PAPER 2 section B Flashcards
(70 cards)
Information about _________ and _____ is encoded when you refer to an aunt 大姨/二姨 or 大姑/小姑
Information about maternal/paternal and age is encoded when you refer to an aunt 大姨/二姨 or 大姑/小姑
Speakers of ________ languages (ie. languages that distinguish between past/present/future eg. _______) have _____________ than speakers of __________ languages (e.g. __________) because future is more distinct and seems more far away
Speakers of futured languages (ie. languages that distinguish between past/present/future eg. English) have less of a tendency to save than speakers of futureless languages (e.g. Chinese) because future is more distinct and seems more far away
Russian speakers, on the other hand, have separate words for light blue (goluboy) and dark blue (siniy). What study can you bring in/when was this study conducted?
According to a 2007 study, Russian-speaking participants performed better than English-speaking ones at identifying and matching shades of blue if they were close to the goluboy/siniy threshold.
____________________ asked Spanish- and German-speaking bilinguals to rate various objects according to whether they seemed more similar to males or females.
What was a specific example in this study?
Phillips, Schmidt and Boroditsky (2003) - They found that people rated each object according to its grammatical gender. For example, Germans see the moon as being more like a man, because the German word for moon is grammatically masculine (“der Mond”). In contrast, Spanish-speakers see the moon as being more like a woman, because in Spanish the word for moon is grammatically feminine (“la Luna”).
The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis - year? What is it?
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (1929): the structure of a language determines a native speaker’s perception and categorisation of experience.
Why is the strongest forms of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (linguistic determinism) proved false?
In its strongest form the hypothesis is unlikely to have any adherents now. The fact that successful translations between languages can be made is a major argument against it.
Conceptual differences are undeniable, but mutual comprehension is not impossible. In most/all cases, circumlocution can still make the point.
Similarly, because a language lacks a word, it is not that its speakers cannot grasp the concept.
Example to prove that linguistic determinism is not the case?
Australian Aboriginal languages, are often restricted to a few general words for numerals (e.g. all, many, few, one, two)
BUT it is not that they don’t have the intelligence to count: when these speakers learn English as a second language, their ability to count and calculate is quite comparable to English native speakers
However, a weaker version of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is generally accepted. Language may not _______________, but it does __________________
However, a weaker version of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is generally accepted. Language may not determine the way we think, but it does influence the way we perceive and remember
Evidence for linguistic relativity?
The Inuit (previously called Eskimos) have a large number of words for ‘snow’ – single words for ‘snow on the ground’, ‘hard snow’, ‘block of snow’ etc.
It is because of the importance of snow in their lives that they have created more words for snow than English speakers.
Then, too, English-speaking skiers in cold countries do distinguish a variety of types of snow despite the lack of vocabulary in English – they describe the physical condition of snow ‘powder snow’ ‘wet snow’, etc
Example of ‘Angle of telling’?
terrorist vs freedom fighter
Word choice and transitivity - explain the concept + which linguist/year?
Fowler (1991) draws our attention to the implications of word choice and transitivity, which alters the focus of the news story -foregrounding used to portray where responsibility lies
e.g. A shot B, B was shot, there was a shooting
Explain transivity! (explain the specific example of A shot B vs there was a shooting)
The foregrounding of the actor in ‘A shot B’ makes their involvement perceptually important. In passive voice, on the other hand, it is the goal which becomes foregrounded, and the actor is moved to the end of the utterance:
there was a shooting (by A)
goal process actor
Bracketed actor in the above example signals that it can be either retained or omitted, making agency less or not at all visible. The marginalisation or exclusion of the actor in such constructions can contribute to a perception that it is relatively unimportant. Consequently, a reader or listener may be more likely to concentrate on the foregrounded information and spend less, if any, time thinking about the actor
‘degrees of presence’ - explain the concept + which linguist/year?
Fairclough (1995) talks about ‘degrees of presence’, the fact that different aspects of an event can be foregrounded, backgrounded or not mentioned at all, or simply presupposed (taken for granted). This is shown through:
- where in the newspaper is the story
- which part is chosen for the headline focus
- where in the article different points appear
‘ideological square’ - explain the concept + which linguist/year?
Van Djik (1998) observes a pattern in news discourse that he labels the ‘ideological square’, which gives us insight into the ideology of a news producer
- emphasise our good properties / actions
- emphasise their bad properties / actions
- mitigate our bad properties / actions
- mitigate their good properties / actions
What does Bell (1998) point out?
Bell (1998) points out that news narratives, unlike most informal oral narratives, are not chronological: news reports generally start with what the authors consider to be most important
‘power/knowledge’ - explain the concept + which linguist/year?
Focault (1980) coined the term ‘power/knowledge’ because he believed the relationship of the two was so close to warrant a term that rendered them indivisible
- backslash suggests a fusion of power and knowledge (part of the same process/attribute)
suggests 2 things:
- knowledge gives you power
- what the powerful say is more likely to be taken as knowledge, the powerful will speak and write in the ‘right way’
Agha, 2004? (and explain)
Agha, 2004: Speakers of any language can intuitively assign speech differences to a space of classifications of different registers, and correspondingly can respond to others’ speech in ways that are sensitive to such distinctions
TLDR: speakers are able to change their register to fit different situations
equips a person with portal emblems of identity, sometimes permitting distinctive modes of access to particular zones of social life
- Symbolic capital
Evidence about texting and literacy?
Crystal (2008) - regardless of the moral panic over texting and literacy, there is in fact evidence to suggest texting improves literacy
exemplifies the creativity of texting (within limits)
Young texters want to be different, but they are also well aware that they have to make themselves understood, so they intelligently develop a co-produced code (developed through interaction with other texters)
Starbucks lingo. Explain
Starbucks developed a list of “linguistic rules” in a booklet in 2003, “make it your drink”
The company has trained its baristas to reply to customers in Starbucks lingo to enable baristas to make drinks more quickly and efficiently
It is also an ingenious way of forging customer loyalty (speech community)
_______, in her book “_____________”, states that companies that persuade people to use their own terminology to create a ___________________________________
Lerman, in her book “the language of branding”, states that companies that persuade people to use their own terminology to create a “sense of belonging and enhanced loyalty to the brand”
Speech communities. Think of a paper 1 study that supports this
Jocks and Burnouts, Eckert, 2000 - people tend to speak more like their friends (those who shared social practices together) than others belonging in the same demographic category as them (ie gender, ethnicity social class)
Do using gender neutral pronouns work? Study?
Tavits anad Peréz’s 2019 study revealed that using gender-neutral pronouns like ‘they’ in place of ‘he’ as a “default”, it increases positive attitudes towards women and LGBTQ+ people, through reducing the prominence of male identity and subsequently causing less gender-based bias.
Gen Z’s thoughts on gender? Study?
Most members of “Generation Z”, aged 13-20 in a poll taken in 2016, agree with statements like “gender doesn’t define a person as much as it used to” (78%), and 56% know someone who uses a nontraditional pronoun.
What do Lakoff and Johnson (1980) argue? Give an example?
Lakoff and Johnson (1980) argue that our thought processes are structured along metaphorical lines. When we describe a verbal argument, we are likely to use words such as attack, defend, won, lost. These metaphors influence how we think about and approach arguments.
