Language as a Source of Knowledge Project
LUPU/AICE LANG 10
Due: Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Directions: Complete the reading and tasks outlined on this handout. As this
is an extensive project, it has a higher point value.
Grading is based on accuracy, comprehensiveness, insight (including
connections between works and to other areas), use of text-based
evidence, and quality of expression. Be careful not to plagiarize.
Read and restate in your own words, giving credit to the origin.
(Note: Tasks may follow each other; i.e. you do not need to use a new sheet
of paper for each task, with the exception of the drawing and final
reflection.)
Rubric Levels: Mastered: 50-45; Proficient: 44-40; Nearly proficient: 39-37;
Developing: 36-34; Limited: 33-30. Incomplete work is subject to a 5-point
deduction per item missing.
Key Concept: We rarely say exactly what we mean. Look at the list of
characteristics that plague our communication!
 vagueness
 ambiguity
 secondary meaning
 metaphor
 irony
Meaning and interpretation: Although language is governed by rules, and
you cannot make words mean anything you like, many of the rules are quite
loose and there is often more than one way of interpreting a sentence.
Context, consequently, plays a critical role in interpretation.
Task 1: Read the following article and explain how context plays a
role in syntactical ambiguity.
“Do I have to pay syntax?”
http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/ling004.html
Language and translation: Each of us has a privileged relation to our own
native language, and we tend unthinkingly to assume that it fits reality like a
glove; however, we see this idea lose strength when we examine how
language is translated from one to another.
Read the nursery rhyme “Mary, Mary” and reflect on (in your head) the
bulleted questions below.
Mary Mary quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockleshells
And pretty maids all in a row.
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What
What
What
What
is this poem about?
words told you what it was about?
are silver bells and cockleshells?
does “contrary” imply?
Like a Shakespeare sonnet, you will find it difficult to understand many
words that were used differently in the past. A poem whose tone sounds so
innocent and childish is most likely a scathing allegory for the historical
events of the times with regard to Mary Tudor, or “Bloody Mary.” The silver
bells and cockle shells were colloquialisms for torture (rhymes.org.uk).
The problems of translation exist in:
o Context
o Untranslatable words
o Idioms
o Criteria for translation: faithfulness, comprehensibility, back
translation (e.g. look at how folktales evolve)
Task 2: Read the following article at the link below to see how one
mistranslation from Japanese to English may have resulted in the
dropping of the first atomic bomb on Japan. Summarize the event in
a short paragraph.
https://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/tech_journals/mokusatsu.
pdf
Task 3: Compare the titles “stewardess” and “flight attendant.”
What connotations does each elicit? What is the difference in our
perception of each? What does this tell up about the power of
language?
Labels and stereotypes: One danger with putting labels on people is that
our labels can easily harden into stereotypes. Nevertheless, stereotypes are
generalizations that have some truth to them. What, then, distinguishes a
damaging stereotype from a harmless generalization? Typically, a stereotype
is a caricature that exaggerates the negative features of a group and
assumes that all members possess these features. Furthermore, it is usually
based on prejudice rather than fact, and even when facts are provided, they
are generally ignored.
Language and values –We constantly use language to influence and
persuade. We use emotionally laden language (emotive meaning), and
words have positive and negative connotations. Take the word ‘rhetoric.’
Thanks to politicians, this word has a negative connotation; yet, rhetoric is
what this course is all about! Consider how language is used in these pairs:
 terrorist/freedom fighter
 pro life/pro choice
 free speech/hate speech
In 1947, the United States Department of War was renamed the Department
of Defense. What difference, if any, do you think this makes?
Euphemisms – A euphemism is a substitute mild or neutral sounding word
or term for a negative sounding one is a key form of emotive language, e.g.
rest room for toilet. In addition to benign uses, many euphemisms
deliberately mislead people. For example, the timber industry no longer
speaks of ‘clear cutting’ – an ugly sounding expression – when it cuts down
old-growth forest, but of ‘landscape management’.
In one US survey, when people were asked if more money should be spent
on ‘assistance to the poor,’ 68 per cent replied ‘yes;’ but when they were
asked if more money should be spent on ‘welfare,’ the number dropped to
24 per cent.
Task 4: Research examples of euphemisms. Pick one and ‘draw it
out,’ i.e. create a cartoon or illustration that humorously depicts the
idea. Write the euphemism on the BACK of your work. We will play a
guessing game with your representation. (Write your name on the
back, too!)
