tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74376137842799121532024-02-18T20:52:07.354-06:00SFALingBlogJessie Samshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18216459040272971854noreply@blogger.comBlogger105125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437613784279912153.post-56418326254288533012013-04-27T09:30:00.001-05:002013-04-27T09:30:22.325-05:00SAT Used Invented Language in the 1920sIn 1926, the standardized test known as the SAT was first administered. The version of the test was different from what it is now (of course), and the most amazing difference between what is was and what it is now is--in my humble opinion--the fact that the 1920s version included a section in which students translated an invented language. <i>The Atlantic</i> ran an <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/04/the-first-sat-tested-students-using-a-fake-language/275046/" target="_blank">article</a> about it a couple weeks ago and include a sample section from that test.<br />
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I wish the SAT still had this type of information on the test. I remember being in a program at school where we had to translate a paragraph from Esperanto, and it took a lot of logic and step-by-step thinking to get through it. I don't think people give enough credit to what it takes to create or translate an invented language (and it helps that it's invented in exercises like these because it takes out some of the irregularities of natural languages that could make the process messier).<br />
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The following quote was taken from the article:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23.1875px;">And while today's SAT has </span><a href="http://www.princetonreview.com/college/sat-sections.aspx" style="background-color: white; color: #00598c; font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23.1875px; text-decoration: none;">three core sections</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23.1875px;"> (Critical Reading, Math, and Writing), the SAT of 1926 had </span><a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/sats/where/1926.html" style="background-color: white; color: #00598c; font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23.1875px; text-decoration: none;">nine sub-tests</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23.1875px;">, seven devoted to verbal skills and two devoted to math: Word Definitions, Arithmetical Problems, Word Classification, Antonyms, Number Series, Analogies, Logical Inference, Paragraph Reading, and Artificial Language. ... </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">Still, the College Board's faux-netic language is a testament to how drastically educational priorities can change over time. In a world that increasingly emphasizes students' technical abilities, we take it for granted that math and verbal skills -- reasoning and communication -- should share the stage with each other. 1926, though, was a different time, with different educational goals.</span></blockquote>
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Sure, I may have picked that quote for the 'faux-netic' in it, but the rest of it says something pretty important, too. I think it's interesting to think how much education has shifted (and still is shifting). It surprised me when I read this to realize how much of the test was devoted to verbal skills and how little was devoted to math. Our system seems to be almost the complete opposite today; even the verbal sections now often include elements of science or other disciplines (for example, reading a short essay about biology and responding to comprehension questions). I would like to get my hands on a full copy of one of those original SATs to see how the verbal sections were organized and what information each one targeted.Jessie Samshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18216459040272971854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437613784279912153.post-72687498787834346182013-03-17T17:16:00.002-05:002013-03-17T17:16:52.694-05:00Forensics and Assessment of Suicide RiskUSAToday posted a story about a researcher who is working to teach a computer to assess the suicide risk levels of patients; he has a database of suicide notes and is using teams of investigators to tag language in them in order to teach the computer the patterns to look for. You can read the original article <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/14/suicide-notes-save-living/1988975/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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The statistics provided near the end of the article are interesting:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">The computer was 93 percent accurate -- identifying those with suicidal tendencies over the control group -- while humans were right slightly more than 50 percent of the time with the same groups.</span></blockquote>
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I could see how a computer would be able to move straight to the heart of the matter--looking solely for the triggers it's been trained to catch--which could help improve its accuracy. Human perception is often blinded by too many outside factors. That being said, I am interested in knowing how well the computer performs in continuing trials; I wonder if language is too narrow a scope to identify risk (leaving out other factors, such as history, facial expressions, intonation). The article, of course, does say that the computer is not meant to replace a practitioner/counselor/doctor--it is only meant to aid in diagnosing risk.<br />
