Stereotypes

This week we started talking about stereotypes. What are they? Well, they could be considered as a prejudgment to a group of people, because of their gender, race, etc. Examples of stereotyping could be call "Chinese" to every Asian person you see, or to arab people "terrorist". The bad thing about it, is that you may start really believing this things and discriminate them. For example, you may start treating all Africans as slaves if you really start believing they are slaves. Possible causes of stereotyping may be ignorance and shallowness of many people, who don't care to investigate a little about other races, and they just say what they have heard. In Chile, stereotyping and discriminating Peruvians and Bolivians is very common, because of their facial aspects.

Culture

As in language, there are many people that have thought and answered the following question: what is culture? Some of them say that culture is something we aspire to, as he says, "the noble aspiration to leave the world better and happier than we found it" (Arnold, Matthew; "Culture and Anarchy"). As usual, many different points of view are seen in this type of answer that wants to define such a wide word. Other theorist says that culture is something outside of us, in which where we are born and have to learn it.  This is the case of Claude Levi-Strauss, in his text "Structural Anthropology", 1983.
The one that says that culture was developed by humans, is Clifford Geertz, in "The Interpretation of Cultures", 1973. There he compares culture with a spider web. "Man is an animal suspended in webs (...) he himself has spun. I take culture to be those webs" he proposed.
According to my point of view, I agree with Mr. Geertz, because every single human that lives in a social group has culture, but it wasn't something that just appeared; it was a product developed by our ancestors.

Thought or Language? Which is first?

It's the same question many important scientists have asked themselves and tried to reach an answer: which came first, the language or the thought? According to Saussure, they are both strongly relationed. He said that they are like a sheet of paper, in one side the thought and in the other one the language. You can't cut only one side of the paper. He defined two main points: langue and parole. The first one means the system of sings of the language and the second one, the langue used. 
For Noam Chomsky, there are other two points that should be defined: competence and performance, the first one being the sings that let us be creative with the language, and the other one being the language that is used. 



Aaron T. Beck, a famous psychiatrist, known as the father of cognitive therapy. He proposed that our emotions and behavior are caused by our internal dialogue.  This means that the language we express is a direct result of our thoughts. If we change the way we think, we can change permanently our expression. 

Bibliography:
English A: Language and Literature, Course Companion, Oxford. Allison, Rob; Chanen, Brian.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_and_thought

Debate

Last week we had the great opportunity to practice a debate. The motions were "Humans are born with an ability to create language" vs. "Language is a learnt construct like the rules governing a sport". I've heard many people that think that debates shouldn't be something that is taught to students "because they will start  contradicting every adult". But, in my opinion, debate is an excellent way of auto-acquire knowledge, because as you are debating, you are also learning about different points of views with their respective arguments.   So, if you have the opportunity, don't doubt
DEBATING!                           

Language and Cultures

The story of the Tower of Babel (again)

"And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." (Genesis 11:5-6)

Next you will find some other questions about language and its strong relation with culture.
1. What does the image, and the story, suggest about the benefits of everyone speaking the same language? What are the drawbacks?
Of course, speaking the same language has the great benefit of being able to work together as a team, making this quite faster than if everyone were working alone. Personally, I think there are no drawbacks in everyone speaking the same language.
2. What does the story suggest about the social functions of language? 
Language is made to communicate through social groups, so having language make us possible to interact with people.

Other mythological stories of creation of different languages, such as the ones of Mesoamerica, Brasil or Africa, include cultural aspects, unique to their region. For example, in Brasil, the story talks about hummingbirds and Ticuna people, or in Africa they talk about Bantu tribe and famines. "A priori", I'd say that every single different culture has got its own mythological story about many diverse things; many as you can imagine (creation of language, seasons, lakes, and others)

Theories of Language

Along the History of Humankind, many important scientists have reached to the same question in their heads: "How do we learn language?". In the mind map above, there are 3 theories that could answer this question. The  theories of Steven Pinker and Noam Chomsky go through the same path, but Darwin's chooses another way of answering the question.Personally, I think Charles' theory is the right one, because he proposes that we don't born knowing how to speak, but we do with the desire of learning it. This could be the answer of what tongue you speak. For example, if you have listened all your life to your parents speaking in French, probably you will speak French too.

