Language

=**Class notes for the whole language unit **= Instructions: we'll cover the main points of these notes in class. Take out a highlighter and highlight all of the headings (marked by a Roman numeral) and subheadings.

You are responsible for going over them, skimming them at home. Assignment: choose 3 topics or subtopics that you like best and that you can work with your group (see Almendros or Olivos page) to come up with a project to present (I will post project guidelines soon!). We will take some time on class #2 this week to talk to your group about the reading and agree upon 2 or 3 topics to read in-depth.

=Knowledge Issues = This link will take you to tha page on guiding questions to help you explore //Knowledge Issues// about Language.

=Possible Research Topics:= - Introduction and Key Features of Language - Theories of Meaning - Problematic Meaning - Language and Translation - Labels and Stereotypes - Language and Thought - Language and Values - Language at War

=Project Guidelines and Rubrics=

media type="custom" key="25106470" https://voicethread.com/share/5443147/
 * Language is Rule-Governed **

media type="custom" key="22220392"

=Language is Intended = media type="custom" key="22220438"

=Language is Creative and Open-Ended = media type="custom" key="22220558"

 
 * Barnga **

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/11/why-great-sign-language-interpreters-are-so-animated/264459/
 * Sign Language **

=Language and Thought = A TED talk by Steven Pinker media type="custom" key="22297484"

Language and Thought: Unspeak
"//Unspeak is language that deliberately loads the dice. War on Terror. Weapons of mass destruction. Climate change. Failed asylum seekers. File sharing. Austerity measures. Oil spill. Erectile dysfunction. Once we tune in to unspeak we start seeing and hearing it everywhere//" -- UK journalist Steve Poole's book //Unspeak// has been turned into a [|**six part interactive documentary series**] by Dutch new media group [|**Submarine Channel**], narrated by Poole himself. []

=Language and Perception:= Does Language Shape What We See? http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/08/13/does-language-shape-what-we-see/ =Orwellian Doublespeak=

(can also be used by Language at War)
http://www.tokresource.org/tok_classes/ways/orwellian_doublespeak/index.htm

=Language at War = <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">

Orwellian Doublespeak (can also be used by Language and Thought) http://www.tokresource.org/tok_classes/ways/orwellian_doublespeak/index.htm

=<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">Language and Translation = mistranslations





<span style="font-family: 'ArialBlack','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;"> **1 Age-otori** (Japanese): To look worse after a haircut **2 Arigata-meiwaku** (Japanese): An act someone does for you that you didn’t want to have them do and tried to avoid having them do, but they went ahead anyway, determined to do you a favor, and then things went wrong and caused you a lot of trouble, yet in the end social conventions required you to express gratitude **3 Backpfeifengesicht** (German): A face badly in need of a fist **4 Bakku-shan** (Japanese): A beautiful girl… as long as she’s being viewed from behind **5 Desenrascanço** (Portuguese): “to disentangle” yourself out of a bad situation (To MacGyver it) **6 Duende** (Spanish): a climactic show of spirit in a performance or work of art, which might be fulfilled in flamenco dancing, or bull-fighting, etc. **7 Forelsket** (Norwegian): The euphoria you experience when you are first falling in love **8 Gigil** (pronounced Gheegle; Filipino): The urge to pinch or squeeze something that is unbearably cute **9 Guanxi** (Mandarin): in traditional Chinese society, you would build up good guanxi by giving gifts to people, taking them to dinner, or doing them a favor, but you can also use up your gianxi by asking for a favor to be repaid **10 Ilunga** (Tshiluba, Congo): A person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time **11 L’esprit de l’escalier** (French): usually translated as “staircase wit,” is the act of thinking of a clever comeback when it is too late to deliver it **12 Litost** (Czech): a state of torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery **13 Mamihlapinatapai** (Yaghan): A look between two people that suggests an unspoken, shared desire **14 Manja** (Malay): “to pamper”, it describes gooey, childlike and coquettish behavior by women designed to elicit sympathy or pampering by men. “His girlfriend is a damn manja. Hearing her speak can cause diabetes.” **15 Meraki** (pronounced may-rah-kee; Greek): Doing something with soul, creativity, or love. It’s when you put something of yourself into what you’re doing **16 Nunchi** (Korean): the subtle art of listening and gauging another’s mood. In Western culture, nunchi could be described as the concept of emotional intelligence. Knowing what to say or do, or what not to say or do, in a given situation. A socially clumsy person can be described as ‘nunchi eoptta’, meaning “absent of nunchi” **17 Pena ajena** (Mexican Spanish): The embarrassment you feel watching someone else’s humiliation **18 Pochemuchka** (Russian): a person who asks a lot of questions **19 Schadenfreude** (German): the pleasure derived from someone else’s pain **20 Sgriob** (Gaelic): The itchiness that overcomes the upper lip just before taking a sip of whisky **21 Taarradhin** (Arabic): implies a happy solution for everyone, or “I win. You win.” It’s a way of reconciling without anyone losing face. Arabic has no word for “compromise,” in the sense of reaching an arrangement via struggle and disagreement **22 Tatemae and Honne** (Japanese): What you pretend to believe and what you actually believe, respectively **23 Tingo** (Pascuense language of Easter Island): to borrow objects one by one from a neighbor’s house until there is nothing left **24 Waldeinsamkeit** (German): The feeling of being alone in the woods **25 Yoko meshi** (Japanese): literally ‘a meal eaten sideways,’ referring to the peculiar stress induced by speaking a foreign language
 * <span style="font-family: 'ArialBlack','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">25 words that don't exist in English **


