TOK Lead Lecture Language

September 2010

How do we know what we know?

Ways of knowing

• Language• Reason• Emotion• Perception

Overview

• Knowledge Issues • Definitions – Interpretations• Rules• Language People- Chomsky, Pinker, the

context approach• Creativity• Ambiguity• Cantonese and dictionaries

Definitions

• With the person sitting next to you Define the following • a triangle

• a table – ask your partner to draw it strictly from your definition

• love

?

• Which was the most difficult to define?

• Why?

• What does this tell you about language?

Language is rule governed

• Aoccdrnig to extnesvie rseeacrh conudcetd at Oxofrd Uinervtisy in Enlgnad, it deosn't raelly mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae.The rset can be in a toatl mses and you usulaly can sitll raed it wouthit much porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey ltete by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.Jsut thnik a momnet abuot all the tmie you and I watesed laernnig how to splel wrods croreclty!

What do we use language for?

What is Language?

• Language is rule governed, intended and creative

• A great deal of language is ambiguous and demands interpretation

• We use language to classify and label

Linking questions to consider

• How is mathematics (AOK) like a language?

• How does language affect the way we see things?

Labelling and classifying

• Labels • What predictions can you make from the

following labels?• Dog• Teacher• Bread

Classify into groups of four

keyboard cake cat snake horse pencil paint henAre labels “natural” or“cultural?”

Stereotypes/ generalizations

active reckless affectionate

sensitive tough aggressive

What stereotypes exist for these groups in Hong Kong?

• Asians• Bankers• Expats• Domestic helpers• Doctors• Environmental activists• What are the dangers of categorising people?

Choose your words carefully

• The choice of the phrase “all men are created equal”instead of “all humans…” set back women’s rights 200 years

KI• To what extent does the choice of words to

express ideas subconciously alter our understanding of them?

Language is ambiguous

TIME FLIES LIKE AN ARROW

• What does this phrase mean? • There are FIVE possible meanings

INTERPRETATION

• TIME FLIES LIKE AN ARROW• Time proceeds as quickly as an arrow moves;• Measure the speed of flies in the same way as you

measure the speed of an arrow;• Measure the speed of flies in the same way that an

arrow measures the speed of flies;• Measure the speed of flies that resemble an arrow;• Flies of a particular kind, time flies (compared to

dragonflies), are fond of an arrow.

When is language deliberately ambiguous?

Advertising

• Advertising is “the art of persuading people to buy things they don’t need” – Will Rogers

• The language of advertising exploits the AMBIGUITY of language in order to SUGGEST a false claim, but not directly STATE it:

Colgate can fight the symptoms of tooth decay with regular use

• Weasel words: These are words which suggest a falsehood, by cleverly manipulating language,– e.g. ‘Athletes use Gatorade.’

Here the unmodified plural noun ‘athletes’ is ambiguous. How many athletes? The slogan is ‘true’ even if only two athletes use the product.

• Open comparatives: “The better car.” Better than what? The suggestion is, better than its rivals, but this cannot be directly stated and how could such a claim be proven?

• Bogus superlatives: “The funniest film of all.” What does this mean?

• Look at the title – which are the weasel words here?

Ambiguity in Advertising

• Advertisers seek to persuade consumers that their product will make them ;

taller, slimmer, more intelligent, faster,

more attractive

Ambiguity in Advertising

Any adverts which use ambiguity?

TOK an advert

• For your lesson next week• Who is recommending the product? • What is his or her real motive? Can this be

determined? • Where did s/he get this information?

Body Language

• Nod

• How easy is it to misunderstand the body language of somebody from a different culture?

Language is emotive

• Emotionally laden language• Was the American intervention in Iraq an

invasion or a liberation?• Am I being a good parent stopping my

daughter from accessing websites or am I endorsing censorship?

• Nelson Mandela heading the ANC – terrorist or freedom fighter?

What are the real meanings behind these “warspeak words”?

• Neutralise• Pacification• Pre-emptive• Friendly fire• Inoperative combat personnel• No longer a factor

• Euphemism/political

How do you learn languages?

Learning Language should be emotional

• When is a First Language More Emotional? Psychophysiological Evidence from Bilingual Speakers

• CATHERINE L. HARRIS, JEAN BERKO GLEASON and AYSEAYC¸ ICEGI

Your second/ third / fourth languages

Think about your Group 2 or Group 1 language .• How long have you been studying it?• Ab initio – what are you studying at the

moment-how?• What does a typical language textbook look

like? Does it remind you of any other subjects?

Emotional Contexts of language learning

• The cognitive sciences have avoided studying emotion and subjective experience for several reasons:

• (1) the origins of the cognitive revolution emphasized the computational metaphor (Gardner, 1985);

• (2) until the late 20th century, logic and reasoning were still regarded as the essence of human cognition; and

• (3) early cognitive scientists wanted to uncover the universals of human thought, with subjective experience seen as idiosyncratic and irrelevant.

• Such abstract and cerebral constructs were also key parts of the revolution within linguistics inspired by Chomsky (1965), as illustrated by the well known concepts of language universals, the language acquisition device,

• A new theory, ‘the emotional contexts of learning theory’, developed to account for findings from existing studies of bilingualism and emotion.

• The connections between emotion and cognition have been increasingly studied over the past decade (e.g. LeDoux,1996, 2002; Panksepp, 1998).

