Language and Culture

Posted on by Leakey
  1. The Twitter account @nixicon retweets people who claim that some particular word is
    actually ‘not a word’. Use at least two examples of tweets retweeted by @nixicon, along with
    the concept of metalanguage, to analyze why people believe or claim that particular words
    aren’t real.
  2. Read the article ‘Preliminary Notes on Koro, a ‘Hidden’ Language of Arunachal Pradesh’ at
    https://www.academia.edu/8408185/Preliminary_Notes_on_Koro_Aka
    This is the research article mentioned in the Media Literacy news story. Paying special
    attention to sections 0, 1, and 4 of the paper, discuss any two findings of this article that
    contradict or were not mentioned the news story you read, and their implications for your
    understanding of the relationship between Koro and Aka.
  3. Read the article at http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2012/09/25/eye‐rate‐about‐
    eye‐ran/ about American pronunciations of the countries of Iran and Iraq. Write the two
    country names on a blank piece of paper, then ask any native speaker of American English
    outside this class to read the names. Then have them read the article too and discuss it with
    them. How are your perceptions of these words, and their socio‐political implications of their
    pronunciations, similar to or different from theirs, and from the article’s claims? How and
    why do particular pronunciations such as these come to carry such symbolic associations?
  4. Evaluate the statement, “Some languages that are spoken today are older than others,” using
    material from Language Myths (I suggest looking at chapters 1, 9, and 19), and/or lectures. To
    what extent is it possible to identify the age of a language?
  5. Watch the movie ‘Marie’s Dictionary’ (http://vimeo.com/105673207) and then, with reference
    to chapter 7 of The Power of Babel, discuss the issue of language extinction with relation to
    Native American languages. To what degree, and for what reasons, is the preservation of
    endangered languages an important and worthwhile goal?
    Language and Culture – Fall 2018 – M. Hilton
    Final Take‐Home Exam
  6. The map at http://popvssoda.com/ shows some interesting patterns in the distribution of the
    terms ‘pop’, ‘soda’ and ‘coke’ as the generic term for soft drinks in American English. Identify
    two patterns on that map that you find interesting and discuss their potential origins and
    social significance.
  7. Read the blog post Dr. Chrisomalis wrote at
    https://glossographia.wordpress.com/2011/03/18/pseudo‐writing‐at‐the‐zoo/ based on an
    image he saw at the Detroit Zoo in 2011. Describe what pseudo‐writing is and why it was used
    in this specific instance. Using the concept of indexicality, explain why a writer use a
    simulation of a writing system that neither the reader nor the writer understands.
  8. In Portraits of the “Whiteman”, Keith Basso discusses a particular form of discourse in which
    Apache speakers use English to parody Anglo‐American speech and values. Many
    contemporary standup comics also use parody of speech forms for political or social purposes.
    Using examples from the textbook, discuss how and why Western Apache engage in this
    practice. In what ways is this form of joking emulations of speech similar or different from
    the practices of professional comics?
  9. Ask a thoughtful question about the relationship between language and culture to which you
    do not currently know the answer. This question might be related to an issue raised in class
    or in one of the texts. Using the analytical and conceptual tools of this course, discuss (in
    general) how someone might go about finding a satisfactory answer to the question.
  10. The blog ‘Hanzi Smatter’ (http://hanzismatter.blogspot.com/) depicts Western individuals
    who, despite not speaking Chinese, get Chinese tattoos on their bodies, with often
    unfortunate consequences. Using the concepts of metalanguage and indexicality developed in
    this course, explain this unusual Western cultural and linguistic practice of permanently
    marking your body in a language you don’t understand.
    NOTE: The questions on this exam are unusual in a number of respects. Even though each
    answer is a maximum of two double‐spaced pages, you will need to spend considerable
    effort on each (which is why you have almost four weeks to finish the exam). I strongly
    encourage you to talk to each other and to me about the exam, and we will be spending
    time discussing the exam in class.

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