Abstand, Ausbau, creativity and ludicity in Australian English

The social history of a language or variety, and its emergence, consolidation and stabiliza tion, allow us to combine the formal data of the language (principally its sound structure, grammar and lexis) with the external conditions in which they have evolved. The advance of Australian English in terms of its differentiation (Kloss's abstand) and elaboration of roles (Kloss's ausbau) pose problems of chronology, periodization, description and expla nation. This paper extends the conventional scope of abstand and ausbau to the analysis of the social history of Australian English. It argues that two factors are central to the emerging identification of Australian English: creativity, in the sense of morphological innovation, especially here in diminutives like reffo ('refugee') and pollie ('politician'); and in ludicity, defined as a deep-rooted playfulness with language. While these character istics are only part of the overall dynamics of the social history of Australian English, the evidence is sufficiently extensive to warrant further investigation. An earlier version of this paper was given at the Mitchell Symposium at Macquarie University on 26 April 2002 under the title ‘E pluribus plures? Diversity and integrity in Australian English’. I am grateful to members of the Symposium, and to two anonymous reviewers, for valuable comments and criticism

English language education in policy studies

Content-based instruction (CBI) is increasingly important in curriculum development for second-language acquisition (SLA), as language and non-language departments in universities are finding the integration of core-content as part of the second language curriculum to be beneficial. With this in mind, this paper describes the English program at Nanzan University’s Faculty of Policy Studies and examines the synergy presently being developed between core-content and English language instruction there. Specifically, this paper seeks to shed light on how instructors can reflect on the meaning of language instruction at higher education through an illustration of our activities.

High-level and phonological awareness abilities of children following management for supratentorial tumour: Part II

Background. Limited information is available regarding the impact of childhood tumour on the cerebral hemispheres and supratentorial cranial fossa. However, a recent study found that children managed for a tumour located in this region may demonstrate reduced general language abilities. However, the indirect or direct impact of a tumour in this region on higher-level language abilities in childhood is at present largely unknown. Materials and methods. The present study examined the higher language and phonological awareness abilities of five children treated for supratentorial tumour ranging in age from seven to fourteen years in age. Assessments included measures of receptive and expressive semantic abilities, inferencing, figurative language, and problem solving, as well as a comprehensive pre-literacy test. Results. As a group, reductions were evident in problem solving, and in the ability to receive and decode content of high-level language when compared to a group of age- and gender-matched peers. At an individual level, only two of five children managed for supratentorial tumour demonstrated language deficits. These two cases were noted to be the same children previously identified as also having general language deficits. More widespread findings were noted in phonological awareness, with four of the five children previously managed for supratentorial tumour demonstrating weaknesses in one or more areas. Conclusions. Findings demonstrated that weaknesses in general language ability in children managed for supratentorial tumour may indicate higher-level language difficulties. Language abilities beyond general measures of language should be monitored, as well as long-term consideration of phonological awareness abilities in this population.

There is no subjunctive in English

The western classical tradition identifies three moods: indicative, subjunctive, imperative. Protagoras split the indicative into interrogative and declarative. Palmer 2001, 2003 argues for only two: indicative and subjunctive. Given any of these classifications of mood, English has no category of mood and so has no subjunctive. Instead it has certain clause-types which express hypotheticality and which can be subsumed to the irrealis branch of the apparently universal category realis~irrealis; to which subjunctives, optatives, jussives and the like can also be subsumed.

A cross-linguistic comparison of address pronoun use in four European languages: Intralingual and interlingual dimensions

As part of a major ongoing project, we consider and compare contemporary patterns of address pronoun use in four major European languages- French, German, Italian and Swedish. We are specifically interested in two major aspects: intralingual behaviour, that is, within the same language community, and interlingual dimensions of address pronoun use. With respect to the former, we summarize our key findings to date. We then give consideration in a more preliminary fashion to issues and evidence relevant to the latter.

