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Previous investigations of the phenomenon of preferred adjective order in English have overlooked or ignored the influence of rhythmic stress in language recall. The importance of researching this dimension becomes evident when one attempts to understand preferred adjective order cross-culturally, particularly in languages such as Spanish and French where adjective order is flexible, but rhythmic stress is not. The hypothesis of the present experiment, that the nonstressed word of a phrase would be a better cue than the stressed word for the rest of the phrase was not substantiated. However, the finding that first word stress during input was the most relevant variable with respect to recalling phrases has important implications for speech perception and first language learning. In effect, the data suggest that the acoustical marker of first word stress constitute a perceptual strategy which is primary in learning English. The data are not comprehensive enough to generalize this principle to other languages, but certainly suggest the value of investigating such a possibility. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this study was to determine the significance of chronological age on the comprehension of spatial adjectives in children. Specifically, the investigation set out to determine the age levels at which children comprehend the polar forms of various spatial adjectives and to determine the difference in age levels of comprehension of unmarked versus marked adjective forms. Seventy children between the ages of two years, +/-2 months and eight years, + 2 months, selected on the basis of chronological age, normal receptive vocabulary recognition and normal hearing, participated as subjects.