<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>This study investigated the use of politeness strategies in a corpus of English business letters written by Iranian non-native speakers in comparison with business letters written by English native speakers. The positive and negative politeness strategies proposed by Brown and Levinson’s (1978) theory were employed. A corpus of 46 business letters written by non-native employees of four companies and 46 letters written by native speakers who were in correspondence with these companies were analyzed to examine their use of politeness strategies. Th e results collected from the analysis of letters written by nonnative parties as senders were compared to those written by native speakers as receivers in response. Th e findings showed that although both parties used both types of politeness strategies in their letters, non-native participants employed both types (negative and positive politeness strategies) more than native speakers, especially positive politeness strategies, which were found to be used more frequently than negative ones. Additionally, the results demonstrated that social distance plays an important role in the employment of different strategies, particularly in choosing the type of salutation, which is an act requiring the positive politeness strategy to reduce face threatening act. Th us, more frequent use of positive politeness strategies by non-native speakers could be an effect of this factor.</abstract>

English Department, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

Politeness Strategies in English Business Letters: a Comparative Study of Native and Non-Native Speakers of English

<abstract>The current study was targeted at investigating the relationship between translation students’ personality types and the quality of their English-to-Persian translations with respect to different text types. To this aim, 35 undergraduate senior students of translation were randomly sampled. To obtain some demographic information about the participants, the researchers used a background questionnaire. The participants were given three different text types for the translation task. An advertisement, a scientific text and a narrative text were chosen to serve Reiss’ text typology (1971) including operative, informative and expressive texts, respectively. The students were also provided with retrospective questionnaires to shed light on their performance in the act of translating. Subsequently, once the participants’ personality types were determined via the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) anchored in Jung’s psychological theory, their dominant mental functions involving intuition, sensation, feeling and thinking were identified. To analyze the data, the One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) procedure and post-hoc analysis were employed. The results of the study indicated that the only dichotomy showing a significant difference was that of intuition versus sensation. Simply put, the intuitors outperformed their sensor counterparts in the translation of the expressive text. Taking into account the findings of the current study, the researchers suggest some pedagogical guidelines too.</abstract>

Islamic Azad University, Fasa Branch, Iran

Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Fars, Iran

Individual Differences and Quality Of Translation: A Personality-Based Perspective

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> The paper is concerned with the strategies of written translation. The first section deals with various definitions of the notion of translation strategy, terms used to describe that notion and classifications of translation strategies. The second section presents the results of some empirical studies on translation strategies. In the third section, Krzysztof Hejwowski’s concept of translation strategies is laid out and the results of a pilot study based on this concept are described</abstract>

Strategies of Translation

<abstract>The present study compared utterance texts of healthy individuals and individuals suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, by using a purpose-built Grammatico-Semantic Acceptability Quotient which examined the degree of linguistic acceptability of analyzed sentences. The study involved 130 hospitalized psychiatric patients diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and 130 healthy individuals. The study yielded the biggest so far corpus of marked utterance texts of schizophrenic patients in the Polish language. A total of 11,414 sentences were isolated, 7,180 of which were produced by individuals suffering from schizophrenia. The level of their acceptability was found to be considerably lower, especially in the case of sentences produced by patients with positive type schizophrenia.</abstract>

Grammatical and Semantic Acceptability of Utterance Texts of Patients Diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia. A Research Report

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
The current study aimed to investigate age-related differences in narrative abilities at the macrostructural and microstructural levels and to examine which microstructural aspects explain narrative macrostructure at ages six and eight. Oral narratives were elicited from 89 Croatian monolingual children using the Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives (MAIN). At the microstructural level, the measure of lexical diversity D, clausal density, and mean length of clause were assessed. Macrostructure was assessed using the standardized MAIN scoring procedure. We found differences between the two age groups in lexical diversity, clausal density, and macrostructure, with eight-year-olds scoring higher on all measures. Variance in the macrostructure was explained to a significant extent by lexical diversity in the case of six-year-olds, and by both lexical diversity and clausal density in the case of eight-year-olds. Our results suggest that six-year-olds rely mostly on lexical abilities when telling a story, while eight-year-olds also draw on syntactic abilities.
</abstract>

