"linguistic profiling"

After watching the video clip in class about housing discrimination based on the "color of your voice", I started to think more about this. When I hear a voice on TV or the radio without being able to see the person speaking, I suppose I do form an opinion of the speaker's race. I think it's only natural that people of different ethnicities have different ways of speaking. But what is wrong is when people then act on those inferences. How can someone refuse an apartment to another person just because he/she thinks the other's skin color is different? To me, that is the same as not accepting someone for a job position because he/she is gay. There is just no humane basis for it. Unfortunately, this "linguistic profiling" does occur in the U.S. Fortunately, there are organizations that work to stop it. Let's hope that people can learn to stop discriminating based on accents or other aspects of voice, because really, does that tell you anything about a person's character, talents, or other attributes? I thought not.

Standard English?

Since I grew up speaking "Standard English" in my home and in school, I don't have any experience with learning another dialect out of necessity or in order to further my education. I can't imagine how difficult it would be to learn when to use each type of English, which settings are appropriate and which are not. It is so unfortunate that in order for many African-Americans in this country, this education of Standard English is necessary to "succeed". Why do you have to talk a certain way to get a good-paying job when your home dialect can get the same points across, just in a different way? How does Standard English make you sound any more intelligent than Black English? Tell me that one, I'd sure like to know. I know people won't change their mind anytime soon, but I'd like to challenge anyone who reads this to think about how you judge people the next time you hear an African-American speaking Ebonics. What is your immediate reaction? Why do you think you had that reaction? It's something to consider.

language change over time

To get into the Christmas spirit, now that it actually is the correct month of December, I went to the Strawberry Banke Museum in Portsmouth for their Candlelight Stroll. In each of the old houses we heard stories from volunteers dressed up as people from the 18th century about their holiday traditions and family stories. It was interesting to hear how they spoke two hundred years ago in this area. I did not pick up on any specific differences that made it difficult to understand, but the speech was a little bit more formal and precise than our speech today. Maybe it was because the actors had rehearsed their material, but they did not use discourse markers nearly as much as we do today. Also, children spoke only when prompted by the adults present. When did that change? (Not that I'm complaining!)

more on gender pronouns

Normally I don't notice the use of pronouns in everyday speech. I just accept what the person is saying. However, today a woman spoke to my class about the medical laboratory science program here at UNH and I noticed a few things about her use of pronouns.
When referring to nurse practitioners and their role in a clinic or medical office, she consistently used "she". But when talking about physicians assistants she used the plural "they". I don't know if she was talking about a more general group of people or wanted to avoid being stereotypical if she used "he". But it was definitely noticeable and made me wonder if she was consciously choosing these pronouns or not.
From noticing this use of pronouns, I will try to use more accurate pronouns that correctly refer to the right gender.

Over Thanksgiving vacation, I noticed that I focus my attention differently on the speaker depending on his/her age. On Thanksgiving day there was a range of ages present in the house, from 18 to 80. I noticed subtle differences in the way us youngsters talked compared to the parents and grandparents, but I noticed more differences in how everyone listened to the speaker. Whenever my grandpa spoke, who is eighty years old but doesn't look or act it, everyone quieted down around the large dinner table and listened eagerly and respectfully to what he had to say. This is not to say that nobody listened when my brother or I spoke, but there was certainly a difference in the focus. And the reason for all this probably dates back to times when the elders really did have all the respect in the community, and everyone younger always showed their respect. Besides, the old folks usually have some pretty good ideas...they're worth listening to!

"I was like, 'Oh my God!'"

A recent reading assignment described a study done to compare the verb be like in the U.K and the U.S. and people's attitudes toward the users of this verb. Previous studies showed that Americans generally associated be like with younger speakers, specifically females. I generally hold this same belief, but I don't think the trend is as drastic as people think it is. Females may use the verb more frequently as a quotation device than males do, but not to an extreme degree more. Well, maybe valley girls do, but how many of us are true valley girls? I hope I don't sound like one, at least! This is an example of how the information that study gathers about a population's attitudes cannot be taken as data on how the population actually speaks; they might be very different from each other.

local vs. national accents

After seeing John Edwards live at two different events at UNH, I felt like I could recognize his accent pretty well. But when I heard him speak on CNN's Democratic debate a few days ago, I wondered if it was the same man. His accent was not nearly as strong as when he spoke to a small town-hall audience. There was definitely still something southern in his accent, yet not nearly to the same degree. I wonder if he consciously tries to tone it down when he is on a nationally televised debate. Does he have a speech expert to help him? Well, maybe it doesn't go that far, but I bet his campaign advisors urge him to try to talk with a more neutral accent.
I don't think Edwards changes the way he speaks because people don't like hearing a nice southern accent every now and then. I think it has to do with relating to a greater number of people from all corners of this diverse country. A person might be more likely to vote for a candidate if he speaks in the same way.

politically correct or grammatically correct?