Mummy! Ball! Fish!: Why English-learning children produce nouns earlier than verbs

When English-learning children begin using words the majority of their early utterances (around 80%) are nouns. Compared to nouns, there is a paucity of verbs or non-verb relational words, such as 'up' meaning 'pick me up'. The primary explanations to account for these differences in use either argue in support of a 'cognitive account', which claims that verbs entail more cognitive complexity than nouns, or they provide evidence challenging this account. In this paper I propose an additional explanation for children's noun/verb asymmetry. Presenting a 'multi-modal account' of word-learning based on children's gesture and word combinations, I show that at the one-word stage English-learning children use gestures to express verb-like elements which leaves their words free to express noun-like elements.

Part of south-east elevation, Sunshine Coast University Library, Maroochydore

View to part of south-east elevation with skillion roof, corrugated steel sheeting and concrete block.

Subject/Object Asymmetry in the Comprehension of English Relative Clauses by Japanese Learners of English

While a number of studies have shown that object-extracted relative clauses are more difficult to understand than subject-extracted counterparts for second language (L2) English learners (e.g., Izumi, 2003), less is known about why this is the case and how they process these complex sentences. This exploratory study examines the potential applicability of Gibson's (1998, 2000) Syntactic Prediction Locality Theory (SPLT), a theory proposed to predict first language (L1) processing difficulty, to L2 processing and considers whether the theory might also account for the processing difficulties of subject- and object-extracted relative clauses encountered by L2 learners. Results of a self-paced reading time experiment from 15 Japanese learners of English are mainly consistent with the reading time profile predicted by the SPLT and thus suggest that the L1 processing theory might also be able to account for L2 processing difficulty.

Demotivation: Understanding Resistance to English Language Learning - The Case of Vietnamese Students

Demotivation in English language learning was investigated, using Vietnam as a case study, with three main foci: (i) the reasons (i.e., the demotives) underlying demotivation; (ii) the degree of influence of different demotives; and (iii) students’ experiences in overcoming demotivation. Using stimulated recall essays from 100 university students of their foreign language learning experiences, the findings indicated that demotivation was a significant issue for EFL learning, and a framework for discussing the different sources of demotives was developed. While some categories of demotives occurred more frequent than others, no category appeared to be more or less difficult to overcome. Rather, students’ awareness of the role of English language and their determination to succeed were critical factors in overcoming demotivation.

Acquisition of the English article system in SLA and the Missing Surface Inflection Hypothesis

This paper examines the article system in interlanguage grammar focusing on Japanese learners of English, whose native language lacks articles. It will be demonstrated that for the acquisition of the English article system, count/mass distinctions and definiteness are the crucial factors. Although Japanese does not employ the article system to encode these aspects, it will be argued that they are nevertheless syntactically encoded through its classifier system. Hence, the problem for these learners must be to map these features onto the appropriate surface forms as the Missing Surface Inflection Hypothesis predicts (Prévost & White 2000). This suggestion will further be supported empirically by a fill-in-the article task. It will be concluded that these Japanese learners understand the English article system fairly well, possibly due to their native language, yet have problems with realizing the relevant features (i.e. count/mass distinctions and definiteness) in the target language.

Lower Carboniferous microfloras of Spitsbergen, Part One

Describes and discusses the stratigraphic value of dispersed microspores from Culm localities, particularly from three of the most complete sections of the Billefjorden sandstones in the region. Two successive microfloral assemblages are distinguished. Correlations can be made locally and with various zones of Europe and North America. One new genus and many new species are represented in the microfloras.

Lower Carboniferous microfloras of Spitsbergen, Part Two.

Second part (and conclusion) of a paper on dispersed microspores from Culm (Carboniferous) localities, mainly in Billefjorden sandstones. Macroscopic lithologic data for samples are appended. "The present study lends considerable support to the view . . . that terrestrial sequences of lower Carboniferous age may be subdivided precisely on the exclusive basis of their microspore content.