15), (4) new pronunciation, (5) new structures, (6) dialogue, translation, and cartoon guide, (7) dialogue, (8) supplementary materials, (9) homework assignments, (10) dialogue elicitation exercise, (11) reinforcement drill, (12) dictation exercise, (13) narrative prose, and (14) glossary. For the companion document see FL 003 083. (RL)

The first of a two-volume guide for instructors in the Defense Language Institute's "German: Basic Course," this text concentrates on the phonology and the most common structural patterns of the language. The vocabulary includes 575 items. Each of the eight lessons, structured about social activities, is meant to be mastered in six classroom hours. Daily lesson units include: (1) grammar notes, (2) cultural notes, (3) new pronunciation, (4) new structures, (5) dialogue, translation, and cartoon guide, (6) dialogue, (7) supplementary materials, (8) homework assignments, (9) dialogue elicitation exercise, (10) reinforcement drills, (11) dictation exercise, (12) narrative prose, and (13) glossary. For the companion document see FL 003 084. (RL)

This bibliography of 1860 books and articles is intended to provide researchers, instructors, and students of applied German linguistics, as well as school and college teachers of German, with background material on a variety of topics in the field of applied German linguistics which can be of service in the preparation of instructional materials and the planning of courses. Although the emphasis is on applied German linguistics, a comprehensive listing of works on linguistic theory has also been included for the student or teacher interested in acquiring a more complete understanding of the subject matter. The period covered ranges mainly from the turn of the century through the end of 1970; a few relevant publications from the first half of 1971 and also some works of the 18th and 19th centuries are included. (Author)

A GUIDE WAS PREPARED FOR STUDENTS IN THE EIGHTH-GRADE LANGUAGE CURRICULUM. THE GUIDE CONTAINED INSTRUCTIONS AND EXERCISES APPROPRIATE FOR UNITS ON SOUNDS OF ENGLISH AND WRITING SYSTEMS. BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON ENGLISH SOUNDS (CONSONANT AND VOWEL PHONEMES) WAS PRESENTED. THE UNIT ON WRITING SYSTEMS WAS CONCERNED WITH (1) RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SPEECH AND WRITING, (2) TYPES OF WRITING (PICTURE, IDEOGRAPHIC, AND PHONETIC), AND (3) THE HISTORY OF WRITING. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND RELATED ASSIGNMENTS WERE ALSO PRESENTED. THE STUDY GUIDE FOR STUDENTS WAS KEYED TO A WRITING SYSTEMS GUIDE FOR TEACHERS (ED 010 158). (WN)

A WRITING SYSTEMS GUIDE WAS PREPARED FOR TEACHING IN THE EIGHTH-GRADE LANGUAGE CURRICULUM. THE GUIDE FOR TEACHERS CONTAINS BACKGROUND INFORMATION STRESSING THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN WRITING AND SPEECH, ORIGINS OF WRITING, AND THE GREEK ALPHABET AS THE SOURCE OF ALL WESTERN ALPHABETS. SUGGESTED METHODS FOR TEACHING THE WRITING SYSTEMS UNIT WERE DISCUSSED. APPROPRIATE STUDENT EXERCISES WERE DISCUSSED WITH ANSWERS FOR EXERCISES IN A STUDY GUIDE PREPARED FOR STUDENTS (ED 010 157). AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE HISTORY AND APPLICATIONS OF WRITING WAS ALSO INCLUDED. (WN)

The acquisition of Literacy Project's basic goal is to determine the processes by which children learn to read, and to identify reasons many fail to learn. One part of the process is the formation of correspondences between letter patterns and the sounds for which they stand. To determine the extent of such correspondences, tests of pronunciation of synthetic words were conducted. A list of these words was prepared to test the pronunciation of predictable patterns, such as (final "e", "c" before "e" and "i", and "c" before "a", "o" and "u"), and unpredictable patterns (vowel digraph spellings such as "ai" and "ou"). Responses were recorded and transcribed by graduate students trained in phonetics. Participants were third, sixth and eleventh graders, and college students. A good third grade reader showed mastery of predictable letter-sound correspondences. This mastery increased through high school, but correlation with reading achievement decreased, presumably because this ability is only one of many necessary for skilled reading. Poor readers made more and wild errors in correspondences than good readers. (Author/GR)

