by Amy Newsome
Traditional interest in the variety of language called 'slang' and the usage of this variety has been highly prescriptive, something that budding linguists are always told not to be. Hence, a different approach is needed, namely a more descriptive one that relates to ideas and concepts relating to the field of study called Pragmatics.
A concise definition of the term 'slang' is: a dynamic variety of language that is used to show solidarity and claim in-group membership, and as suggested by Gibbs (1994). Slang is also one of the most important 'mechanisms' or devices for showing social awareness. This variety of language often occurs around 'taboo' subjects such as sex, drugs, alcohol, homosexuality, etc.
According to Lodge (1997), the colloquial or vernacular use of language is extremely important, not only to sociolinguists, but in the study of semantics and meaning in context. In his study, Lodge identifies three features of language variation that he believes are essentially true:
An element that is vital to the usage of slang is notion of in-groups and out-groups. One of the reasons that slang develops is the need for group solidarity (Cutting, 2001). This means that a certain group of people, for example a bunch of moody teenagers, feel the need to alienate their parents and use language that the older generation will not understand. In this case, the in-group would be the teenagers, and the out-group is the parents. The in-group has 'shared knowledge' (Cutting, 2001), and amongst the members they all possess the in-group vocabulary.
In addition, and on a slightly more technical note, there is interesting concept of the Standard Pragmatic Model. This model proposes that people would experience difficulty in understanding and interpreting slang, when compared to the literal meanings of the same expressions. The pragmatic model suggests that meaning should not be hidden or obscure, as all language should follow rules like Grice's Maxims. However, the reason why slang does not follow this model is since in attempting to understand slang on a literal level, it would cause many problems for someone trying to interpret such an utterance. In trying to interpret the factual or accurate denotation, the meaning would be completely irrelevant and nonsensical. This is why the listener is aware that there is a hidden meaning, or connotation behind an utterance.
This relates to a concept defined by Gibbs (1994), who suggests that knowing what kind of slang is appropriate in a particular situation is incredibly important. For example, knowing when to use ''inebriated, drunk, wasted or plastered'' when referring to consuming lots of alcohol is what identifies in-and out-groups. Or it's just whether you're cool or not.
Now for an example to illustrate how slang can violate the Grice's Maxims of Relevance, Manner, Quantity and Quality.
1 ''I hope our cricketers will crush those touring pansies.''
In this example, there is evidence that some in-group shared knowledge is needed. In this case, it would be understood by a student who knows about the upcoming cricket match (the game, not the insects), but perhaps would not be understood to an older generation or an outsider to this kind of language variety. Here, the Maxim of Quality is violated, as the 'touring pansies' are in fact the opposing cricket team, and not a literal bed of flowers, so the utterance is not entirely true. The Relevance of this example could also be questioned, as it is a fairly obscure sentence that would not be understood by an out-group. The Maxim of Manner is also flouted, as the utterance is ambiguous, and the meaning is not clear. In addition, there is an excess number of words used, violating the Maxim of Quantity.
Therefore, slang is definitely a language variety that can be studied and observed with regard to Pragmatics and related topics. As a final thought, here are two quotes relating to two completely different opinions about the use of this particular variety:
"Slang is the poetry of everyday life and it vividly expresses people's feelings about life, and about the things they encounter" (Hayakawa, 1941)
Or
"The use of slang is at once a sign and a cause of mental atrophy" (Partridge, 1935)
You decide.
Cutting, J. 2001. The speech acts of the in-group, Journal of Pragmatics. Elsevier Science B.V.
Gibbs, R. The Poetics of Mind: Figurative Thought, Language, and Understanding. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Lodge, A. 1997. The Pragmatics of Slang. University of St Andrews. Available online:http://wjmll.ncl.ac.uk/issue02/lodge.htm#3
The creation and growth of slang is very interesting. This article talks about how the use of slang shows that one is considered a part of a certain group. Usually slang is associated with not so good groups. This article also says that slang is used for group solidarity. Maybe different groups of friends would have their own slang that they could call their own. An example is how different generations could use slang that other generations would not understand. Maybe some slang could turn into its own language?
TOK Presentation Planning Document
Group member(s): Makena M., Tara H.
Estimated Timing of Pres (10 min. per person):20 minutes
Resource: “Mourning the Death of Handwriting”, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1912419,00.html
Topic : Death of Handwriting
Essential Question: What are some possible implications of the rising “death of handwriting” and works being digitalized?
Planning
1. What is the real life situation under consideration?
The real life situation that we are dealing with is the fact that handwriting is disappearing. Everything is becoming more digitalized by the day.