 * <span style="font-family: 'ArialBlack','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Discussion Questions - complete these questions after doing the activity **
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Compare the process of the verbal transfer of knowledge, as done in activities A and B, with the transfer of knowledge between teacher and student in a school lesson. What similarities and differences exist?
 * 2) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Compare the process found in activities A and B with the process of a student acquiring knowledge by reading a text. What similarities and differences are there?
 * 3) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">By what means can our ideas and opinions be made more clear to others in a conversation or when writing?
 * 4) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">What is the difference between information and knowledge?
 * 5) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">If language works according to sets of rules and conventions, how much scope do we have as individuals to break the rules, to challenge conventions, to be creative?
 * 6) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Are vagueness and ambiguity shortcomings of language that must be eliminated in the interest of knowledge, or can they be also viewed as positive aspects of language?

=<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Language Journal =

- write about language as a way of knowing. You can use the quotations, or maybe respond to one or more of the following questions. It must be at least 5 sentences long:


 * how do you feel about language?
 * what have you learned? how can you apply what you have learned to your life?
 * what color is language? why?
 * how does it feel to be bilingual?
 * do you think in words?
 * how would you describe the color red to a blind person?
 * how much could you know about the world if you had no lanaugag or means of communicating with others?
 * do you think animals have language?
 * what would be gained if everyone in the world spoke a single common language? what would be lost?
 * etc etc etc

'


 * || = QUOTES OR QUESTIONS TO DISCUSS AND PRESENT = ||
 * =1= || "everything is relative" ||
 * =2= || 1 ||
 * =3= || **“all beliefs, ideas and truths are equally valid”** ||
 * =4= || **What is the difference between truth and belief?** ||
 * =5= || **“torture is not an absolute evil”** ||
 * =6= || **“it is the scale of observation which creates the phenomenon”** ||
 * =7= || **“perception is influenced by various aspects of language and culture”** ||
 * =8= || **Do our thoughts and ideas accurately represent external reality?** ||

Your group must present the quote/question that is given to it:

 * ===Present your reaction/response (whether you agree/disagree and why)===
 * ===Give one or two examples to support your position===
 * ===Explain how it is connected to relativism or TOK===
 * ===Each person must say something===

4 ||~ clear and specific 3 ||~ somewhat vague 2 ||~ vague or null 1 || to TOK/relativism ||  ||   ||   ||   || ||
 * ~  ||~ clear, specific, detailed
 * coherent response ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * examples given ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * explanation of relation
 * all members speak ||= (all) || (some) || (one) ||