This study was an investigation in two parts. First, a study of the applicability of spelling-patterns to syllables was made. Second, the applicability of the spelling-patterns to whole words was examined. The criteria for applicability used are (1) The word list must contain a minimum of twenty words to which the generalization might apply; and (2) The generalization must have a percent of utility of at least 75. The results for the first part of this study show that the percent of utility for the spelling patterns taken as a group in this study was 70 percent. Thus, taken as a group, the criteria established for the study of meeting a 75 percent utility were not met. In the second part, only those generalizations in which 40 or more syllables were found to which the generalizations might apply were used. The results show that 81 percent of the words were composed in which every syllable contained spelling patterns identified for the investigation. The findings of the study showed that most of the syllables of the list were represented by a word-pattern and that many of the syllables followed a word-pattern in phonetic spelling. The results also indicated that many of the word-patterns are of limited value. In using word-patterns for instructional purposes, the low applicability of many of the secondary and tertiary patterns should be considered. Further study needs to be conducted to assist in utilizing this information to improve instructional situations. (CK)

Recent research in experimental phonetics seems to provide evidence for a clear division between language units and speech units. Many researchers have suggested that the consonant-vowel (CV) syllable may be a universal unit of speech production and perception, while language units become criterial only at higher levels of processing. In second language learning, the language units and speech units may interfere with one another and produce a disorganized type of speech rhythm. Even before grammar rules and language units are introduced, it would seem profitable to introduce students to the syllabic patterning and rhythmic structure of the target language and to teach them to imitate orally the sounds and rhythms of the target language before they understand the meaning of the utterances. (Author/VM)

This document lists over 100 research projects on various topics related to linguistics and language. The topics covered are foreign- and native-language instruction, relevant bibliographies, research in contemporary language, communication, textbooks, lexicology, lexicography, linguistics, computational linguistics, machine analysis of language, machine translation, phonetics, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, speech disorders, native language maintenance, language tests, technology and media, and translation science. The project descriptions include the director's name and address and details on project status, goal, collaborators, and funding. For the first volume, see ED 058 767. (VM)

This volume of working papers includes seven papers discussing current theory and research in linguistics, phonetics, semantics, and syntax. The following titles are in the collection: "'Do' from 'Occur',""The Syntax of the Verb 'Happen',""Subjects and Agents,""Modal Auxiliaries in Infinitive Clauses in English,""Some Problems in the Description of English Accentuation,""Some Observations Concerning the Third Tone in Latvian,""On the Syntax and Semantics of English Modals." Titles appearing in the first and second volumes of the working papers are listed. (VM)

The dominant trend in phonetics today--due to a large extent to generative phonology--is to discover the brain mechanisms underlying the observed behavior in speech. Among other things there is interest in attempting to find out how motor programs are stored latently, selected, activated into muscular contractions, controlled, and tailored for optimum communication. Chapter 1 discusses research thought and methodology in phonetics and expresses the need for constant empirical feedback in all stages of the development of models of these processes. Chapter 2 attempts to shed light on the mechanisms speakers use to control the fundamental frequency of phonation in speech. Chapter 3 considers arguments, evidence, and experimental techniques relevant to discovering certain possible brain mechanisms underlying observed speech behavior. Two issues are covered: the possible role of feedback in speech and how the timing of gestures in speech is controlled. (Author/VM)

This work contains five papers in the area of experimental linguistics. Papers include: (1) "Units of Speech Perception," a study which deals with problems of the temporal organization of speech; (2) a study, "Manner of Articulation, Parallel Processing, and the Perception of Duration," which examines the durational patterns characterizing the production of monosyllabic English words whose syllable nuclei consist of vowels and resonants; (3) a paper presenting some durational data gained from the analysis of repeated productions of Estonian words with contrastive quantity entitled, "Temporal Compensation in a Quantity Language," (4) "Vowel and Speaker Identification in Natural and Synthetic Speech," concerning the perception of synthetic vowels produced on a Glace-Holmes synthesizer; and (5) a final paper, "On the Perception of Coarticulation Effects in English VCV Syllables," which deals with the perception of place of articulation cues. (RL)

