We are pleased to present the 14th Volume of SOAS Working Papers in Linguistics (ISBN 0 7286 0372 1). This volume features research in progress of staff, research students and research associates of the Department of Linguistics at SOAS. The quality and variety of papers in this volume reflects not only the work of the department, especially in the field of theoretical linguistics, but also the diversity of linguistic research currently being carried out at SOAS within the Faculty of Languages and Cultures.

The papers included in this volume cover the following topics: Phonology and Phonetics, Endangered Languages, Syntax, Language Acquisition, Psycholinguistics and Semantics.

Table of contents •Aïcha Belkadi Language impairments in autism: evidence against mind-blindness •Katalin Balogné Bérces What's wrong with vowel-initial syllables? •Monik Charette The end of the (Turkish) word •Thomas Doukas Now you hear it, now you don’t; what happens with functional categories in children’s early speech? •Malcolm Edwards Pronouns, agreement and focus in Egyptian Arabic •László Kristó On synthesis, fusion and the difference between them •Nancy C. Kula Derived environment effects in GP •Mary Raymond Stress and syllabification in Arop-Lokep: an Optimality-Theoretic account •Kirsty Rowan A phonological investigation into the Meroitic ‘syllable’ signs – ne and se and their implications on the e sign •Kirsty Rowan Meroitic – an Afroasiatic language? •David Shariatmadari Sounds difficult? Why phonological theory needs ‘ease of articulation’ •Marina Tsakiridou The linguistic profile of Down’s syndrome subjects : Evidence from Wh-movement construction •Yuko Z. Yoshida Accents in Tokyo and Kyoto Japanese Vowel Quality in terms of Duration and Licensing Potency •Emmon Bach Paradigm Regained: Deixis in Northern Wakashan •Konstantina Haidou Discourse Functions without Peripheral Syntax