The Muskogean family of languages has two main divisions, the Western and the Eastern. Among extant languages, the Western division is represented only by Choctaw-Chickasaw; the extant languages of the Eastern division may be further divided into three subgroups: (1) Alabama-Koasati, (2) Hitchiti-Mikasuki, and (3) Creek-Seminole. The material on which the present paper is based is taken from my field notes on Choctaw, Koasati, Hitchiti, and Creek (Muskogee). These four languages may be considered representative of the family as a whole, since both divisions and all the subgroups are represented among them.

In a recent paper, Bresnan claims to have shown that the Nuclear Stress Rule applies within the syntactic cycle, rather than to surface structure. Given this result, she claims to have found evidence for the existence of deep structure, for the lexicalist hypothesis, and against McCawley's 1970 analysis of English as a VSO language. B's claims are analysed here in detail. It is shown that her claims are without a basis in fact: the Nuclear Stress Rule is a global rule which applies to surface structure, but it has a global environment referring to other levels.*

Hindus of reflective tendencies have always been much given to linguistic analysis and speculation. All Indian systems deal more or less with problems of the nature of language, the relation of sound to sense, etc. When the time comes for a general History of Linguistic Theories, the Indian section will bulk large. While none of the recognized philosophic systems can be neglected, the three most important ones from this standpoint are, no doubt, the Vaiyākaraṇikas or grammatical school (most prominently represented by Pāṇini), the Naiyāyikas or followers of Nyāya, and the Mīmāṅsakas or school of the Pūrva-Mīmāṅsā.

The difference between the present indicative active personal endings in the athematic and thematic conjugations is self-evident, as in Greek (Doric) in contrast with . It is also recognised that the Old Irish verb shows the same phenomenon in its ‘absolute’ and ‘conjunct’ forms (without and with preverbs respectively), as berim < ∗bheremi and -biur < ∗bherō.

Lakoff 1970 offers seven sets of data which he believes furnish support for revising current models of syntactic description in such a way as to allow global rules, i.e. rules that make reference to more than a single point in a derivation. A close examination of these data reveals that only two sets cannot be given an adequate treatment within the framework sketched in Chomsky 1965; and even these two sets do not warrant the wide-ranging extension of current syntactic theory which L proposes. Furthermore, L's seven arguments, even if they were accepted, would furnish no support for his assertions concerning the nature of semantic representation.*

In the first volume of The Eccentricities of John Edwin, Comedian (1791), the author of the memoirs, or perhaps rather his literary executor, Anthony Pasquin, alias John Williams, has something to say about the linguistic idiosyncracies of certain contemporary London actors. Since these anecdotal comments, which appear to be unknown to Anglists, add something to our meager knowledge of Cockney in the latter half of the 18th century, I shall reprint them here with what phonological and grammatical notes may seem pertinent.

Ever since the seventies of the last century scholars have given a great deal of attention to various kinds of evidence that has seemed to indicate a reduced grade alongside of the zero grade in the light bases. The early discussions concerned chiefly Osthoff's theory of the ‘nebentonige Tiefstufe’, but one should note also Chr. Bartolomae's attempt to establish the presence of ə in the e-series. While no one today would support either theory in its original form, some of the material collected by Osthoff and Bartholomae still has significance.

Three attempts have been made in recent years to apply the techniques of modern descriptive linguistics to the Old English spellings produced by breaking, palatal diphthongization, i-umlaut, and velar umlaut. Desirable as such attempts are, the authors of the present article find the results still far from satisfactory.