This paper provides a review of "English Transported: Essays on Australasian English," edited by W. S. Ramson. The book is a collection of articles on the various types of English spoken mainly in Australia and New Zealand. Articles discuss such varieties as nineteenth and twentieth century Australian English, New Zealand English, Pidgin English in New Guinea, migrant English in Australia, informal English in the Torres Straits, spoken versus written English, and Australian English as used by Asian students. The present reviewer considers each article and concentrates on the sociolinguistic and phonetic aspects in each discussion. (VM)

This paper seeks to answer remarks by Frank Hausler and others minimizing the significance of Baudouin de Courtenay's contribution to descriptive linguistics. The author emphasizes the psychological orientation in the development of Baudouin's work in phonemics and morphology, and seeks to reconcile Baudouin's theories with later criticism based on antimentalist grounds. Differences with the Prague School's emphasis on "meaning-differentiating" function are also considered. (VM)

This document contains three reports in prepublication form on research conducted by linguists at the University of Colorado. The first paper presents an argument against the theories concerning the concept of the distributional syllable. Such theories are based on the assumptions that the syllable can and should be defined formally, without reference to phonetic realization and that the syllable is not an independent unit, but rather is derivable from the distributional properties of segments. The author argues that the theories based on these assumptions do not exhibit a reasonable conformity with the phonetic facts and that they cannot provide a basis for generalizations about phenomena beyond those for which they were specifically intended. The purpose of the second paper is to prove that stress in Aragonese is a completely predictable phenomenon and to postulate a stress rule that will account for the various stress patterns of Aragonese. The final paper considers the Russian verb "byt" and sees in it four different verbs according to the four different functions that it performs. (VM)

A number of research problems have hindered the study of Australian aboriginal languages which are spoken by a steadily decreasing and vanishing population. Such research has been plagued by misunderstanding and poor communication between linguists and the remaining informants. Much of the previous research, because of funding policies, has been conducted by trainee linguists. While work in phonology and morphology has been adequate, work in syntax has been scanty. Although syntactic research may improve in future studies, there is the danger of producing a grammar based on a model fashionable at the moment, rather than a grammar which presents basic data and which could later be adapted to a particular model. Research in the aboriginal languages is worthwile for the study of language and culture in general and also for discoveries in dialect studies in language typology, classification, and development. (VM)

The designation of the Japanese word class "joshi" (in English known as particles, post-positional case markers, or relationals) by the term te-ni-wo-ha can be traced to the early superimposition of the Chinese writing system on Japanese speech. Because of the structural differences between the two languages and the existence of elements in Japanese not covered by the Chinese writing system, the Japanese developed a notational chart of dots to be added to the Chinese characters. Such a dot-code system was used to express relationships of the joshi and was designated te-ni-wo-ha by combining the names of the particles at the four corners of the chart. The term te-ni-wo-ha remains today even though the original dot-code system no longer exists and the Chinese characters used for writing Japanese are phonological representations containing no graphic, inherently syntactic indication of meaning. (VM)

This manual presents lesson plans for a first year course in spoken English for Navahos, based on one hour of instruction five days a week. A sample lesson is presented for illustration. The instruction outlined for each week is so structured as to provide a maximum number of exposures to a given sound. In view of this, it is suggested that the lesson plans be considered basic, required material that must be presented. The manual concentrates on phonics, cultural enrichment through the presentation of prose and poetry, and exercises to increase skills in spoken English. Included are plans for work in the language laboratory. (Author/SK)

This manual presents lesson plans for a second year course in spoken English for Navahos, based upon one hour of instruction five days a week. It contains a review of troublesome sounds, conversational dialogues, and work with the grammatical structure of spoken English. Actual conversational situations are used to teach the speaking patterns necessary to function in a given situation. Automatic two- and three-way exchanges are also used. The manual concentrates on phonics, cultural enrichment through the presentation of prose and poetry, and exercises to increase skills in spoken English. Included are plans for work in the language laboratory. (Author/SK)

The author states that phonetic symbolism is not a generalizable phenomenon but maintains that those interested in the status of a poem as a speech event need not totally discount or discredit such perceptions. In his discussion of the theories which ascribe meaning to vocal utterance--the two imitative theories, the onomatopoeic and the gestural, and the theories of synaesthesia and kinaesthesia--he describes and demonstrates how the various kinds of speech symbolism are found in individual words and in poetic lines and passages. Taking issue with Samuel Johnson's treatment of a passage from Pope's "Odyssey," the author criticizes Johnson's failure to discern the part played by phonetic symbolism in relation to the poem's meaning and rhythm. The author concludes that oral interpretation reinforces the onomatopoeic and gestural imitating, the auditory perception of visual and tactile imagery through synaesthesia, and the kinesthetic perception of resonance, tension, and relaxation. (LG)