Chomsky• Universal Grammar• “an innate set of linguistic principles shared by all humans"

known as universal grammar, "the initial state of the language learner,“1965

• the strongest evidence for the existence of Universal Grammar is simply the fact that children successfully acquire their native languages in so little time. Chomsky argued that there is an enormous gap between the linguistic stimuli to which children are exposed and the rich linguistic knowledge they attain- The knowledge of Universal Grammar would serve to bridge that gap.

• Chomsky's theories are popular, but focus on the monolingual and predominantly English speaker.

Pinker

• popularizing the idea that language is an "instinct" or biological adaptation shaped by natural selection

• brain is adaptive – swiss army knife approach

Emotional Contexts of learning• Proposal that language comes to have a distinctive emotional feel by

virtue of being learned, or habitually used, in a distinctive emotional context: the ‘emotional contexts of learning’ theory. Human experiences are generally learned and stored in a context-dependent manner. As psychologists have observed and theorized for a century, human learning is associative (Anderson & Bower,1973; Thorndike, 1927).

• Associative learning causes language forms to be mentally stored with their contexts of use. The ‘emotional contexts of learning’ theory is not merely stating the obvious. The view that language is stored with its contexts of occurrence is contrary to decades of linguistic theorizing. Most language learning theorists assume that non-linguistic correlates are stripped away during learning, allowing the abstraction of linguistic meaning and context-independent grammatical rules (Chomsky, 1965; Jackendoff,1997; Pinker, 1984, 1994).

How ?• Participants responded to items by rating them for pleasantness, while

skin conductance activity was monitored via fingertip electrodes. Items included taboo words (curse words, body parts, and sexual terms), reprimands (‘Don’t do that!’), aversive words (cancer, kill, death), positive words (bride, joy, kind), and neutral words (column, table). The reprimands were of the type that parents use in admonishing children, such as ‘Shame on you!’ and ‘Go to your room!’

• A continuum of responsiveness was found. The strongest skin conductance responses were elicited by taboo words, followed by reprimands, negative words, positive words, and neutral words. Unexpectedly, among a sample of L1 speakers of Turkish, responsiveness to L2 English taboo words was also very high, showing that taboo words in either language activate emotionally-arousing conceptual structures- enhancing recall.

What’s this got to do with me?

• You are all language learners• How should your language lessons be

organised?• Do your textbooks / curriculum maximize your

chances of success in another language• Shouldn’t your teachers instead be

admonishing and swearing at you!

Why Putonghua?Linguistic Imperialism?

• 70 million Cantonese speakers globally• 7 million in HK• Standard Putonghua • the idea of a single language has major

overtones in politics and cultural self-identity, Some Chinese linguists refer to Putonghua as a single language and its subdivisions dialects, while others call Chinese a language family akin to Romance Languages.

Knowledge issue

• If Language is best learnt through emotional attachment to language and immersion why is Putonghua and not Cantonese compulsory in ESF Primary Schools ?

• How are languages learnt best?

Language is creative• Language evolves and new words/ phrases are

created all the time. Technological advancements / social group reorganisation and lifestyle have ensured a new vocabulary:

• E.g. Celebrufreak - Noun - a freak with fame

• Match the words in the envelope with the definitions

Which words go with these definitions?

• To pretend to text someone or reply to someone's text message to avoid awkward situations. This happens most often when talking to someone you don't really know or when you don't want to look weird while waiting for the bus. pretext

• When you complain about something for the sole purpose of bringing it up in conversation to brag about it. bragplaining

• Completely inept at understanding the film, Inception. ineption • When an acquaintance you haven't seen for a long time greets you by

name but you don't have time to remember their name. Name ambush

• An insult disguised as a compliment, originating from The Simpons episode Father Knows Worst. The disguise can be very obvious or very subtle.unsult

• The invisible force field that makes you think that your cell-phone conversations are

inaudible to everyone else. Cell membrane • When an older person, especially a parent, needs a tech-savvy kid to help him/her

with computers or other electronic devices. Child supervision • Constant connectivity via your smartphone and computer blurs the boundaries

between your work life and your personal life. Workweek creep • Phrases and words such as "lol yeah" and "haha ok" that are guaranteed to kill any

text conversation. Text-killer

• Similar to writers block only in the context of social networking sites. Unable to come up with post worthy content. Post block syndrome

• The name given to the chair infront of your computer that you sit on to go on line. Once seated

in it and going on line it sucks you in to a much longer period of time than you planned.suction seat

• Watching several episodes of a TV show in a row, usually from a DVD box set. This can be done

over several evenings, or a marathon weekend. powerdisking • The feeling you get when you haven't had access to the internet for a long time, like several

minutes. Post modem depression • A person who stands within the confines of your personal space bubble to hold an ordinary

conversation, like someone sitting next to you on an airplane would. airplane talker • Afternoon. College morning

Dictionaries

Purpose

• Urban dictionary

• www.urbandictionary.com/ - reliability

• Be creative with language make a word today

Conclusions

• Knowledge Issues • Definitions – Interpretations• Rules• Language People- Chomsky, Pinker• Creativity• Ambiguity• Cantonese and dictionaries

Words to remember

• Connotation• Classification• Ambiguity• Emotive meaning• Weasel words• Euphemism• Body language

Linking Questions

• How many arguments turn out to be about the meanings of words?

• Is it possible to describe historical events in an unbiased way?

• Should offensive language be censored?• How is mathematics like a language?• How does language affect the way we see things?

Richard Lagemaat

For next TOK lesson

• Bring an advert with ambiguous language and be ready to talk about it.

• Begin to look for connections –How does language impact your HK and SL subjects

• Look at the linking questions and be prepared to discuss your responses

• Enter your own word on urban dictionary