"Everyone in this class must bring his notebook and safety glasses to each lab."

Now, does that mean the class is made up of all boys? Not necessarily. It used to mean that each person, whether a boy or girl, should bring a notebook and glasses. However, with the growing need to be politically correct, that sentence needs some work.
It could get pretty tedious replacing every his with his/her and him with him/her. Is it really necessary? I'm not saying I'm anti-feminist or anything. It's great that the issue is being raised. But should we really change how the grammar of the English language (and other languages as well, like Spanish) is structured? I think there might be other ways to place women on the same level as men.

lists

-laundry
-blogs
-go to Ghandi movie in MUB
-read for chemistry
-start math homework

There, that's my to-do list from today. I don't make a list every day, but I find myself writing these lists more often in college than I ever did before. That doesn't mean I get more things done, no way, but it helps me organize all the little miscellaneous things I would like to get done.
Lists are a funny way of expressing future actions. They're usually just meant for our own self to read, to jog our memory when we're stuck in the dairy aisle at the grocery store trying to remember what it was we needed to pick up, or to record baby names that we like for that special time twenty years into our future when the names just might come in handy.

Some lists are extremely brief, just one word bullets scribbled onto the back of a receipt. Others are so detailed they could be an itinerary to a cross-country trip, complete with deadlines and times of the day.
Sometimes I find myself only including items on the list that I know I will eventually complete. Is it because I'm avoiding those harder tasks, pushing them back into my head until the last possible moment? Or do I just like that satisfying feeling when you get to cross off an item on your list, with a little check mark or a thorough scribbling job.
But other times it can be so therapeutic to create to-do lists where most of the items on the list are so far into the future of your life that who knows if you'll ever get around to them or not. I think it's time for me to make a new list of what I want to do in my life before I die, though...my last one was a few years ago. I've been reminded of this exciting day-dreaming exercise by the commercial for the movie "The Bucket List" in which the main characters set off on a journey to complete the activities on their 'bucket lists' (things to do before they kick the bucket). And here's a great list of over a hundred things one person wants to accomplish in his lifetime: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_T5PZRqodhzc/RziDgjvSKDI/AAAAAAAAAL
g/aAv9gXS4NNo/s1600-h/zaak+list_sm.jpg

Lists are a great way to organize our days and many things that need to be done...but they're also a fun way to brainstorm for our future and think of all the people and places we want to see in the world!

music to communicate

Last night I got to see a free concert at a bookstore in Portsmouth, two very different genres of music. But the solo acoustic guitar player and the seven-person-funk-jazz-rock band had something in common. And it's something that ties all musicians together. Notes, melodies, rhythms, and beats are their letters, sentences, and punctuation marks. These artists have the gift of being able to communicate their thoughts to the audience through music.

I especially noticed last night how powerful this tool of communication can be. Music has always been able to penetrate me deeper than a painting or a poem can, but I don't really have an explanation for why. It just does. The first musician I heard last night, in addition to being a talented singer/songwriter, is a music teacher for little kids in New York City. What a wonderful job, I thought, being able to light up the worlds of young people every day with happy sounds and being able to teach others the joy of creating music. Also, you can teach children other subjects in the context of songs. He sang us a song about shapes that he sings with the kids in school; it goes, "A shape is the outline of a thing..." and throughout the chorus everyone makes the shapes with their bodies and sings along.
Children can learn about shapes as well as other larger concepts through the music they create. I remember in elementary school how a good portion of our concerts were songs from other cultures; we sang in Hebrew, Spanish, and African. Simply exposing children to music of other peoples will plant a seed of curiosity in them. Music can communicate a part of us that other mediums cannot.

he, she, him, her, it?