2. What is the TOK knowledge issue (questions) that will be the focus of your presentation? (refer to page 271 in green text to help)
· What is the point of preserving handwriting?
· How does digitalized works affect the emotions within the text as opposed to handwritten works?
· In what ways will the classroom structure change due to the death of handwriting?
· How will people whose jobs involve handwriting be affected?
· Will handwritten objects or works be worth more valuable in the future due to the death of handwriting?
· Why do people consider handwritten works to be less important or more juvenile?
Sub topic questions:
· How will art be affected by the rise of digitalizing? (bringing in art…)
· Will autocorrect allow us to no longer need the skill of spelling?
· Is there a chance autocorrect/Siri will become more intelligent than the people who created them?
· How will our memory be affected due to people not physically writing down information?
· How will our reliance on technology change due to the death of handwriting? For example…. When the power goes out, then what?
3. Write a summary in note form (like a bulleted list) of the way you plan to deal with the knowledge issue(s)/questions during your presentation. Provide approximate TIME and be specific about TOOLS, EXAMPLES and WHO is doing what. Think about the criteria:
a. How will you identify the knowledge issue(s)?
i. They are going to be written down in a Prezi
b. How will you show your personal perspective?
i. we will voice or opinions throughout the presentation
c. How will you make connections to other Ways of Knowing or Areas of Knowledge?
d. How will you examine the knowledge claims and possible counterclaims (i.e different perspectives)? Tip: ask yourself, what would someone who disagrees with the claim say, and what reasons would he give? What about someone from a different culture, age group, religion, class, educational background?
e. How will you examine the implications of knowledge?
f. If there is bias, how will you examine that? What about assumptions and presuppositions?
Type of Presentation: PREZI, pictures, and possible videos J
Items you will need (e.d handouts, costumes, script, projector): smartboard, projector
Pros and cons of the death of handwriting:
Pros:
· Everything is much more faster and efficient
· It wouldn’t get lost on technology
· Everything looks so much more professional
· Communication is available to many more places and much faster than if you were writing a letter
· No longer needs to be excessively taught in school—doesn’t need constant practicing but can focus on different topics
· Everything is easy to read, while handwriting could have been messy
· Could be helpful to the environment—we would use so much more paper if handwritten than if typed
· Humans always looking for an easier way—technology/printing is the easy way
Cons:
· Handwriting no longer an art
· Not as personal
· Almost like losing personality?
· Is it good that everything now looks professional/ important?
· People who analyze handwriting will have nothing to do and nothing to analyze…
· Takes away from personality
· Handwriting is an art—other languages words and the way those words are written are beautiful and will be lost
Implications
· Something printed usually meant something professional—now everything looks professional
· With everything being digitalized, we are relying on technology
· What happens to the people whose jobs include handwriting?—like calligraphists and people who determine what someone’s personality is like through handwriting
· Autocorrect—spelling is going to go down the drain
1. "Language was given to man to disguise his thoughts."
I think that this quote is very very deep. In so many ways it is true. A lot of people don't speak their minds and hide their thoughts behind their words. You could deceive someone in so many ways just by saying something that you don't mean or something completely opposite. It could be for many reasons too. It could be that you just want to be polite. For example, when someone gives you food but it is disgusting, it would be rude to just straight out say "that's disgusting." Nobody can go into your mind and listen to your thoughts. Language is supposed to be used to communicate your thoughts, but many people cover up their thoughts with their words.
2. Human Science: Is language unique to human beings?
Language does not just apply to human beings. Animals have a way of communicating
between each other. They have to in order to work together and live together.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/3430481.stm
This link goes to an article about communication between animals. It talks about how scientists
are discovering that apes can learn sign lanuage and are being able to communicate. They
also realized that animals can connect "vocabulary" with different sounds. For some animals
this is their language.
3. BLOG QUESTIONS
2. What are some examples of words that have entered the English language as a result of the
computer generation?
I think there are a bunch of words that have become a part of everyday English language because of all the different computer sites and popularity. For example, facebooked, tweeted, or even picniked has become words that people use in conversations. I think basically the sites names are now used every day and people would understand what that person is saying.
3. Try to define as precisely as possible these three words...
a) triangle: a triangle is a shape with three sides that are connected at each other's ends.
b) love: love is a very strong emotion that can drive people to do crazy things-- it means to
care about someone a lot to the point where you cannot imagine life without them.
c) table: a table is a piece of furniture that has legs to stand and a surface to hold different
objects.