The relationship between narrative microstructure and macrostructure: Differences between six- and eight-year-olds

<abstract xml:lang="en"><title style='display:none'>Using MLU to study early language development in English</title>The study examines the parameter of Mean Length of Utterance (MLU), measured both in morphemes (MLUm) and words (MLUw), in early language development in the case of two English children matched for age. The MLU scores of a normally developing child were compared to the MLU results of a language-impaired child in a longitudinal study. Moreover, the reliability of the MLU index measured in words was also tested in both children. The MLU analysis was based on the CHILDES database and CLAN programme, where the transcripts of spontaneous speech samples are used to calculate basic language parameters at different age-points. The findings of this study indicate that despite the expected delay, the language-impaired child followed a similar route of language development as the control child. However, significant differences between MLUw and MLUm confirmed that the parameters performed two different linguistic analyses.</abstract>

Using MLU to study early language development in English

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
The current study investigated fatwa discourse to reveal the attitudes and rulings of scholars towards English. In doing so, English and Arabic fatwas were analyzed employing modality. It was found that deontic auxiliary modals and similarly functioning markers were utilized to represent acceptance through median value modals to express obligation, for example, “should,” often followed by a justification, and low value modals to express permissibility, for example, “may.” Modality is also used to show resistance through a median value modal, such as “should” and “can.” The manipulation and power of such discourse are evident in the use of modality markers, including auxiliary, semi-auxiliary, and conditional modals. They function on the opposite poles of rulings, permissible and impermissible, to hedge permission and cast hesitation or uncertainty; yet, they show a lack of commitment on the part of the scholars to their fatwa, thus mitigating acceptance and resistance.
</abstract>

Mitigating acceptance and resistance in the fatwas on the ruling of learning English

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
Online romance fraud is a crime carried out largely using language, as the victim and scammer typically do not meet in person in their entire interaction. As a language-enabled crime, a linguistic analysis of scam communication can shed light on how language is used to attract victims and influence their thoughts and actions. This study examined the first stage in the online scam strategy, that is, the putting up of a dating profile (user biography) on online dating service websites. The analysis employs the judgement evaluation framework of appraisal theory to examine the extent to which scammer profiles differ from a set of general user profiles in terms of their use of social approval as a linguistic strategy to attract a more compliant victim type. Findings from the study can help in raising public awareness about how linguistic resources are employed in luring potential victims in scammer dating profiles.
</abstract>

Drawing on social approval as a linguistic strategy: A discourse semantic analysis of judgement evaluation in suspected online romance scammer dating profiles

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
The objective of the current study was to examine how the expected rewards, theory of mind, and false praise-telling relate to interventional deception that prevents moral transgression. A sample of 114 children aged 4-7 years participated in the study. The expected rewards ratio was a statistically significant predictor of interventional deception, with the children being most likely to deceive to prevent moral transgressions when the deception involved high personal gain. Overall, children who gave false praise and who passed the hidden emotion task were more likely to deceive than those who told another individual an unpleasant truth and failed the emotion understanding task. The results are discussed with respect to diverse developmental conceptions and studies on prosocial behaviors and sociocognitive and cultural factors involved in deception.
</abstract>

Who lies to protect another? Motivational, behavioral, and socio-cognitive predictors of children’s interventional deception

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
Phonetic imitation, understood as adjustment of one’s pronunciation towards that of a model speaker, plays an important role in second language speech learning. The current study was intended to determine the degree to which young native Polish learners of English imitate native English models’ speech, with gender as a potential influencing factor. Thirty-four participants shadowed words with both voiceless /p, t, k/ and voiced /b, d, g/ consonants as onsets, which differ in terms of voice onset time (VOT) in the two languages. Having compared VOT measurements in three tasks, no significant differences were found for /p, t, k/, suggesting no imitation effect regardless of gender, and an apparent increase of prevoicing for /b, d, g/ in the imitation tasks. Some of the null results may be attributed to high baseline values and to the stimuli’s conflicting modalities. Noticeable variability in the data may have masked the true impact of imitative exposure.
</abstract>