Last night I hung out with that person in my dorm who has brown hair, plays soccer, likes pirates. Ohhh, my roommate. Trying to talk without using any gender-specific words makes communication very difficult and circuitous. That makes sense, because gender-specific pronouns eliminate half of the world's population and easily narrows down the possibilities of who you might be talking about. But talking gender neutrally leaves everyone open. I don't know if it's any better to speak like this. Is it any more politically correct? I don't think so...it's just using language to be convenient.

languages of Vermont

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, Vermont has the highest percentage of speakers of Serbocroatian in the United States. How surprising, I thought. Granted, that still is only about 1500 people, but it is noteworthy. And a total of sixty-four languages are spoken in my small home state. I thought that was quite impressive! Vermont is known to be not very diverse, and I generally agreed with this sentiment. I was lucky enough that my local high school hosts dorm students from around the world, so I could experience many languages in my classes and after-school activities. But I knew that wasn't the case for everyone.
However, areas of the state like Burlington and Windham County have more than twenty languages spoken. These are the more urban parts of the state, where immigrants tend to settle. Looking at this census data made me rethink my home state and realize that there are plenty of opportunities to practice foreign languages without going to big cities like Boston or New York.

A few summers ago my family traveled to Belgium, where we lived in a family's home for three weeks in a small town outside of Leuven. As part of this house exchange, the Belgian family whose farmhouse we were staying in and whose chickens we were collecting eggs from was living in our home in Vermont.

It was great biking along the country roads, visiting the old cities, and buying fresh bread and pastries from bakeries. I loved this trip, but looking back, I think I could have gained so much more if I could speak Flemish or French. Luckily, my brother Luke speaks French, so he was able to communicate for us when we went to Paris and stayed with a family. Of course, nearly all of the people we came in contact with (neighbors, bakery owners, even farmers) spoke enough English to talk with us. However, I still felt like I was on the outside of the country and could only observe.

My trip to Belgium really made me want to continue my Spanish classes so that someday I will be able to spend time in a foreign country and really connect with the people who live there, and not just see the sites. Because language really is how us humans communicate and share common experiences. Architecture, beautiful landscapes, and art do contribute to memorable trips, but there's more to gain.

Evolution of Words

This week there was a short blurb of an article in the Science section of The New York Times on the evolution of words that I thought brought up an interesting idea. Dr. Pagel of the University of Reading in England and his colleagues conducted a study where they looked at different Indo-European languages and various words and their meanings in those languages. They found that "words that were frequently used had few cognates across the Indo-European family, while words that were used rarely had many." So, words used more often, like numbers and other very common words, take a long time to evolve because if spoken "incorrectly", it will be corrected in order to maintain an ease in communication.
I think this rule of word evolution makes sense. It's just odd thinking about a biology term in relation to how we speak!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/16/science/16obword.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin

Chinese, Boston, Indian, what next?

Just today I've been able to listen to multiple accents. My math teacher is Chinese, a UNH police officer with a strong Boston accent came into my freshmen seminar class to talk, and my biology lab TA is Indian. In this increasingly globalized world, with movies and music available at our fingertips from all around the world, we are hardly phased by this variety of language and culture. But I think that being able to hear all these types of language variation in one eight hour day in rural New Hampshire is pretty neat.
Compared to larger cities or towns near our country's borders, this part of the state does not have a large immigrant population or people who speak English as a second language. I think one of the advantages to attending a large university like this one is that we have the opportunity to learn about the languages and cultures of people from other countries. As a research university, people from India and China and other places come here to work; and undergrads like me get to experience their language. Instead of complaining about our teachers' strong accents and how hard it sometimes is to understand them, let's try to absorb as much as we can and soak it in!

the Blackboard register

We've discussed various registers in the past few classes across the academic discipline, from study groups to office hours to course packs. One that we haven't looked at, though, that is unique to UNH, is the on-line Blackboard.
Professors use Blackboard to communicate with students, who in turn use it to get homework assignments and useful websites and to access their grades and other information for each of their classes. I would say that the Blackboard is a register, but I can't yet tell the specifics of it. For example, some professors use it strictly in a formal way, only giving the bare minimum amount of information that isn't already on their syllabus, and posting succinct announcements only when necessary. Other professors, however, take full advantage of this on-line communication medium; new announcements will be posted a few times a week with tidbits of suggestions and information needed for the next class and grades for all assignments are updated regularly.
Because each professor uses Blackboard to a different extent, it is hard to pinpoint the characteristics of this register. But I have noticed that announcements are usually written in the second person, directing students to do a certain task. This makes the computerized communication seem more personalized, and simply more direct.
The Blackboard is a unique register in that each professor can decide how to utilize its resources. However, the shared purpose is the same for all users: to give and receive necessary information regarding classes at UNH.

comedy is...