For these three different things, love was the hardest to explain because it's the most complicated. You can't really explain love. You have to feel it in order to understand I think. Triangle was the easiest to explain because it's so simple. Table was in the middle because it was kind of simple but a bit more complicated than love. The difference between these three things is that one of them is simply a general shape, one is an actual object, and one is an emotion, and possibly one of the most complicated.
5. To what extent is your use of languages accompanied by images? Does every word conjur up an image or only some of them?
I think words can definitely create images in people's heads, but depending on the words that are used. Not every word can make out pictures or images in someone's head. In order to put a picture in someone's head using words, you must use a lot of descriptions and adjectives. It wouldn't be easy to conjure up detailed images for someone who, for example, is blind. However, I think that we, as human beings, have words that are associated with images. Especially if you are referring to an actualy object. Especially a familiar object would have images connected with it.
6. Do you think a robot (or Siri) could use and respond appropriately to language? What differences in real life would that make if that were the case?
To some extent I think that Siri could use and respond to language appropriately. It can listen and do what you ask it to, but can it pick up on slang and other terms that may not be known by everyone?
This video is of a man who is trying to use Siri, but it cannot understand his accent at all. This could be a problem because I am sure there are people all around the world having this issue. Accents are a part of language, so I think Siri can understand just with some limitations.
If Siri really could understand and respond to language I think that would be amazing. It could open doors to so many new technologies. For some reason it seems like we are always looking for ways to make life easier on ourselves. It seems that this talking phone that will do what you tell it to is another way that makes everything easier on us. What could this do to computers or other technologies? What if we could use something like Siri for everything?
10. Birds fly and planes fly. Since fish swim, why don't we say that submarines also swim? What do submarines do?
I am not sure why we wouldn't say that submarines swim? It makes so much sense, yet it seems so wrong when you say it out loud... Birds and planes not only are both in the air, but they also seem to have the same shape and way of moving about. Fish and submarines don't really move in the same way or don't even have the same structure. I am not really sure what submarines do... float maybe? submerge?
11. What would be the advantages and disadvantages of everyone having a common language?What would be gained and what would be lost?
Obviously a huge advantage of having a common language would be being able to communicate with each other without any barriers. Maybe there could be peace with everyone? Part of why there are conflicts is miscommunications. There wouldn't be miscommunications if there was a universal language. Everyone would feel more connected in a way because they shared the same language. It's having something in common with everyone which could be good.
However, there would be many disadvantages as well... If there was a common language I am sure most people would prefer to use that language just because it would be probably the most used in the world. What would happen to all the other languages? All languages are precious and shouldn't just be thrown aside. Language is a part of culture as well. It can explain where someone came from. Losing your language could take away a part of you and your culture.
I think this video is hilarious. And it's kind of related to the idea of how we all have different languages. If we had a common language, they would probably understand how to do jumping jacks.
19. Do you agree with the old rhyme "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me"? In light of the effects of cyber bullying how might you analyze this quote?
I do not agree with this old rhyme at all. In middle school it was fun to sing out, but once you actually look at the words, I realized this is not true at all. Sure physical blows hurt, but words hurt just the same or possibly even more. Words can cut deep no matter what anyone says. Cyberbullying is a really good example.
http://puresight.com/Cyberbullying/cyber-bullying-statistics.html
Above is a link to statistics of cyber bullying, which is actually very surprising.
4. Comments on videos
In the first ted talk, the guy is talking about metaphors. He talks about how important metaphors are to show big emotions. I do agree with this because metaphors are very powerful in terms of language. It's like comparing something to something else that gives it so much more depth and emotions. He also talks about how we cannot ignore the literal meaning of words. I think this is so interesting. It would be cool to do an experiment testing this theory.
I thought the other ted talk with the guy who was using all these symbols was kind of weird. It shows how we basically don't even need language. There are so many different uses of technology out there. Is language even necessary?
There is also an infograph, which is also very interesting. It talks of how language is misused today. Nobody finds words interesting anymore. It's so sad because back in the day words is all we had to communicate with each other. What happened to hand written letters?
