Topic: Style and gender in language; Writing and technology and their efects on language

You will be required to write two paragraphs.

1. The first paragraph, which will be critical thoughts on the course materials. By critical reading, I mean a close examination of the main argument of a text, as well as what evidence is used to support the argument.

Related materials:

The Social Art (TSA), Chapters 29

Language Myths (LM) # 1, 9-11, 19, 21

2. The second paragraph will be a response to one of your classmates' original posts. Think of these blogs as a way to explore a major theme or two from the week's reading in more personal terms. Once you've analyzed the major points, how do you react to what you're reading?

Can you think of experiences from your own life that either support or contradict what you're reading (considering I am an international student from China)? The following is one of my classmate's post:

Blog

The connection between language and thought is an important discussion Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf began exploring while we continue the discussion. As seen in the lecture and readings, the linguistic relativity hypothesis is explained as "... the way people perceive objects and conceive of the world around them is affected or even determined by the language that they speak" (Macaulay 158, 2006). Macaulay goes on to mention that vocabulary is a major aspect of the variation as words may exist in certain languages and not in others.

This may also explain the difficulty in translation as not only must the words be as close as possible, but the semantics as well. Personally, when reading The Holy Bible in Mosaic I, there were many translations in the class that each one was read aloud and discussed on how different they each were and how it could affect one's interpretation of the text. Macaulay also mentions that there are cultural differences which contribute to this variance as "... the features that must be marked in one language (such as plural, gender, tense) but need not be in another" (161, 2006).

Overall, I think this hypothesis is very important to study. It is fascinating that languages may guide the way that we think and perceive the world around us. Not only does it make sense that there is much variation because of culture, but that language adds to this as well. I agree with the thoughts at the end of the lecture that we should not be disinterested in the topic or think language has the capacity to force us into a certain mindset, but to realize that language does have an important effect on our thoughts and behaviors across the world.

In Language Myth #1, I think it is very unfortunate that people believe word meaning should not change. Over the course of the semester it is clear that the evolution of anything is to ensure that we continue to live as efficiently as possible. Therefore, I believe it is important that the semantics must change because we need to be able to continue to communicate effectively among each other. If this change did not take place, it may prove harmful to society.

Language Myth # 9 seemed pretty absurd when reading it. I have never heard of something like this and I am glad it is a myth. As a theater major, I know we may train as much as possible to become adequate in portraying Shakespeare, but we may never play the characters in the exact way they were able to in the Elizabethan Era.

There will always be modern influences which affect the integrity of the history and the language must also change in order for us to fully understand the meaning of what is being said. Lastly, Myth #11 was something I was glad to come across. For quite some time I would have agreed with this phrase because of the ignorance I had for understanding language. Basing languages on our own ideas of what we think sounds beautiful seems wrong, in my opinion.

It was not until I began to think about other dialects and accents in my training as an actor where I began to appreciate the different sounds and not judge on what was socially acceptable. I think it is also amusing that I have always been afraid of German because it sounded ridged and hard, but when I met my boyfriend who is from Germany my view on it obviously changed.

I strongly think things that we do not know often scare us, and being able to understand the people speaking a language we may not like helps us sympathize better and understand that it is a form of communication in which no language is above or below our own and should not be looked at as strange or displeasing.