Phonetic imitation by young L2 learners: English VOTs for speakers of Polish

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
Immigrants and racial minorities continue to face hiring discrimination. The current study examined the influence of accent, race, as well as perceived Americanness on hiring evaluations. White US adults (<italic>N</italic> = 375) were randomly assigned to one of six conditions based on two factors: (a) accent (standard versus foreign) and (b) race (White, Black, and Asian). Accented speakers were perceived to be less American and were subsequently less likely to be hired. However, this effect was stronger or only emerged for White and Black candidates. The perception and evaluation of the Asian candidate were not explained by perceived Americanness. Implications for being perceived as American are discussed.
</abstract>

Prototypically American: The influence of accent and race on evaluation of job candidates

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
The purpose of the current study was to explore parental beliefs about the effect of the COVID-19 quarantine on the subjectively estimated quality of parent-child interactions as well as their beliefs about its impact on early childhood language development within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). A cross-sectional observational study was conducted via an electronic survey. The study surveyed 439 parents of typical children aged between 24 and 60 months. The survey was distributed online to cover a wide range of participants across the KSA. Based on the parental subjective measure used in the current study, parent-child interactions and children's language skills had significantly increased during the quarantine (<italic>p</italic> &lt; .001). In conclusion, the study highlighted the important role of parents during the critical period of language development in promoting their children's speech and language skills.
</abstract>

The impact of the COVID-19 quarantine on the estimated quality of parent-child interactions in Saudi Arabia: Parental perspectives

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> Recent studies have taken advantage of newly available, large-scale, cross-linguistic data and new statistical techniques to look at the relationship between language structure and social structure. These ‘nomothetic’ approaches contrast with more traditional approaches and a tension is observed between proponents of each method. We review some nomothetic studies and point out some challenges that must be overcome. However, we argue that nomothetic approaches can contribute to our understanding of the links between social structure and language structure if they address these challenges and are taken as part of a body of mutually supporting evidence. Nomothetic studies are a powerful tool for generating hypotheses that can go on to be corroborated and tested with experimental and theoretical approaches. These studies are highlighting the effect of interaction on language.</abstract>

Language Evolution and Computation Research Unit, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, The University of Edinburgh Dugald Stewart Building, 3 Charles Street Edinburgh, EH8 9AD

Social Structure and Language Structure: the New Nomothetic Approach

<abstract xml:lang="en"><title style='display:none'>Development of comprehension of ironic utterances in 3- to 9-year-old Finnish-speaking children</title>This study explores the comprehension of simple ironic utterances in 210 Finnish children aged from 3 to 9 years. If the child answered the question correctly, he/she was asked to explain correct answers. The results indicated that there was large individual variation within age groups both in answers and explanations. In terms of correct answers there was a significant difference between 6- and 7-year-olds and in correct explanations between age groups of 3-4, 6-7 and 7-8. Analysis of incorrect answers showed that literal interpretation of an utterance was the most common incorrect answer type in all age groups. Totally irrelevant answers occurred only in children aged 3 and 4. In terms of incorrect explanations, "turntaking" and "incorrect focus" categories were the most common incorrect explanation types. Contrary to previous studies, in this study already some of the 3- and 4-year-olds showed an emerging ability to comprehend irony.</abstract>

Development of comprehension of ironic utterances in 3- to 9-year-old Finnish-speaking children

<abstract xml:lang="en"><title style='display:none'>Early bilingualism: children of immigrants in an English-language childcare center</title>In this study, language views and home language practice of sixteen immigrant parents were documented and related to the dual language behaviors of their young children (ages 1:09 to 3;06) who were enrolled in a Toronto English-language childcare center. De Houwer's (1999) model of early bilingualism was applied to the minority language context and external factors were used to explain the short-lived active bilingualism of the younger children and the passive bilingualism of the preschoolers. Presenting mothers and fathers with separate questionnaires proved to be a valuable methodological tool, which revealed similar language thinking but different home language practice. Immigrant mothers were more committed to their children's L1 development than were fathers, a finding, which supports and extends the parental gender difference noted in earlier work (Gleason, 2005; Lyon, 1991; Lyon &amp; Ellis, 1999). Negative effects of early L2 exposure on minority language children's incomplete L1, reported in earlier studies, were confirmed. A concrete outcome of the present study was the creation mylanguage.ca, a website intended to help immigrant parents understand their children's dual language learning. Even though the study presents a somewhat bleak picture of the continuation of L1, it concludes on an optimistic note, encouraging immigrant fathers to join forces with their L1-committed spouses and to help provide a nurturing L1 environment for their young children.</abstract>

