Having not really much enjoyed chapter 8 of Finegan, I was a bit hesitant to read chapter 9. I was presently surprised that I found it more interesting although still somewhat less captivating than readings earlier in the semester. The chapter focused on speech acts and conversation. It's interesting to think that something that comes quite easy to most people (speaking and conversing) really is quite complex. Linguists, as I should have surmised, have dissected our speech and conversation into explainable patterns and parts. So much of what we say can be understood in different ways depending on context. I liked how the chapter explained that the terms declarative, interrogative and imperative are really oversimplifications of what happens in spoken language...it depends on context.
The part of the chapter I found most interesting was the section on the cooperative principle. The four maxims are ideas we speakers are mostly aware of. Sometimes we are guilty of violating a maxim. We all know some chronic violators of certain maxims. For example, a recent manner of saying someone has violated the maxim of quantity is by saying to them "too much information." I also thought it interesting the thoughts behind lying and truth as explained in the maxim of quality. People by nature expect people to tell the truth.
The intricate dance that occurs in conversations was also amusing...opening sequences, turn taking, closing sequences, etc. I never thought that all of this would be explained as it is...and we're just scratching the surface in this class.
Finally, the cultural aspect of language is super important for L2 teachers and learners. I had already heard about many American Indians having large pauses between thoughts, but hadn't necessarily thought about how it might affect my teaching or communication with people from different cultural background. My favorite statement in the whole chapter was the Mandarin "Have you eaten rice yet?" equivalent to our "How are you?" I tend not to ask "How are you?" unless I really mean it. If a person is just really saying "hello," I feel he/she should just say "hello" or some equivalent to it.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Finegan 8 Read & Retell
Finegan 8 handled the topics of information structure and pragmatics. Of all the chapters we have read this semester, I would have to say this chapter interested me least. I would venture to guess that my interest level was somewhat dependent on the abstract nature of some of the concepts. The chapter was filled with many terms, some of which were familiar and some of which I had difficulty wrapping my head around. I actually felt somewhat enlightened at the end of the chapter with the summary statement--"Syntax is thus used to convey two kinds of imformation: semantic information and pragramatic information."
Information structure is highlighting and deemphasizing certain information in a language text. Discourse context plays a role in how this occurs. The study of information structure is pragmatics. Various topics that seemed somewhat easier to grasp were given vs. new information, contrast, topics, definite vs. indefinite information, passive vs. active, etc. It was interesting to read how different languages deal with these concepts in different ways...word order, pitch, etc. The concepts that I found a bit abstract were fronting, left dislocation and clefts. The example sentences were helpful, but I don't think I could take a sentence and dissect using these terms.
One item I especially enjoyed learning about was use of passive and active voice in sentence construction. I tend to attempt to use active voice because it was so drilled into me during writing classes. I appreciated reading about proper use of passive voice to help flow and understanding. I had never thought of it in that way.
Information structure is highlighting and deemphasizing certain information in a language text. Discourse context plays a role in how this occurs. The study of information structure is pragmatics. Various topics that seemed somewhat easier to grasp were given vs. new information, contrast, topics, definite vs. indefinite information, passive vs. active, etc. It was interesting to read how different languages deal with these concepts in different ways...word order, pitch, etc. The concepts that I found a bit abstract were fronting, left dislocation and clefts. The example sentences were helpful, but I don't think I could take a sentence and dissect using these terms.
One item I especially enjoyed learning about was use of passive and active voice in sentence construction. I tend to attempt to use active voice because it was so drilled into me during writing classes. I appreciated reading about proper use of passive voice to help flow and understanding. I had never thought of it in that way.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Class 26 March 09
We had a visitor in class today, Dr. Contag from the Spanish department. It was great to have an observer in class, sharing her thoughts on various topics and questions that came up.
We spent some of class focused on the differences between men and women and language use, based upon our viewing of the assigned video. I wonder how discussing this online affected the discussion. Would it have been different had we been face to face? Gender related issues can often get heated during discussion. So much communication happens through facial expression, body language and tone of voice. For the most part, we can't rely on those during our online discussions.
The class went through some of the answers to our latest quiz. I found it very interesting that some people could visualize the tree diagrams that were being described orally, while others had major difficulties. I think it was a great demonstration of the difference between visual and aural learners.
The remainder of class dealt with the final project. Some of us got special wiki tutoring. It was helpful. It was pretty amazing that we could see what Dr. Smidt was doing on her computer screen. The power of technology.
