So seeing that a.) I never started a post and b.) I'm scrambling to finish everything this week, I have no choice but to start a post about the article we used to read and evaluate for the final.
The article begins with the idea that children learn their language through their own process and discovery, rather than the traditional direct instruction. With Hispanic families in the U.S., children become immersed into the English language by making friends in the neighborhood or going to school. These children who are raised bilingual are not sat down by one person and taught two languages and what makes them different. The children learn after using the languages (and making some mistakes) how to speak in each language from their own discoveries and use of the languages.
With invented spelling, students construct words by using their listening skills. I thought it was very interesting how these students' writing were compared to the drawing of the stick man with no hair to the one with a beard and a crown - students' spelling develops over time with room for error, and gradually their spelling improves. This is completely different than the hundreds of spelling lists we had to memorize as kids to take the dreaded spelling quizzes. So, while I am probably a person who believes in the process-oriented constructive approach, I can't help as a future teacher but feel that the ultimate goal is establishing correct habits and mastery of the language. So maybe I believe a little of both approaches.
As this is probably the last post on our blog, I hope everyone did well on the final. But more importantly, I hope everyone has a really nice break. Happy holidays (we're almost there)!!!
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Monday, December 3, 2007
Online Lingo, by Hayley Kevil
Sorry this took me so long..I was having difficulty writing about the chapters in the book so I had to come up with my own topic for my blog post.
The topic I came up with is online lingo or online jargon. . .you know what I'm talking about. . . idk, bff, omg, sob, brb, jk, lol, wtf, lmao, btw, nm, ttyl....the list can go on and on....
I'm sure most of us spend a lot of time sending text messages, talking on AIM, communicating via facebook or myspace, as well as writing emails, etc...and when you aren't writing a formal paper it is nice to be able to type and write things in a much more carefree manner. You don't have to watch for spelling errors as much and you can abbreviate almost any word that has more then 2 vowels in it. I am a huge lingo user, I'd probably be considered an abuser...haha jk! But as I think about the online lingo more and more I wonder if it is actually effecting our language. . .
For many people, such as the people of my parents generation who are close to 60, and even my brothers generation which is close to 30 do not use the lingo as much as my generation and on. This can be an annoyance to the other generations and can serve as a threat as well. Many parents have no idea what their children are saying which I imagine would get very frustrating. For example, the commercial (I believe it is for Sprint, or some phone company) when the mother asks her young daughter who she has been texting, the girl answers, "I. D. K. my BFF Jill" which is full out lingo, demonstrates how communication between adults and children may be beginning to decrease. This can be a threat to many parents because of how easy it is for kids to communicate with others online. If a parent wants to be able to know who their kids are taking to and what they are saying, they may not be able to fully protection their children if they can't even make out what they are saying.
From a grammar standpoint, I wonder if the increased use of abbreviations and jargon has changed our language at all, or if it will in time. Is it effecting our language since people are beginning to speak in lingo instead of just writing it? Likewise is it effecting our grammar because people become so comfortable with using the sloppy, shorthand writing? I feel as if this language is minimizing the use of such common words as well as ignoring the meaning as well. What about those good old homonyms and the importance of spelling?
I have a link to the site of two commercials demonstrating the use of jargon and how it has shaped our language today. I find this topic to be interesting, and although it is the last week of school, if anyone has time to write what they think about online jargon, I'd like to hear what you've got to say.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ySR3hpieiQc&feature=related
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4nIUcRJX9-o&feature=related
I apologize again for those of you who may have been waiting for this blog post.
The topic I came up with is online lingo or online jargon. . .you know what I'm talking about. . . idk, bff, omg, sob, brb, jk, lol, wtf, lmao, btw, nm, ttyl....the list can go on and on....
I'm sure most of us spend a lot of time sending text messages, talking on AIM, communicating via facebook or myspace, as well as writing emails, etc...and when you aren't writing a formal paper it is nice to be able to type and write things in a much more carefree manner. You don't have to watch for spelling errors as much and you can abbreviate almost any word that has more then 2 vowels in it. I am a huge lingo user, I'd probably be considered an abuser...haha jk! But as I think about the online lingo more and more I wonder if it is actually effecting our language. . .
For many people, such as the people of my parents generation who are close to 60, and even my brothers generation which is close to 30 do not use the lingo as much as my generation and on. This can be an annoyance to the other generations and can serve as a threat as well. Many parents have no idea what their children are saying which I imagine would get very frustrating. For example, the commercial (I believe it is for Sprint, or some phone company) when the mother asks her young daughter who she has been texting, the girl answers, "I. D. K. my BFF Jill" which is full out lingo, demonstrates how communication between adults and children may be beginning to decrease. This can be a threat to many parents because of how easy it is for kids to communicate with others online. If a parent wants to be able to know who their kids are taking to and what they are saying, they may not be able to fully protection their children if they can't even make out what they are saying.