After seeing Demetri Martin last night, I found myself thinking about jokes in general and why we think they're funny. Comedians don't talk about profound or unusual subjects. In fact, it's usually the opposite. We pay to hear them ramble on about everyday scenarios. But for some reason, they do it in a way that is comical.

In relation to language, I think it's interesting how comedians smoothly (well, sometimes) segue from topic to topic when the subjects often have little obvious connection to one another. How can they go from discussing airports to exit signs without the audience noticing the lack of similarity? I guess that's where part of their talent lies. I'll just let comedians do their job, and laugh. It's good for my health, right?

Ratatouille

I watched the animated movie "Ratatouille" this weekend, a delightfully comic and sweet tale of the rat that becomes a famous French chef. What's interesting about it is the way that the film-makers use the French language in the movie. Obviously, they did not choose subtitles, even though the setting is Paris, France, because the story is meant for American children and families, not for native French speakers.

But little bits of the French language slip into the script. Some of the characters have French accents (especially the head chef), making you feel like you're actually in Paris, not the movie theatre. And French words are tossed around, mostly names of ingredients in the kitchen or other somewhat recognizable words...the viewer can understand what the characters are referring to but it still sounds exotic and foreign. I think the balance between writing a script for Americans, who for the most part are not bilingual, and giving off an aura of being in Paris was reached successfully.

legislation on the present participle?

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aEFxqHghg28Q

First of all, doesn't the Brazil's Federal District Governor have more important issues to deal with than what form of a verb is used in government decrees? I guess I can understand the reason for this new rule, that it gives lawmakers too much power to promise the public that they're going to take action when in fact they are just considering it (whoops, it just slipped out!). However, there must be other ways to change this practice if it actually is a serious problem.

Secondly, limiting language or speech for any purpose seems just wrong to me. Yes, we have time, place, and manner restrictions in the United States to limit the First Amendment. But in most cases, I think language should be free to go wherever the people who are using it care to go. People can change language, adjust it to fit their needs, or use it to their advantage, as lawyers do and our elected officials do when writing bills. That's the great thing about language - there are so many different combinations of words that there is an infinite number of meanings and ways to express one thought. So for the Federal District Governor to limit a form of verb is impractical and simply ridiculous.

sign language

Not having any real exposure to sign language growing up, I held the belief, which is probably common among hearing people, that all sign language is the same. I did know that American Sign Language varied somewhat from other types for other countries, but that's about it. However, this week in class we discussed regional dialects and how they pertain to sign language, as well. Now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense; of course people who live in different parts of the country will express themselves differently and develop distinct patterns of communication. I wonder how much these differences in signs affects understanding between two people of different regions. My brother went to college at Rochester Institute of Technology where there is a fairly large deaf population, so he became interested in sign language. He said that there is a theatre at the school for deaf students; the entire process, including the tech work behind the scenes, can be done.

Sign language fascinates me because I am accustomed to having hundreds and hundreds of words at the tip of my tongue to describe any possible sensation or thought, while I feel like sign language is limited in the variety of signs that are possible. But I don't think deaf people are at any disadvantage in communication; I just do not have any way of completely understanding sign language because I will probably always rely on spoken words.

a true North Carolina accent, I think

I was able to attend MTV/Myspace's first Presidential Dialogue today with John Edwards. It was incredibly interesting to be in a fairly intimate gathering (a few hundred people) and listening to Edwards candidly answer questions from UNH students.

When he started answering the first question, I immediately noticed his strong North Carolina accent. Well, I thought it sounded strong. My roommate lived in North Carolina until a year ago, and when she watched the videos on-line of Edwards speaking, she actually thought his accent was not very strong. She says there are some people where she used to live who she can hardly understand due to their accent! But to me, who hears southern accents only occasionally, I thought John Edwards sounded completely foreign.