Weasel words are words such as ‘many, ‘should,’ and ‘probably’ which
people slip into sentences to give themselves an escape route. Companies
stick these words into their claims all the time. For example, an add might
say, “If you follow the directions carefully, you will see outstanding results.”
Task
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5: Explain how weasel words work in the following ads:
Our product can restore up to 25% of hair loss.
Probably the best beer in the world.
Helps fight tooth decay.
Grammar can also affect the way people see things. For example, the
passive voice may be used to cover up someone’s responsibility for
something. Compare the following two sentences.
a) Many villages were bombed.
b) We bombed many villages.
Revealing and concealing. Language can be used not only to reveal
certain aspects of reality, but also to conceal other aspects by diverting
attention away from them. Compare, for example, the following four
descriptions:
a) ‘I have invited an attractive blonde to the party.’
b) ‘I have invited a cellist to the party.’
c) ‘I have invited a marathon runner to the party.’
d) ‘I have invited a lesbian to the party.’
Imagine we are talking about one individual. Each description carries with it
a different set of connotations. The description we use is likely to affect the
way other people see the person.
Task 6: Create or find in an advertisement an example of concealing.
Task 7: Read the article by Dr. Robert Beard “Warspeak: Linguistic
collateral damage”
http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/drgw008.html
Write a one-paragraph summary of the ideas expressed. Make sure
you include a definition of warspeak.
Task 8: Read “Pooh-Poohing the Purists, a Scholar Revels in
Netspeak” by Anne Eisenberg, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/13/technology/circuits/13NEX
T.html. Write a one-paragraph summary of the ideas expressed.
Make sure you include a definition of netspeak.
Language and Cultural Knowledge:
There is not just one conceptual system for seeing the world; in fact, it
would be hard to conceive of one conceptual system that is able to fully
conceptualize everything that happens on earth and in the universe.
Professor David Harrison links this to knowledge systems and how language
captures local knowledge. An example of this is the Koro languages
description of medicine plants in their local eco-system. This language
captures 1000s of years of experimentation and ensuing insight. In other
words, ’lose the language, lose the knowledge’ (See “Enduring Voices” at
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/enduring-voices/).
Professor Harrison is concerned not only with bio-species extinction but also
linguistic extinction and the link to knowledge system extinction. The
following extract from an interview with ‘Samuel Johnson’, a blog author,
gives an insight into his thinking.
Johnson: What do we lose when we lose a language?
David Harrison: The human knowledge base is eroding as we lose
languages, exacerbated by the fact that most of them have never been
written down or recorded. In “When Languages Die” (2007) I wrote “When
we lose a language, we lose centuries of human thinking about time,
seasons, sea creatures, reindeer, edible flowers, mathematics, landscapes,
myths, music, the unknown and the everyday.” Only some cultures erect
grand built monuments by which we can remember their achievements. But
all cultures encode their genius in their languages, stories, and lexicons.
Each language is a unique expression of human creativity. We find millennia
of careful observation of the natural world and human behaviour, knowledge
of flora and fauna (often not yet known or identified by scientists), and some
of the secrets of how to live sustainably in challenging environments like the
Arctic or the Andean Altiplano.
We would be outraged if Notre Dame Cathedral or the Great Pyramid of Giza
were demolished to make way for modern buildings. We should be similarly
appalled when languages—monuments to human genius far more ancient
and complex than anything we have built with our hands—erode.”
Task 9: Explain why we could call English an “invasive species.”
Make sure to connect to an idea in the text in your response. (One
paragraph max.)
Task 10: Write a one-page reflection on what you have learned
about language. Refer to specific ideas in the handout, additional
readings, and the Keynote presentation. You may want to consider
this maxim: Language is our greatest blessing and our greatest
curse-Lupu
Reflective Writing:
A great deal of your time at university will be spent thinking; thinking about
what people have said, what you have read, what you yourself are thinking
and how your thinking has changed. It is generally believed that the thinking
process involves two aspects: reflective thinking and critical thinking. They
are not separate processes; rather, they are closely connected (Brookfield
1987).
Reflective thinking demands that you recognise that you bring valuable
knowledge to every experience. It helps you therefore to recognise and
clarify the important connections between what you already know and what
you are learning. It is a way of helping you to become an active, aware and
critical learner.
(Source: https://student.unsw.edu.au/reflective-writing)
This handout is a compilation of material guided by Richard de Lagemaat’s
text, Theory of Knowledge for the IB Diploma (available online in PDF).