From a grammar standpoint, I wonder if the increased use of abbreviations and jargon has changed our language at all, or if it will in time. Is it effecting our language since people are beginning to speak in lingo instead of just writing it? Likewise is it effecting our grammar because people become so comfortable with using the sloppy, shorthand writing? I feel as if this language is minimizing the use of such common words as well as ignoring the meaning as well. What about those good old homonyms and the importance of spelling?
I have a link to the site of two commercials demonstrating the use of jargon and how it has shaped our language today. I find this topic to be interesting, and although it is the last week of school, if anyone has time to write what they think about online jargon, I'd like to hear what you've got to say.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ySR3hpieiQc&feature=related
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4nIUcRJX9-o&feature=related
I apologize again for those of you who may have been waiting for this blog post.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Chapter 4, Synchronic and Diachronic Structualism
By Jason
November 8,
The Article about the Synchronic and Diachronic structuralist schools:
I think it impossible for a truly synchronic analysis of a language to exsist. Granted, a person can disregard the origin of words or roots of the language, but it doesn't negate it's importance to the way the language functions. Negative connotations that are pinned onto words evolve into socially unacceptable parts of speech (such as queer, or savage).
To properly explain "harsh" or "bad" words, a person would have to explain where the distinction stemmed. Therefore a synchronic analysis would not be able to explain a dirty word. Social structure and norms play such a vital role in the language that removal of the speakers and their history from the language is lingual suicide. This is why I have a hard time believing in the Synchronic system.
The evolution of the language is blatently obvious and very measurable. The study of ancient languages through the present language historical documents would be fascinating. It would be amazing to see a description of the home countryside of an ancient roman citizen next to the same description of an Italian living in Rome two-thousand years later. The differences would be vast, but the content would be similar.
November 8,
The Article about the Synchronic and Diachronic structuralist schools:
I think it impossible for a truly synchronic analysis of a language to exsist. Granted, a person can disregard the origin of words or roots of the language, but it doesn't negate it's importance to the way the language functions. Negative connotations that are pinned onto words evolve into socially unacceptable parts of speech (such as queer, or savage).
To properly explain "harsh" or "bad" words, a person would have to explain where the distinction stemmed. Therefore a synchronic analysis would not be able to explain a dirty word. Social structure and norms play such a vital role in the language that removal of the speakers and their history from the language is lingual suicide. This is why I have a hard time believing in the Synchronic system.
The evolution of the language is blatently obvious and very measurable. The study of ancient languages through the present language historical documents would be fascinating. It would be amazing to see a description of the home countryside of an ancient roman citizen next to the same description of an Italian living in Rome two-thousand years later. The differences would be vast, but the content would be similar.
Chapter 3 of Grammar for Grammarians
By Jendayi
For my blog I had to read Chapter 3 of Grammar for Grammarians. This chapter gave lots of insight to representative rules. Specifically rules developed by prescriptive grammarians during the eighteenth century. They express twenty or so grammatical rules in some detail. All of which have syntactic component rather than just dealing with vocabulary. The many rules they discussed in the chapter are listed below.
Don't end a sentence with preposition
Don't split an infinitive
Use shall with first person and use will with second and third
Lie is intransitive and lay is transitive
Use like as a preposition; use as as a conjunction
Use nominative case after the verb be
Don't use ain't
Don't use between you and I
Don't use hopefully to mean 'I Hope'use subjunctive for hypothetical situations
Don't omit the relative pronoun
Don't omit that introducing a noun clause
Pronouns must agree with their antecedents
Either/or and neither/nor take singular verbs
Case following as/than
Subject-verb agreement
Use
For my blog I had to read Chapter 3 of Grammar for Grammarians. This chapter gave lots of insight to representative rules. Specifically rules developed by prescriptive grammarians during the eighteenth century. They express twenty or so grammatical rules in some detail. All of which have syntactic component rather than just dealing with vocabulary. The many rules they discussed in the chapter are listed below.
