Language
The Study of Linguistics – A reflection
(964 words)
My initial thought would be to give my general view of linguistics. Therefore, linguistics is the study of human languages where within this the science examines not only the structure of language but also its use and the structure in the mind. A layman may think that a linguist, the person who is skilled in linguistics, only looks at rules and grammar but it is so much more than this. The subject takes in such fields as humanity, science, society, philosophy, and literary criticism. Language is not as routine as some may think and it is astonishing to think that language came from one source which spread across the world to create 6000 more. A learner of linguistics then would be amazed how many branches of linguistics have been created. Without language where would we be?
The first recognizable factor, I found, was the highlighting of daily use of language which has to be the main dynamic in anyone’s scaffolding of knowledge. The more any speaker uses it, the more they will be able to use their fresh available knowledge of language. Reading and writing inspire to make people more creative with their writing and speaking. This is a sensible choice to further anyone’s linguistic knowledge. This would seem straightforward. However, the path that I followed was not the one that I thought and as such, I would like to draw attention to some further points.
I felt my reading took in many factors and showed me that linguistics is a broad church. I was asked where the word ‘Santa Claus’ came from and then I remembered I read about it in a book called The Power of Babel by John McWhorter who is famous for studying creoles. In it, he speaks about how it was a Dutch word that was spoken by immigrants coming to America and following their tradition they spoke about it and Americans misheard the word to be Santa Claus. This field of study in linguistics is actually called ‘Etymology’ where it recognizes the origins of words and sees how they have changed over time. I actually picked up my old copy of The Power of Babel book because I was reading a book called Introduction to Linguistics.
One chapter in the Introduction to Linguistics book spoke about how words have changed through time. They called it variation; this means that languages take on their own route. English people especially in the northern region took the word ‘butter’ and pronounced it with the ‘er’. For me, linguistics is not just about words. Language takes on its own form and even one language like English below the surface lies a myriad of factors that are distinguished by linguists. For example, I read that language which was described by Ronald Langacker who is a founder of the field of ‘cognitive linguistics’, makes three fundamental assumptions: ‘that language is symbolic in nature, that a linguistic community creates linguistic conventions, and that grammar is a speaker’s knowledge of linguistic conventions’. This gave me a better insight into the linguistic community creating the language and grammar. The speaker uses sentences that are built by selecting appropriate words from their vast lexicon that are learnt from his local language community.
Furthermore, if we are to talk about language communities, I can think back to watching the movie Sense and Sensibility. I was faced with sociolinguistics and the use of language around 1800 in England. The pioneering sociolinguist, William Labov, recognized the value of society, cultural norms, and expectation on language. As for the film, it has a language of propriety of upper-class England. What people say and what they mean can be of different meanings. People had to behave properly and women were kept in place. There is a great scene where the daughter of the deceased father has to move to another residence where the owner speaks his mind to the disgust of the quiet and proper sisters. The movie certainly purports this as the characters are of higher social standing and speak rather eloquently.
In addition, I looked up the meaning of some of the branches of linguistics and as such, I read more about sociolinguistics. I recognised that language is seen as being used in a social context and is not this thing that is external to human beings but something that makes us who we are. We could also add the branch of linguistics called ‘historical linguistics’ which actually started around the same time as Jane Austin wrote her book. This field of study grew of philology which is the study of ancient texts and documents. Not all fields of linguistics started that long ago. The name Noam Chomsky was mentioned a few times. He is an American linguist among other positions. In the 1950s, his branch of linguistics was ‘generative grammar’ which is a particular approach to syntax. He came up with ‘universal grammar’ which highlights innate properties in the brain. This means that any person born to parents from one background (i.e. China) can easily be brought up to speak another language if they were immersed into another country (i.e. America) from an early age which means that the brain is programmed to accept speech at any level. This idea went against the behavioural idea that B.F. Skinner proposed.
In this reflection, my knowledge of linguistics took many paths and found that language works in many ways. It is interesting to see the use of language that has spread over the world and the variety of new words added. I think the main factor when studying linguistics is to take it on how it is used, not how it should be used because maybe there is no clear right or wrong way; what matters is meaning.