For this project, I am going to be looking at the different Spanish flags that represent different parts of the Spanish world and how their colors are a big part of that. I am going to take these different flags and see how they are similar, especially in colors. I am going to research what the colors on the flags mean and what they mean to the country. Different colors could have different meanings around the world. I think it will be interesting to see how every country tries to represent itself. It will be cool to see if Spanish speaking countrie's flags are similar. I wonder if they have the same perceptions,
SIGHT
For sight, I learned that our brain a lot of times doesn't process or can't "really" see what is going on in front of us. If you put something a certain way, it will look completely different than if it was put a different way. For example, there was a Ted talk with the guy who performed all these optical illusions on the audience. It's weird to think about because what if the things I'm seeing isn't really how it looks? That could mess up someone's whole perception of the world. I also learned that what we find attractive is actually vaguely similar. The science of attraction videos all showed how our brain worked in finding what is attractive. The one of the faces that were just flipped was very interesting because you would think the people would be able to tell whether their picture was just flipped. I feel like I would be able to tell, but I can't be sure. I really want to say what someone would say about my flipped picture and regular picture. I want to know if I look better in real life or in the mirror. I do think that familiarity is a part of attraction. I also learned that when someone experiences the halo effect, they tend to not really realize how rude or not very angleic someone can be later. That explains a lot. It could explain why someone would stay in a bad relationship possibly.
SOUND
The video for sound that I really liked is the one with the group of girls and group of boys who's voices were recorded and analyzed. I learned that boys find a higher voice more attractive in a girl, while girls find lower voices in guys attractive. There are theories of why this is. A man with a lower voice tends to be more buff and bigger. These men could protect more efficiently than some skimpy little boy. In this science of attraction video, the girls were so much better at matching the voices of the boys to the faces. Girls are just smart hahaha just kidding. I also learned that sounds are connected with something usually. It could be unpleasant or pleasant depending on what we connect it with. For example, the school bell would be amazing for students because it means they are free.
SMELL
The science of attraction video on scent was funny because the participants had to smell sweaty shirts which is also kind of disgusting.There is also a video about perfumes. Perfume has been around for a long time. It became huge and was in. Perfumes would bring out emotions, which is almost the point. Perfume is used to attract people. Fragrance should capture the moment and make you think of something. In the BBC video, the man says that we want to smell as far from possible as we normally smell. Fragrances could be connected to good or bad. People's preferances in fragrances is rapidly changing all the time. Perfumes is a huge part. Euw, there is even a scent of a cat's butthole. That's disgusting, I can't even say....
TOUCH
For the sense of touch, there is a video of a Ted talk about why things hurt. When you feel something or something hurts, the thing that touched you or hurt you sends nerve fibers all the way up to your brain. It says that something harmful or dangerous hit you or touched you. The brain tries to comprehend if something like this has happened before. If not, it goes into panic mode because it is unfamiliar and could be harmful. However, if it is something that happens everyday, the brain will let you kow that it is no big deal and not to worry. Pain is to warn you that it is dangerous. This man tries to convince that pain is an illusion. I wonder if you could stop pain if you learn to see through the illusion, just like some can see through optical illusions.
TASTE
There is a video call science bites. I learned that a small change in DNA can change drastically what you taste. They think the ability to taste bitterness comes from ancestry, which is kind of crazy to think about. Also, taste could be connected to how full someone is. So, could you just eat something gross and be full? I thought the miracle berries video was so funny! I don't really get if they actually worked though... Humans have always tried to make food taste good. The tongue has bumps with taste buds that also have taste receptors. The brain has 5 different tastes it can distincualize-- sweet, bitter, umami (savory), sour, and salty.
This article is about the development of artificial retinas and ways to make someone not have to succumb to macular degeneration. There are different ways that scientists are attempting to make this happen. Some are using signaling molecules while others are trying to put broken genes into retina cells to get it to work again. The most bizarre is putting a camera in the eye.
Knowledge Issues
1. How practical is this new technology that is using cameras? It is very expensive and still in the just beginning stage.
2. To what extent could the process of obtaining artificial retinas be harmful to the patient? There could be radiation from the glasses that use wifi to connect with the camera in the retina. There could be other hamrful things.
A lot of times we only see what we want to see. For example, .....
BELIEFS
Beliefs can definitely make you only see what you want to see. Believing in like a religion or god could make someone see everything that happens as something from god or maybe even a sign from a higher power. Your beliefs could also blind you from other opinions or options. Some people don't even listen to others explaining another way of life.
CULTURE
Culture is a huge thing in a lot of places and it can definitely change what you see. You could maybe notice all the things that people do or don't do that differs from your culture. Maybe you would notice all the differences and maybe even find them weird because it's not what you're used to. The way you look at others would change.
MOODS
Your mood definitely affects what you see or notice. In good moods you notice all the good things, but in bad moods you notice all the bad. When your in a bad mood, you notice and stick with a lot of irritating things. Once you have it in your mind you can't get it our. It happens to me all the time. However, when you're happy, you don't really notice a lot of things because you're in such a good mood.