Either way, I think that his accent came through more than if he were speaking to the U.S. Senate. It was recorded to be on MTV, but initially it was just him speaking to a bunch of college kids in a small studio. The atmosphere was very casual; Edwards and the male moderator were both dressed in jeans, and people laughed and applauded when they felt inclined to do so. Because of this relaxed feeling, I think Edwards was able to speak more candidly than if were reading a prepared speech. His speech was more instinctual than formal, saying "y'all" and "I" as "Ah", and this definitely made a difference in how I perceived him. By being able to see the laid-back John Edwards, I think I can now make a more informed decision when I vote next year.

acknowledgement

While biking the roads of Durham and Dover on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, I passed quite a few people who were also enjoying the day, either biking, jogging, or walking. And almost every single one of them made some sort of effort to greet me, or at least acknowledge my presence. The friendlier ones, usually older couples taking a leisurely stroll, said hello or waved and smiled; others who were more focused on their work-out simply nodded or made eye contact. But even the smallest gesture I returned, even while whizzing by on my bike.

But why? Why do people make the effort to connect with a perfect stranger? It's not as if we might reconnect at a later point in time...the opposite is true, in fact. Yet most people still greet strangers on the street, and I don't think it's just to be polite. There must be something in all humans that causes us to yearn to connect with others, and to take that risk. It's risky business smiling at someone you don't know; who knows if they'll appreciate it and respond with an equally friendly greeting? I guess people have realized that the rewards are greater than the risks!

Oxford and Slang: Can you combine the two?

http://www.askoxford.com/worldofwords/wordfrom/modernslang/

When I saw a news clip that the Oxford Dictionary, probably the most widespread and respected, was going to include slang words in their next edition, I decided to further look into the idea of slang as being officially recognized by published dictionaries. I thought this page on askoxford.com was interesting.

"Slang is a colourful, alternative vocabulary. It bristles with humour, vituperation, prejudice, informality: the slang of English is English with its sleeves rolled up, its shirt-tails dangling, and its shoes covered in mud." I love this description of slang; it presents slang as a relaxed, casual English...maybe in a slightly negative way, but not overly so. It's natural that people will invent sub-languages to express themselves in various situations - standard English just does not apply to all contexts.

I think that slang is inevitable in a language, but especially English with all of its odd rules. Whether or not slang words should be included in dictionaries is something that can't be ruled one way or the other, but slang will always be a part of our language.

A Light!

Because I'm now living within a university rather than a town, my human-to-human contact is generally limited to the student demographic group of 18 to 22 year olds. So, whenever I come across a child, a family, or an elderly couple, I find myself happily observing them.
I especially enjoy watching toddlers explore their ever-expanding world. While I was reading my biology homework about cell organelles on the grass by the library (clearly looking for distractions), a curly-haired girl about four years old came walking along the stone semi-circle benches. Her father was holding her hand just in case, but she seemed confident and happy to go wherever her heart took her.
And all the while that she was walking she would say whatever came to her mind. If she saw anything that interested her or didn't make sense, she would stop and say something or ask her dad the most common question asked by children, "Why?". The cutest observation she made was when she eventually reached the end of the bench and came an obstacle - a stone base and a lamp post. She looked up at it, smiled, and proudly exclaimed, "A light!".
I realized that kids can say whatever they are thinking because they haven't yet learned the negative effects that can result from blurting out whatever is on your mind. Society hasn't yet taught them this lesson. I suppose that eventually you have to learn to keep some thoughts to yourself, but I also admire the power that young children have. Nothing is limiting their speech; there are no social barriers yet building a wall between their thoughts and what is "acceptable" to say out loud.
I know there have to be some limitations on what we say in the public sphere, I think that we all need to talk more like children. Say what you think when you think it. Let people know what's going on in your mind. It's probably important.

team camaraderie

As I was watching the men's soccer game this evening, I was able to experience the language of teammates during an intense game of futbol.
Some things I noticed...

• the guys did a whole lot of yelling at each other, each trying to get their idea of what should happen next across the field
• repetition seemed to be the best way to accomplish this. For example, they would yell, "Away away away!!!" or "Come on, C'mon, C'mon!". I repeat things, too, when I'm excited and the adrenaline is pumping.
• different languages were used, as some of the players on the opposing team were from Sweden. This added some game strategy, as UNH players couldn't understand what they were saying.

So, I noticed the group-specific language of college male soccer players, and I just thought it was interesting to listen to them yell advice, support, frustration to each other and the referees.