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What makes a good (English) teacher working in Thailand? – Thai class survey
(817 Words)
Any new foreign language teacher in Thailand can feel that they have studied and acquired the knowledge to feel confident in a classroom full of excitable children. This knowledge lies at the feet of the teacher having the foresight to know how the students might react in any learning situation. One of the most important factors of teaching is the students who have to be in the right frame of mind while having the willingness to learn. This said, a confident teacher still has to change course when their best-laid plans do not seem to be working because of uninterested/reluctant students. For this report, I based my research on what a good teacher should have and do in class. I surveyed 50 Thai students who were between 15 and 17 years of age. This was done by way of a survey during the class where I had the chance to circulate and talk to the students.
My initial thought was to use a list of factors I thought the students would empathize with that showed the character of a teacher.
Consider how criticism might engage with race and religion (through two texts)
(889 Words)
Race and religion can form vital parts of any play or novel; history has proved that tension, be it through different religions/ races of people, has stirred up many conflicts. In this essay, I will refer to two texts namely ‘The Jew of Malta’ by Christopher Marlowe and ‘The Heart of Darkness’ by Joseph Conrad. I would like to show how criticism can engage from a story and that we can see the undertones of the text that shows racial and religious streams of thought and action. These narratives both show the act of colonialism/countries powers, which are true accounts of the Christian colonizers and the Turkish Siege of Malta as well as King Leopold and the Belgium Congo.
Initially, The Jew of Malta resonates with themes of religious tension, which was a parallel to the time, in the sixteenth century. There were not many Jews in England during this time. Jews in England secretly practiced. Many Jews who were born into the Jewish faith either converted or pretended to be Christians. Criticism can be pointed not only towards the non-secular people in England but also where this play tries to deal with the anti-semitic feeling that was rife throughout the whole of Europe. The Jewish people did not believe in Christianity, so they were a threat to social order. English Protestants felt that Jews were outsiders as well as Muslims and Catholics. Marlowe forces the reader to re-examine the factors that were the start of internationalism. It makes the reader comment about the internal affairs at that time. The subject of commerce and internationalism had a role in the unfolding drama that could be equal to the effects of antisemitism.
Furthermore, in 1594 the Queens physician Roderigo Lopez, a Portuguese Jew was tried and executed for treason on charges that included conspiring to poison the queen. The Lopez case inspired a wave of anti-Jewish feeling and was probably responsible for the appearance of several dramas dealing with Jewish characters including the revival of the Jew of Malta. At that time, Marlowe’s story would have assessed the Jewish implication as much as we do now. Barbaras is a Jewish merchant he is angered by the passage of law requiring all Jews to either convert to Christianity or give up one-half of their wealth. Barbaras’ daughter is also in love with a Christian. He commits crimes for revenge because he hates Christian race.
Marlowe wrote it about a Jew, of another religion, and let the reader see Barbaras as someone that is capable of any heinous crime, a factor brought on by other people’s motives. He is a wealthy Jewish man that cannot be trusted. Marlowe shows us a character of a Jew (Barbaras) and gives us that experience and thus forms the reader’s opinion. The main character Barbaras displays the kind of strategic cunning that is at odds with the Christian notions of altruism, but he shares much with Machiavellian self-advancement. There was anti-Machiavellian feeling that was widespread in Elizabethan England. In all do we admire or criticize Barbaras for his fight against the invaders?
In Conrad’s novel, we find a certain racial tension, which is documented throughout the novel, with reference to black and white with the insinuation to bad and good. The white race has the strong hold on the black. We find arguments with the whites who exploit the blacks though the whites are seen as dark souled. You feel pity for the blacks who are taken over. Europe at the time of the late 1900’s was generally thought a place of light or enlightenment and Africa was generally thought as a place of darkness. Conrad finds disparagement with the history of colonialism as it was applied in the Belgium Congo. We find criticism in the ways of the whites. He writes about the sociological investigation of those who conquer and those who are conquered and the complicated way between the two races.
King Leopold founded the ‘International Association for the Suppression of Slavery and the Opening up of Central Africa’ where he attempted to impose civilization and order. This colonial greed just fostered widespread abuse; so much for racial alliance! Conrad’s disparagement not only festered when he visited the Congo but also saw that exploitation suppurate everywhere. Again, we have reason to analyses; we find a race of people with their own motives trying to take over another country. Essentially, we come to evaluate the white race for their love of spreading salvation, religion, culture and commerce and not letting the blacks have their own. Do we admire or criticise the whites invaders for this?