Early bilingualism: children of immigrants in an English-language childcare center

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> Aphasia following an acquired neurological insult necessitates an in-depth evaluation of the primary and secondary language symptoms. Of all the tools available for aphasia diagnosis, the Western Aphasia Battery (WAB; Kertesz, 1982) has proved to be one of the most comprehensive test batteries for describing the aphasia symptom complex. Several authors have pointed out the need for language-specific tools for the assessment of aphasia. But in Bengali, the most prevalent language in eastern India, no formal language assessment tool was available to date. The present study adapted the original WAB in Bengali to give the Bengali WAB (B-WAB). The study was completed in three phases: development, standardization and validation of the B-WAB. The test material was developed preserving the total number of items, however minor changes were made wherever necessary so that it matched the sociolinguistic norms in this part of the country. It was standardized in a group of 150 normal individuals in five different age groups ranging from 18-70 years, and normative values were provided for each subtest for each group. For establishing validity, it was administered to 30 aphasic subjects and the results indicated that the B-WAB was a valid tool for testing individuals with aphasia.</abstract>

Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped, ERC, Kolkata

Dept. of Speech Language Pathology, Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped, ERC, B.T. Road, Bon Hooghly, Kolkata-700090, India

Bangur Institute of Neurosciences, Kolkata

Adaptation of The Western Aphasia Battery in Bangla

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> The study aims to answer questions about the developmental trajectories of irony comprehension. The research focuses on the problem of the age at which ironic utterances can first be understood. The link between ironic utterance comprehension and early Theory of Mind (ToM) is examined as well. In order to approach the topic, 46 preschool children were tested with the Irony Comprehension Task (Banasik &amp; Bokus, 2013) and the Reflection on Thinking Test (Białecka-Pikul, 2012) in three age groups: four-year-olds, five-year-olds and six-year-olds. The study showed no age effect in the Irony Comprehension Task and a significant effect in the Reflection on Thinking Test. On some of the measures, irony comprehension correlates with theory of mind. Also, an analysis of children’s narratives was conducted to observe how children explain the intention of the speaker who uttered the ironic statement. The children’s responses fall into four categories, one of which involves a function similar to a white lie being ascribed to the utterance.</abstract>

Non-literal speech comprehension in preschool children – an example from a study on verbal irony

<abstract>The study investigated the relationship between the efficiency of switching languages and non-linguistic tasks in non-proficient Polish-English bilinguals. The participants performed picture naming that involved switching between L1 and L2 in both directions and a shape or color decision on visually presented figures, which required switching and mixing two different tasks. No relationship between the efficiency in switching languages and non-linguistic tasks was observed. However, increased language switching efficiency was related to high task mixing efficiency, indicating that maintaining two languages and two non-linguistic tasks active is mediated by equivalent control processes. Also, switching from L2 to L1 was more time-consuming than in the opposite direction and participants with the greatest L1 switching disadvantage were the fastest task switchers. These findings suggest that nonproficient bilinguals inhibit their stronger language while switching between L1 and L2 and equivalent inhibitory mechanisms can be responsible for the facilitation of their task switching performance.</abstract>

Language and Task Switching in Polish-English Bilinguals

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Volume 18 (2014): Issue 3 (December 2014) Children's Language and Communicative Knowledge, Part Two. In childhood and beyond, Issue Editor: Barbara Bokus

Volume 18 (2014): Issue 2 (August 2014) Children's Language and Communicative Knowledge, Part One. In Memory of Professor Grace Wales Shugar, Issue Editor: Barbara Bokus