We spent some of class focused on the differences between men and women and language use, based upon our viewing of the assigned video. I wonder how discussing this online affected the discussion. Would it have been different had we been face to face? Gender related issues can often get heated during discussion. So much communication happens through facial expression, body language and tone of voice. For the most part, we can't rely on those during our online discussions.
The class went through some of the answers to our latest quiz. I found it very interesting that some people could visualize the tree diagrams that were being described orally, while others had major difficulties. I think it was a great demonstration of the difference between visual and aural learners.
The remainder of class dealt with the final project. Some of us got special wiki tutoring. It was helpful. It was pretty amazing that we could see what Dr. Smidt was doing on her computer screen. The power of technology.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Finegan 10 & 11 Read & Retell
I found chapters 10 and 11 of Finegan quite interesting. They both dealt with various aspects of language variation due to context, whether that be the setting or the people involved in using the language.
Chapter 10 focused on register or style of language, which varies depending on the speech situation (setting, purpose and participants). Depending on the speech situation, a person uses different registers or styles of speech, which can be characterized by various linguistic features such as lexical, phonological, grammatical and semantic. In a monolingual community like I have experienced most of my life, I can apply this to how I might speak to friends versus meeting an academic advisor at a university for the first time. My speech with friends will be much less formal than my speech with the advisor. In a multilingual situation, other kinds of situations arise. For example, I lived in Marburg (Germany) for a year. My adult friends could speak high German (a standard form or school form of German) or Hessisch, a local dialect from Hessen, which was like a different language that I could not understand. When we were in a group, they needed to speak high German so I could understand, but it was very difficult for them to speak high German with native speakers in the same group. They were almost compelled to speak Hessisch. I was reminded of this by the discussion on the top of page 318 in regards to difficulty communicating in one language versus another depending on the setting.
Slang is another aspect of register. As a teacher I'm always trying to learn the newest adolescent slang. I want to know what "kids" are saying, but I'm not a big fan of older adults using what is considered an adolescent type slang.
Jargon is another style of language that each of us in the professional world comes to know. In education, one of the most frequently used words that signals working in the field is the word "piece." At conferences it almost becomes ludicrous as to how many times one may hear it used.
Chapter 11 of Finegan dealt with dialects. A dialect is a variety of language based upon a particular region or social group. As mentioned above, Germany has many dialects...Bavarian, Hessisch, Platt, and so forth. A person from Bavaria has a difficult time understanding a person from Hannover if they are speaking in their particular dialects. I'm glad the chapter pointed out the difference between dialect and accent; I sometimes confused those terms. It was interesting reading about British versus American forms of English as well as the African American English or Black vernacular. I am definitely guilty of sometimes judging people on the usage of language that is different from my Upper Midwestern dialect, which closely resembles the standard English we hear on television and radio. One major fact I have learned in this class is that languages of various kinds are legitimate and complex in composition.
Chapter 10 focused on register or style of language, which varies depending on the speech situation (setting, purpose and participants). Depending on the speech situation, a person uses different registers or styles of speech, which can be characterized by various linguistic features such as lexical, phonological, grammatical and semantic. In a monolingual community like I have experienced most of my life, I can apply this to how I might speak to friends versus meeting an academic advisor at a university for the first time. My speech with friends will be much less formal than my speech with the advisor. In a multilingual situation, other kinds of situations arise. For example, I lived in Marburg (Germany) for a year. My adult friends could speak high German (a standard form or school form of German) or Hessisch, a local dialect from Hessen, which was like a different language that I could not understand. When we were in a group, they needed to speak high German so I could understand, but it was very difficult for them to speak high German with native speakers in the same group. They were almost compelled to speak Hessisch. I was reminded of this by the discussion on the top of page 318 in regards to difficulty communicating in one language versus another depending on the setting.
Slang is another aspect of register. As a teacher I'm always trying to learn the newest adolescent slang. I want to know what "kids" are saying, but I'm not a big fan of older adults using what is considered an adolescent type slang.
Jargon is another style of language that each of us in the professional world comes to know. In education, one of the most frequently used words that signals working in the field is the word "piece." At conferences it almost becomes ludicrous as to how many times one may hear it used.