To conclude, we find motivation for criticism because of some heinous acts from people of dissimilar races and religions. The height of racial tension must be thought to come from the colonialists who then thought that they were of superior wealth and knowledge that they would bring great ideas and make everything for the better although we find that they are not of the right knowledge to see the problems that they are causing. Here we have to challenge their motives. Racial and religious tension is made from acts that will not be forgotten with the passage of time, and we see here what mistakes each race of people could have made and the reactions that are born from them.
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What salient aspects of an Asian university and the students that attend do you see as a contradiction?
(1600 Words)
Abstract
‘Manners maketh the man’ (William of Wykeham, 1350). Whether you are in the street, in a restaurant or for this case in an Asian university certain etiquette prevails. My observations were done to draw attention to the value of etiquette and also to show the extent of contradiction to normally accepted good manners there are in the university in question. The results showed that the philosophy lecture room in this seat of learning far from being a quiet room of studious individuals was, in fact, a myriad of factors void of study ethics. The conclusion is, that when it comes to study, there is not a universal ideal as the acceptable method.
Introduction
Etiquette is not a new idea and is changing all the time, as we see nowadays with the development of the smart telephone, but propriety still holds to essential tenets. There are unspoken rules about daily etiquette such as talking loud, jumping queues and generally being aware of others. There certainly can be a lot of daily life that breaches social manners. In a recent survey, 90% of people thought it would be rude to receive a telephone call at a church which goes to say certain arenas are faux par for telephone use. It is a fact barriers are being crossed.
In a social minefield for new students to their university, one business has recognized what many would not think was needed for learning, and as such, CLM Business Etiquette Consulting in Austin Texas has advised how students should invest in their courses to get them through their time at university. CLM’s study courses highlight factors such as establishing meaningful relationships with your professors and other students to ascertain a co-operative experience.
My observations will show that new students in this certain Asian university need to be shown, taught, and given rules as to how to behave in a lecture room whilst having a clear understanding of other fellow peers’ feelings and education.
Methods
Participants
In general, classes consisted of up to 60 to 70 people but due to lateness and students deciding not to come or come back from lunch break, numbers fluctuated.
Instruments
Observations were done using a tally system where marks were put onto a written table in the notebook .
Procedures
As most of my pre-research knowledge so far had been through watching I thought it would be the right transition to do my research using observations. So, my first thought was to think of categories for my research which were the aspects of study I had found strange.
- Telephone ringing – students don’t put their phone on vibrate. So the lecture room has many ring tones going off.
- Telephone SMS – although not as bad as ringing it still has a high pitch sound
- Coming late – the lesson is supposed to start at 9am although it does not actually start till 9.30am so this gives even later than late students time to arrive.
- Going in and out of class – it is generally presumed that you have prepared for a lecture so you would not need to go out of the lecture room before the next break.
- Lecturer making students quiet – this tags with students talking excessively. It is generally excepted than university is not a school.
- Playing computer (games) – even though this seems strange, it was added because students were observed playing fighting games and using facebook.
- Listening to music – as above, it was observed on the computer and shown from wire coming from student’s ears.
- Sleeping – be it at the start of the morning or the start of the afternoon period, students find they need to sleep more.
- Dress code – Thailand being a hot country does mean people get hotter with more clothes but some decorum still has to be kept. Also, the fact that students think that that university is like a fashion show and they must look their best.
- Acting inappropriately – this goes along with the example above, with regard to playing with university equipment, but also to generally being not interested in the lecture thus doing something different.
- Food/snacks – again everything is okay if kept within reason but excessive snacks is not really needed.
So, it was now time to set up my observation times. It seemed obvious to set up an observation in the morning on the first class. I generally had the rule that once the lecturer says ‘good morning’ he expects the students to be quiet, listening and generally be ready for study. This was always around 9.30am so I made this the start time. We normally had a break at 10.30am so this worked well to have a 1 hour observation time. I thought it would be best to observe in the afternoon too, to see how students reacted to having a lunch break and seeing as they had been studying since 9am and it was an all day lecture what their endurance level was. There was also the case of how many hours I would observe so with the philosophy course, which I was observing, being only a month I had 3 lectures to observe. This meant I would observe 3 mornings and 3 afternoons. In total a period of 3 hours for morning and afternoon lectures. I then wrote up a tally sheet as to help me keep a record of the times students and the lecturer performed anyone of the categories I had suggested.