This booklet points out some of the characteristics of the varieties of English spoken in Riverside and in the rest of California. The first chapter provides a general discussion of language variation and change on the levels of vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar. The second chapter discusses California English and pronunciation and vocabulary characteristics of different areas. Chapter three considers the findings of the Linguistic Atlas of the Pacific Coast survey made in the 1950's and a more recent survey made in Riverside using an interview technique similar to but shorter than the Linguistic Atlas survey. Trends evident from the comparison of the two surveys indicate a move toward homogeneity, "spelling pronunciations," and greater Midlands and Southern influence. The final chapter deals with non-regional variations that can be attributed to age, sex, occupation, social class, or ethnic group. A bibliography is included. (VM)

This document lists over 50 research projects on various topics related to linguistics and language. The topics covered are foreign- and native-language instruction, relevant bibliographies, research in contemporary language, communication, textbooks, lexicology, lexicography, linguistics, computational linguistics, machine analysis of language, machine translation, phonetics, psycholinguistics, speech disorders, native language maintenance, language tests, technology and media, and translation science. The project descriptions include the director's name and address and details on project status, goal, collaborators, and funding. (VM)

Parallels between sign stimuli and speech cues suggest some interesting speculations about the origins of language. Speech cues may belong to the class of human sign stimuli which, as in animal behavior, may be the product of an innate releasing mechanism. Prelinguistic speech for man may have functioned as a social-releaser system. Human language developed as a result of the intellect, which was capable of making a semantic representation of the world of experience and the phonetic social-releaser system. Linguistic capacity--the ability to learn the grammar of a language--was also necessary. Grammar evolved to interrelate the semantic product of the intellect and the phonetic product of the prelinguistic communication system. References are included. (Author/VM)

Human linguistic ability depends, in part, on the gradual evolution of man's supralaryngeal vocal tract. The anatomic basis of human speech production is the result of a long evolutionary process in which the Darwinian process of natural selection acted to retain mutations. For auditory perception, the listener operates in terms of the acoustic pattern of the entire syllable according to the "motor theory of speech perception." According to the theory, human listeners perceive speech in terms of the constraints imposed by the speech-producing apparatus. It has recently been possible to reconstruct the supralaryngeal vocal tracts of extinct hominid species. Computer-implemented supralaryngeal vocal tract modelling indicates that these extinct species lacked the anatomic ability necessary to produce the range of sounds necessary for human speech. (Author/VM)

By examining the relations among sections of the fundamental frequency contour used in judging an utterance as a question or statement, the experiment described in this report seeks a more detailed understanding of auditory-linguistic interaction in the perception of intonation contours. The perceptual process may be divided into stages (auditory, phonetic, phonological, syntactic, and semantic), but it must also be supposed that there is feedback from higher to lower levels which may serve to correct or verify earlier decisions. Perceptual "correction" of an auditory or phonetic decision, in light of a higher linguistic decision, will presumably not occur if the lower decision is firm. Details of the organization and results of an experiment (conducted with Swedish and American subjects) are presented here along with implications for further research. (Author/VM)

Developed by the Oregon Elementary English Project, this curriculum unit intended for grades three and four aims to (1) help students become aware of some of the sounds of the language; (2) help students discover how some of these sounds are pronounced; and (3) help students understand that with a limited number of sounds they can produce an unlimited number of words. Lesson 1 introduces students to the study of sounds by having them isolate some of the various sounds of English. Lesson 2 explains how the positions of teeth, lips, and tongue affect some of the sounds. Lesson 3 reinforces the concept that combined sounds produce words, and, finally, lesson 4 helps students discover both those sounds produced by forcing air through the nasal cavity and those produced by forcing it through a very narrow opening in the mouth. Each lesson is accompanied by a statement of its purpose, suggested procedures and materials, possible extensions, and student exercises. A packet of supplementary materials to be used in conjunction with some of the lessons is also provided. (See related documents CS 200 482-487, and CS 200 489-499.) (HS)