Don't end a sentence with preposition
Don't split an infinitive
Use shall with first person and use will with second and third
Lie is intransitive and lay is transitive
Use like as a preposition; use as as a conjunction
Use nominative case after the verb be
Don't use ain't
Don't use between you and I
Don't use hopefully to mean 'I Hope'use subjunctive for hypothetical situations
Don't omit the relative pronoun
Don't omit that introducing a noun clause
Pronouns must agree with their antecedents
Either/or and neither/nor take singular verbs
Case following as/than
Subject-verb agreement
Use
First Part of Chapter 4 (pp. 61-70)
By Justin Rook
Descriptive grammar developed in the late 20th century, which concentrates on speech, constituent structure, and descriptions of modern English. In the 19th century a language study developed known as historical-comparative; scholars were on a mission to figure out the chronological development and comparing similar languages throughout the world. European scholars began a descriptive methodology on collecting data; instead of making new rules for grammar.
During this time period the scholars figured out the English had many similarities to other languages. They had classified English as a Germanic based language, and decided to classify Latin and Greek as sister languages, all of these languages evolved from a form of Indo-European, much like Darwinism. The scholars also came to a conclusion that Latin and Sanskrit were dead, and were considered similar.
In 1822 Jacob Grimm designed Grimm’s Law which compares Germanic Languages with other Indo-European languages. By 1900 a theory of structuralism was developed, which states that language can be studied historically and as a science. There was also diachronic linguistics, which compares language at different time periods, and synchronic linguistics studies language as a self contained system. In retrospect Grimm’s Law would be a part of synchronic linguistics, because it is a studying two completely different languages unlike diachronic which only studies one language at different times.
Leonard Bloomfield believed that the brain was unstudiable and Edward Sappir believed that the brain was a key component in the study of language.
Descriptive grammar developed in the late 20th century, which concentrates on speech, constituent structure, and descriptions of modern English. In the 19th century a language study developed known as historical-comparative; scholars were on a mission to figure out the chronological development and comparing similar languages throughout the world. European scholars began a descriptive methodology on collecting data; instead of making new rules for grammar.
During this time period the scholars figured out the English had many similarities to other languages. They had classified English as a Germanic based language, and decided to classify Latin and Greek as sister languages, all of these languages evolved from a form of Indo-European, much like Darwinism. The scholars also came to a conclusion that Latin and Sanskrit were dead, and were considered similar.
In 1822 Jacob Grimm designed Grimm’s Law which compares Germanic Languages with other Indo-European languages. By 1900 a theory of structuralism was developed, which states that language can be studied historically and as a science. There was also diachronic linguistics, which compares language at different time periods, and synchronic linguistics studies language as a self contained system. In retrospect Grimm’s Law would be a part of synchronic linguistics, because it is a studying two completely different languages unlike diachronic which only studies one language at different times.
Leonard Bloomfield believed that the brain was unstudiable and Edward Sappir believed that the brain was a key component in the study of language.
Grammar for Grammarians Chap 3
Latin is an Italic Language, Where English is Germanic. they haven't been intelligible for over 5,000 years. Latin language is synthetic, meaning it has many inflections, when English is analytic with few inflections. Latin is basically a language where the direct object normally precedes the verb, where in English is basically a language where the object normally follows the verb. The language verbs, prevent the structural transfer from one language to another. Different forms imply differnt meanings. Ex: lie/lay shall/will Another assumption if two forms appear synonomous, I must be superior, but this is not tottaly accepted. Ex: Kathy is the girl who cheated on the test. Kathy is the girl that cheated.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Assignment for last class activity
Dear all,
On the last day of class, we want to do some fun activities dealing with grammar. Therefore, your assignment for after Thanksgiving break is to come up with some kind of activity that contains grammatical learning, and still is fun to perform (as a practice for inventing lesson plans for your future students, for those who want to teach....).
You will submit your proposal on November 27th, the first class after Thanksgiving break.
I will select the best ones, and we will do a lottery and pick some to be performed on the last day of class.
If you need material for that, write this in your proposal, too, so I/we can get it in time!
Treat your proposal like a "grant proposal." You will receive an additional email about the required layout, and the subheadings.
You can start researching ideas whenever you want....
On the last day of class, we want to do some fun activities dealing with grammar. Therefore, your assignment for after Thanksgiving break is to come up with some kind of activity that contains grammatical learning, and still is fun to perform (as a practice for inventing lesson plans for your future students, for those who want to teach....).
You will submit your proposal on November 27th, the first class after Thanksgiving break.
I will select the best ones, and we will do a lottery and pick some to be performed on the last day of class.
If you need material for that, write this in your proposal, too, so I/we can get it in time!
Treat your proposal like a "grant proposal." You will receive an additional email about the required layout, and the subheadings.
You can start researching ideas whenever you want....
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