Results
I actually ended up with only 7 categories.
- Telephone ringing
- Telephone SMS
- Coming late
- Going in and out of class
- Lecturer making students quiet
- Sleeping
- Acting inappropriately
I think this was mostly due to the lecturer advising students not to do certain. It was also due to the lecturer being professional and knowing his subject matter. I had a feeling of respect due to the professionalism of the lecturer and felt that other students did too, thus they were less interested turning to other means of interest.
For the morning results, I was amazed how many times the lecturer had to make the students quiet. In the space of 3 hours the lecturer had to tell the students 22 times to be quiet. That works out at once every 8 minutes. It has to be noted that there was a genuine disrespect for the lecturer, not only his lecturing but also the years of study he had completed to become so knowledgeable and competent in his job. I was also surprised by how many students needed to go out even though they had time before the class and also the break after the lecture to do anything they needed. I recognized that the telephone problem had already been talked about several times and students had heeded the lecturer’s warnings. I had a little bit of confusion as to why students still turned up late when the lecturer started 30 minutes late. I felt that if he started 1 hour late they still would be late because they knew when the lecture started they would arrive sometime after.
For the afternoon session, I always immediately noticed big groups of students missing. I was not sure if they just came to sign in and thought that was good enough. The rate of people going in and out of the class worked out at one every 3 minutes during a 3 hours period. Some students actually arrived late and then left. This actually created two points on the tally card, one for late and one for going in and out. Again I was confounded by the amount of times the lecturer needed to tell the students to be quiet, even to the extent of asking one group ‘what did I just say?’ as to question them if they were listening. This was done two times over a space of 10 minutes and was met by laughter and a general nonchalance to the lecturer job in hand.
Conclusion
It is recognized that in some countries certain etiquette is not thought about and study ethics is laughed at. Some students although being new to university still adopt old ways of studying so even though they have reached adulthood they still adopt a child like attitude to learning. They feel that it is the lecturer job to keep them quiet and not their own personal position to be individuals who think. The overriding factor that has been shown through this observation has been some student’s lack of awareness of others and their general detachment from other people who are at the university for the purpose of learning. You get the feeling that they deride people that show a willingness to learn. Students gets distracted easily so even someone going outside creates noise and a quick glance. I also amazed because the attitude of the lecturer in this study who has a PHD who has shown to be the epitome of a university lecturer was scorned by many who felt the need to go in and out of the class and talk.
References
William of Wykeham, Motto of Winchester College and New College, Oxford
(1324 – 1404)
Patricia Lee MA (Oxon), MA (QUB) holds qualifications from the British Psychological Society and in teaching adult literacy. She has been a school governor, sat on the working party for the Jigsaw Visitors’ Centre at Armley Prison and made 1933-style shorts for the Leeds Metropolitan University Gymnastics Squad.
Language Families
There are groups or “families” of languages that linguists have established over the years. Linguist face many problems when it comes to the retracing of history of language. The biggest problem for them is the fact that, unlike many other forms of scientific history, there is very little in the way of solid evidence of the languages that existed thousands of years ago. Linguists tend to agree that the languages that exist today come from a root or ancestral tree of language development and evolution.
They cite the Latin or Italic language that was dominant during the Roman Empire’s heyday. As the Empire itself crumbled the connections between the different states did also, and this led to a fragmentation of the Latin language into many different forms. Among these variations of the Italic language are Spanish, French and Italian, which have come to be known as the Romantic languages. Therefore, according to linguists Latin is the ancestor language of these mentioned modern day languages. Another example is that of the Gothic or Germanic languages, primarily in the northern reaches of Europe the descendants include English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian.
The methodology of comparison is the linguist tool in the implementation of their research. Linguists will generally take samples of scripts that have comparable and then try to develop links between them. This process is described as being time consuming and at times problematic, in the sense that the more examples the linguist finds, the further away they may get from proving a theory. There are many examples of such misnomers in language and research.
