As college sports become more intense and physical, a great deal of attention and scholarly research has begun to focus on the type of communication used during competition. For example, basketball has become vastly more intense and more aggressive and individual communication style has become part of the game. In this study, I am concerned with a type of communication called "trash-talking." Trash-talking is defined as "the act of a person, usually an athlete, who talks to an opponent in an excessively boastful or scornful manner." Most of the talk is a form of insults or "put-downs" that are communicated towards another person. Trash-talking has become a controversial issue for the media, fans, teams, owners and players, and was very evident in the 1992-93 National Basketball Association (NBA) season, especially during the playoffs. Recently trash-talking has appeared in the 1993-94 playoffs as well. Trash-talking was so pervasive that the NBA reconstructed its rules in an attempt to minimize it, and when it apparently began to incite physical aggression', the NBA took immediate action. Action against this style of communication on the court is not limited to the NBA, however. Most all professional and collegiate sports took steps to limit forms of trash-talking and thus reduce the possibility of talk escalating into physical aggression. From my experience as a collegiate basketball player and as one who watches collegiate sports, it appears that trash-talking is common in college basketball. In my study I examine how the players feel about trash-talking, the reasons for its use, and actions that trigger the escalation of trash-talking into physical violence. The research data came from the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (West) (PSAC). Players participated in the study by filling out a short questionnaire, watching three short clips of trash-talking, and discussing these clips in a focus group.

This thesis determines the relationship of theoretical opinion with actual practices for successful special events. As a growing segment of marketing plans, special events constitute a strong and evolving public relations practice. Substantial funding from corporate organizations often accompany these events. As well, special events serve as fund-raising methods for many non-profit organizations. Despite their increasing use in professional arenas, special events require specific planning elements and criteria for success. Preliminarily, this thesis begins with a review of special event-related literature from speech communication experts to detect recommendations for special event planning. Next follows a developmental history of the 1993 Edinboro University of Pennsylvania (EUP) Spring Highlands Festival and its planning efforts. This is followed by quantifiable research data gathered at the 1994 festival through interviews, surveys and other response mechanisms. Special event elements, practices and procedures determined through these festival research methods are then compared and contrasted with the theoretical opinions defined in the literature review. Recommendations for future Spring Highlands festivals, and a comparison of theoretical vs. actual practices conclude this thesis.

The story of television is but a speck on the time line of world history. Yet during its relatively short life span, the medium has come to pervade our society. It informs us daily of world events, news of which at one time took months to reach us, if it ever got there at all. It educates us about science, history, sociology, politics, art and almost eveiy other discipline once relegated only to books. It entertains us with stories, fantasies, and humor. It provides us with contemporary role models and enlightens us about the kind of lifestyles we can live. In the privacy of our own homes, it introduces us to interesting local, national, and world figures we might otherwise never come to know. Political figures represent one of the most influential groups of people television brings to our attention on a regular basis, especially during political campaigns.

Phonological differences between the adult model of Black English (BE) and that of standard English (SE) have been well documented (Dillard, 1972; Labov, 1972; and Wolfram & Fasold, 1974). However, very little has been reported regarding phonological development in Black English speakers. Although speech-language pathology is sensitive to the importance of distinguishing dialectal differences from language disorders, there are very few published guidelines for making a distinction between dialectal difference and phonological processing disorder in the emerging phonology of young Black children. A clinician must compare the phonology of children who use Black English either to the adult model of Black English, or to norms reported for Standard English. Neither comparison seems appropriate for developmental phonological assessment purposes (Haynes & Moran, 1989).

The current study was undertaken to evaluate the expressive communicative effectiveness of a physically handicapped student registered with the Office of Disabled Student Services at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in a variety of communicative circumstances. The primary purpose of the investigation was to determine the comparative effectiveness/efficiency of verbal communication as produced naturally by the subject versus that produced via a personal computer and voice synthesizer. Two additional components of the communicative exchange, the degree of familiarity of the communication partner with the subject and the nature of the utterance, were examined in relation to communicative effectiveness/efficiency as measured in terms of mean transmission times. Results indicated that transmission time was not reduced when using the augmentative communication system utilized for this investigation, but was, in fact, significantly increased. The degree of familiarity of the communication partner and the nature of the utterance had no significant effect upon time required for message transmission, Discussion of several extraneous and confounding variables is included to clarify the significance of these findings.