I'd love to read your personal ideas of this important subject. 

Mysteries of Language

Are you interested in language? If you answer is positive, read below some useful questions with their answers. Of course, if you want you can have your own answers after watching the videos. 

1. Why is it said that people in East Africa developed more than the rest? 
According to experts, people that lived in East Africa, developed a better language, and that helped them to develop more in other aspects.
2. What happened to the earlier languages on Earth?
Almost every single ancient language had been erased from the World, leaving no traces.
3. According to Dr Johanna Nichols, what were the first utterances made by humans?
 Dr Johanna Nichols explained that the very first utterances of Men were sounds and calls. So it's thought that language evolved from calls, as it was a basic need. 

1. What is the biblical story of "the Tower of Babel"? 
The Tower of Babel story is the one that explains the "reasons" why there are many different languages in the World. It said that many people tried to build a tower that would reach heaven. God saw this and perceived that they just wanted to be known as the greatest builders ever, so because of their ambition, He made every one of them to speak a different tongue, so they couldn't understand themselves. Some people think that in this event, God separated the continents and spread out the people.
2. What does historical evidence tell us of this biblical event? 
Historical evidence that may explain this story, is that in those times, the people started moving into many different parts, so many languages had been affected, creating new ones.
3. What's the relationship between genes and language? 
The relationship between genes and language is very tight, making people with similar genes more likely to speak the same language.
4. Why do languages constantly change? 
Language is constantly changing because also people is changing. English spoken in the XIV Century isn't the same as the one we speak nowadays. Also the new generations add slangs to their vocabulary, and some of them, after some years, may be accepted by dictionaries; therefore, accepted as words of the language.


As always, post below your ideas or your personal answers to the questions. 

How do we learn language?

This is a question that many persons have thought through the history of mankind. How do we learn to talk? That's why Dr Deb Roy made an experiment in his own house, recording 24 hours every day of the week. Next, you can read the following questions and their respective answers, to understand better the video.

1. Which is the 'trick' (process) that enables us to communicate something to others?
The trick is to push air through your mouth. This process takes a thought from your head and delivers it to the receiver's head. 
2. Do animals talk? If not, What do they do to communicate?
Animals do not talk. To communicate they use sounds, but not as the complex language humans have.
3. What do we express when we talk?
When we talk, we are expressing our thought processes that are unique to ourselves. This may be sadness, happiness, or any other feeling you may have.
4. What did Dr Deb Roy try to achieve in his house?
He transformed his house into a language laboratory, which focused in the process of learning to talk of his child.
5. Which are the earliest stages in language for a child?
First, the child starts babbling sounds. As he grows up, he starts uttering single words, usually descriptive words. Then, he puts two words together, like "more milk", and finally, he communicates with more complex gramatical structures.
6. What external and internal factors made the data recollected in the experiment into something they could use?
The recording itself was only the raw material, so they needed to analyze it. This included things as: who said what, how do they move or where those people where.
7. How did the parents' speech change from their son's first word until he could utter more complex structures?
The parents' speech got simplified from the very first word their son gave. When the son's language started developing, they began to use longer sentences again.
8. What does Dr Deb Roy compare the "blossoming" of a speech form?
The example of the blossoming of the speech form of the child was how did he learn how to say "water". First, he just said "ga ga ga", but in the next few months he started uttering more similar sounds, like "wa da" or "wa der", until he finally could say "water".

As usual, any comment or question you may have, don't doubt to do it in this blog.

Language

The most important word in any language.

What is really language? Do we give it the importance that it should have? Well, apparently we never give the appropiate importance to the things that really matter in life, and that has been a characteristic of mankind through all its history. Language is what let us interact with different social groups. It isn't just talking, it's also writing and everything that let other people to understand you. For example, the people that for one or other reason can't talk nor write, they can use body gestures as their language. Here is a quote about the topic:


"The most powerful tool known is the one we use to build every other tool"

Language is in continuous change, it isn't something static. More than a tool, as the quote says, I would rather prefer to talk about it as something inherent to human beings. For example, could you imagine life without language? Probably you can't, because it has been an element present through all your life. Any criciticism or recommendation, please don't forget to comment it in this blog. The comments will help me improve. Remember that language isn't something that can't be changed, so change with it!