Chapter 11 of Finegan dealt with dialects. A dialect is a variety of language based upon a particular region or social group. As mentioned above, Germany has many dialects...Bavarian, Hessisch, Platt, and so forth. A person from Bavaria has a difficult time understanding a person from Hannover if they are speaking in their particular dialects. I'm glad the chapter pointed out the difference between dialect and accent; I sometimes confused those terms. It was interesting reading about British versus American forms of English as well as the African American English or Black vernacular. I am definitely guilty of sometimes judging people on the usage of language that is different from my Upper Midwestern dialect, which closely resembles the standard English we hear on television and radio. One major fact I have learned in this class is that languages of various kinds are legitimate and complex in composition.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Class on 19 March 09
Class was pretty typical today. We had a little bit of a small group glitch but it worked itself out quickly enough. Good thing Dr. Schmidt is so adept at using the software; she was able to create small break out groups pretty quickly. It's still amazing to me how many people do not want to speak with their microphones. In face to face situations, I can somewhat understand a reticent person; online reticence still catches me off guard.
I'm a little worried about the quiz we had this past weekend. Some of the concepts I felt I had in hand, but then little pieces of the quiz caused doubt. For example, the small differentiation of labels on the quiz's tree diagrams made me a little uneasy. Also, matching the tree diagrams to the sentences seemed easy enough until I saw the pattern (or at least what I thought was a pattern) in the answers. I hate when there isn't a random pattern of answers on a quiz or test. I think this was the case with the quiz. The Fijian work also made me a little uneasy. Some of this linguistics information is difficult enough to understand when dealing with English. When it has to be applied to another language, it can be that much more of a challenge. I get why we're doing it, but it does create a sense of doubt in my mind.
I'm a little worried about the quiz we had this past weekend. Some of the concepts I felt I had in hand, but then little pieces of the quiz caused doubt. For example, the small differentiation of labels on the quiz's tree diagrams made me a little uneasy. Also, matching the tree diagrams to the sentences seemed easy enough until I saw the pattern (or at least what I thought was a pattern) in the answers. I hate when there isn't a random pattern of answers on a quiz or test. I think this was the case with the quiz. The Fijian work also made me a little uneasy. Some of this linguistics information is difficult enough to understand when dealing with English. When it has to be applied to another language, it can be that much more of a challenge. I get why we're doing it, but it does create a sense of doubt in my mind.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
05 March class
I wasn't able to attend our online session on 05 March. I had a work committment. Today as I write this, it seems like forever since being together...having missed a week followed by a week of spring break. I'm looking forward to this afternoon.
Finegan 6 Read & Retell
Finegan 6 dealt with semantics. I like to use the phrase "It's all semantics" sometimes when having a disagreement about an issue with a friend or colleague. After reading the chapter, I have a much better understanding about what semantics really is.
I liked the explanation that linguistic meaning is often refered to as denotation while connotation usually includes both social and affective meaning. It's helpful connecting known terms like denotation and connotation to more technical, linguistic terms.
I enjoyed the sections on hyponymy and part/whole relationships. It amazed me how technical various aspects of semantics can get. For example, I knew about antonymy, but never heard of gradable and nongradable aspects of it. The discussion about determining homonymy and polysemy never occurred to me as far as how dictionaries decide on how to include words in the entries of their book. Very interesting.
The way culture affects semantics struck me at several points in the reading. I just took my first semester of Spanish last fall. Reading about deixis made me think of having learned about the spatial deixis for "near the speaker," "a little distant from the speaker," and "far from the speaker." The other example of culture affecting semantics that was fun to read about was the seat of emotions metaphor...for us we think "heart" while others think "stomach." I totally get the stomach metaphor...butterflies in the stomach, stomach ache when facing something difficult to do, getting an upset stomach because of a situation rather than an illness.
The many terms in the chapter were a bit overwhelming, but they did make sense to me. I suppose you have to have a language to talk about these aspects of language.
I liked the explanation that linguistic meaning is often refered to as denotation while connotation usually includes both social and affective meaning. It's helpful connecting known terms like denotation and connotation to more technical, linguistic terms.
I enjoyed the sections on hyponymy and part/whole relationships. It amazed me how technical various aspects of semantics can get. For example, I knew about antonymy, but never heard of gradable and nongradable aspects of it. The discussion about determining homonymy and polysemy never occurred to me as far as how dictionaries decide on how to include words in the entries of their book. Very interesting.
The way culture affects semantics struck me at several points in the reading. I just took my first semester of Spanish last fall. Reading about deixis made me think of having learned about the spatial deixis for "near the speaker," "a little distant from the speaker," and "far from the speaker." The other example of culture affecting semantics that was fun to read about was the seat of emotions metaphor...for us we think "heart" while others think "stomach." I totally get the stomach metaphor...butterflies in the stomach, stomach ache when facing something difficult to do, getting an upset stomach because of a situation rather than an illness.
The many terms in the chapter were a bit overwhelming, but they did make sense to me. I suppose you have to have a language to talk about these aspects of language.
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