Aphasiological evidence is presented in support of various linguistic hypotheses. The transmodal performances of an aphasic subject provide clear evidence in favor of performative analysis, discourse rules, a copula-creation rule for English, the partial independence of syntax and semantics, and the function of pronouns as pure variables. The possible contribution of neurolinguistics to linguistic theory is evaluated.

The East Baltic stative verbs *stāw-ē- and *dēw-ē- do not derive from alleged Indo-European perfect forms in -w-. Their starting point must be seen in the otherwise well-known roots IE *stā- and *dhē-. The -w- is ultimately due to the active perfect participle, whose strong form IE *-wðs was abandoned in Baltic (and Slavic), but left its trace in a phonologic rule according to which vowel-initial suffixes were linked to roots ending in a long vowel by means of -w-.

It is demonstrated here that the Dravidian family of languages in South Asia is cognate with Elamite, an ancient language of West Asia. This demonstration is based on 57 Elamite words (mostly verb stems) paired with corresponding Dravidian terms. The correspondences are, on the whole, straightforward and interlocking. A beginning is made in reconstructing the phonology of Proto-Elamo-Dravidian.

Data from rural Southern white speech are compared with Vernacular Black English (VBE) in order to determine the relationship of these varieties. Copula absence and invariant be, the two features most often cited in arguments about black–white speech relations, are described from a viewpoint which admits structured variability as part of linguistic competence. Some lects of Southern white speech and VBE may use zero copula quite similarly, but there is considerable difference in the uses of invariant be; the ‘distributive’ function of be appears to be unique to VBE in this setting. There is evidence that certain aspects of copula absence in white Southern speech may have been taken from a decreolizing form of Black English.

The organization of taking turns to talk is fundamental to conversation, as well as to other speech-exchange systems. A model for the turn-taking organization for conversation is proposed, and is examined for its compatibility with a list of grossly observable facts about conversation. The results of the examination suggest that, at least, a model for turn-taking in conversation will be characterized as locally managed, party-administered, interactionally controlled, and sensitive to recipient design. Several general consequences of the model are explicated, and contrasts are sketched with turn-taking organizations for other speech-exchange systems.

The nature of the verbal sign, as of the sign in any semiotic system, must be specified through the relationship between the signans and signatum, as well as through the relations of the given sign to the other signs of the system, both at the level of the signata and at that of the corresponding signantia. In defining a sign of a semiotic system, then, we must consider not only the ‘vertical’ relationship between the two components of a sign taken in isolation, but also the twofold ‘horizontal’ relations existing between the respective components of the interrelated signs. The Saussurean thesis of the arbitrariness of the sign is partial and incomplete in that it specifies only the ‘vertical’ relations, disregarding the nature of the ‘horizontal’ ones. On the other hand, the opposite views on the motivated, iconic nature of the bond between the signans and signatum, as maintained by the adversaries of the Saussurean thesis, involve exclusively the sphere of the ‘horizontal’ relations and cannot refer to the ‘vertical’ relationship, which is characterized in principle by arbitrariness and conventionality. If the verbal sign is conceived of as a unity of the ‘vertical’ and ‘horizontal’ relations, the opposed propositions concerning the nature of the relations between the signans and signatum present themselves not as contradictory, but as complementary to each other (in Niels Bohr's sense of the term), specifying with necessary completeness the essence of the verbal sign.

The deictic verbs come and go, as well as bring and send, may be used in idioms to refer to change of state rather than to motion. In such idiomatic uses, it is proposed, the deictic center, corresponding to the goal of come, is provided by some NORMAL STATE of being, e.g. consciousness or realism as in He came round and He came down to earth. In contrast, go marks departure from a normal state, as in He went mad and He went into a daze. Come is never used to denote departure from, nor go entry into, a normal state. Besides normal-state deixis, come may be used in evaluative deixis to indicate approval of some end state, as in He came through a lot, while evaluative go is used with a non-positive meaning, as in He went through a lot. It is suggested that both classes of idioms are related to other forms of deixis, all of which derive from the basic deictic contrast between EGO and NON-EGO.

This paper discusses the linguistic development of Genie, an adolescent girl who for most of her life underwent a degree of social isolation and experiential deprivation unparalleled in the reports of scientific investigation. This case touches on questions of profound interest to psychologists, philosophers, and linguists, including the relationship between cognition and language, the interdependence or autonomy of linguistic competence and performance, the mental abilities underlying language, proposed universal stages in language learning, the critical age for language acquisition, and the biological foundations of language.

Speech performances are here considered as statistical samples drawn from a probabilistic language competence. This competence is modeled in conventional generative terms, except that optional rules are assigned application probabilities as functions of the structure of the input strings, possibly depending on the extralinguistic environment as well. We develop the mathematical background for these variable rules, which were introduced by Labov, and we apply the theory and methodology to examples from Spanish, French, and English. The data consist of relative frequencies of rule application for different types of input string, and they provide a check on the frequencies predicted by variable rules. This study supports the hypothesis that the various features in rule structural descriptions tend to act independently, in the statistical sense, on rule probabilities. The analytic framework for variable rules is easily and naturally extendable to take into account the effect of sociolinguistic and stylistic features on application frequencies.

The notion of consciousness is seen as being important to linguistics as well as psychology, and specifically to the linguistic distinction between GIVEN and NEW information. Given information is suggested to be that which the speaker assumes to be already present in the addressee's consciousness at the time of an utterance, and an example is discussed at length. Some attention is then given to contrastiveness, a separate phenomenon which is apt to be confused with new information. There follows a brief sketch of some related work in linguistics, together with a few remarks on the status of consciousness within the mainstream of modern psychology, as contrasted with the status of the notion in earlier times. Attention is then turned to the question of why a speaker treats certain information as given, and various grounds for doing so are illustrated. The converse question of why a speaker may stop treating something as given is also discussed. Finally, it is noted that, in certain definable instances, speakers exhibit a mild degree of egocentrism in their assumptions regarding the addressee's consciousness. This point is illustrated with reference to quotations and shallow memory.

The Finnish language in Minnesota has undergone considerable interference through four generations of contact with English, largely because of syntagmatic congruence with English sentences. The noun cases have responded in a variety of ways to this interference, demonstrating that both the degree of boundness and syntactic congruence are critical to the explanation of interference, as case-endings in highly bound environments are much more resistant to interference than those in moderately or loosely bound environments.

Serious difficulties with existing continuity theories of the relationship between human language and systems of communication in other animals have caused many linguists to reject the possibility of investigating this relationship. Some of the difficulties seem to be inherent in the assumption that continuity theories must be theories of comparative intellect. These difficulties can be avoided, however, by theories which place their major emphasis on the adaptive functions of communication systems in their ecological context. Recent work on the ontogeny of bird song provides a basis for such a theory, within which a new evaluation may be made of the significance of recent experiments on language abilities in chimpanzees.

Reports of developing phonologies agree that the fricatives are generally acquired later than stops, and the hierarchy of distinctive features places [+ strident] at the foot of the list on the basis of linguistic evidence. Neurophysiological evidence seems to indicate that the differentiation of [+ strident] consonants is a function of degree of myelination of the auditory nerve and the cortical bodies with which it is connected. Evidence from pathological cases supports the hypothesis that differentiation of high frequencies is impaired in cases of demyelinating disease. It is concluded that the fricative consonants are acquired last because they are auditorily discriminated last by the developing child.