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Looking at John Pestian's <a href="http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/bio/p/john-pestian/" target="_blank">list of publications</a>, I don't see one where he specifically talks about the outcomes of this project--something I'd very much like to see.Jessie Samshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18216459040272971854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437613784279912153.post-81258465968906712692013-03-04T07:44:00.001-06:002013-03-04T07:44:24.852-06:00Hawaiian Sign LanguageA recent <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/02/us/hawaii-sign-language/index.html" target="_blank">article on CNN</a> discussed Hawaiian Sign Language, a language still used by only about 40 people, most of whom are elderly. Researchers are working now to document this language before it's too late. According to the article, roughly 80% of HSL signs and the HSL grammar are distinct from ASL, making it its own language, rather than a dialect of ASL.<br />
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KITV News also covered the story, along with demonstrations of the differences in signs between HSL and ASL:<br />
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1w-WSETS6HM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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A college student in Hawaii also made a video to teach seven common signs used by most Hawaiian people (deaf or not):
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<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iENROyY4uao" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Jessie Samshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18216459040272971854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437613784279912153.post-2310003813688189792013-02-26T07:00:00.000-06:002013-02-26T07:00:01.767-06:00IdiomSiteI stumbled across a webpage with idioms, and it made me start to question how I would define some common English idioms. The webpage is <a href="http://idiomsite.com/">IdiomSite.com</a>, which features a banner across the top that defines idioms as 'a natural manner of speaking to a native speaker of a language.' My first issue with the page is with that definition--I feel the definition provides some kernel of truth, but there is a lot missing from how idioms are separated from other natural manners of speaking; also, notice the definition only includes a one-way relationship (in the definition, the listener is specified as a native speaker, but not necessarily the speaker of the idiom).<br />
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After scrolling down through the page, there are several idioms defined that I would argue with. The following three are examples of these potentially arguable definitions:<br />
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<ul>
<li>'as high as a kite': anything that is high up in the sky.</li>
<li>'barking up the wrong tree': a mistake made in something you are trying to achieve.</li>
<li>'chip on his shoulder': angry today about something that occured [sic] in the past.</li>
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My own uses of these idioms don't quite match up with the above definitions; however, I don't want to bias my audience. Do you agree with these definitions? If not, how would you change them to make them more accurate?Jessie Samshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18216459040272971854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437613784279912153.post-24369355872475584882013-02-25T17:55:00.003-06:002013-02-25T17:55:53.042-06:00Atlas of True NamesThanks to a student who shared this website with the other Dr. Sams, I think I know what I want for Christmas this year--a map from <a href="http://www.kalimedia.com/Atlas_of_True_Names.html" target="_blank">Atlas of True Names</a>.<br />
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The atlas literally translates place names on maps, based on the name's etymology, making looking at a map even more intriguing than it already is. I'm sure some of the names are a bit liberal in their translations, but the appeal is that the different names makes it like looking at a map of a fantasy world, when it's really just a map of our world.<br />
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For instance, you can head over to the Great Land of the Tattooed (England) to visit Unfordable River Town (London) and leave from there for Westland (Ireland) to visit Darkpool (Dublin); of course, on the way, you'll have to pass through Land of Strangers (Wales). You can then travel across the Sea of Weeds (the Atlantic Ocean) to visit any one of the coastal cities of the United States of the Home Ruler, including New Yew Tree Village (New York), Sibling Love (Philadelphia), or Marsh Farm (Washington, D.C.).<br />
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Even if you don't go on that epic journey, you should take a moment to appreciate how cool the <a href="http://www.kalimedia.com/Atlas_of_True_Names.html" target="_blank">Atlas of True Names</a> is.Jessie Samshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18216459040272971854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437613784279912153.post-74998575779259718572013-02-24T19:14:00.000-06:002013-02-24T19:14:06.144-06:00Visuwords: Graphical dictionaryI've seen visual thesauri and dictionaries floating around the web, but I think the best one I've seen (or at least the one I've had the most fun with) is <a href="http://www.visuwords.com/" target="_blank">Visuwords</a>, an online graphical dictionary. When you go to the page, you see the following space:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm21FTim7LnjO96CV5dc9PFtfUv2A3Qef5LUL4cwyNdawAgdZC_ehqe7260LtDrhw3UMDHE_HDFo5l0fWy4ZNjx4Fd4cpvp2D1S7Juc7TRrKyY5rUuXzPrGTfQ5wlAPo_6GdQL9MEisG_8/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-02-24+at+7.06.00+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm21FTim7LnjO96CV5dc9PFtfUv2A3Qef5LUL4cwyNdawAgdZC_ehqe7260LtDrhw3UMDHE_HDFo5l0fWy4ZNjx4Fd4cpvp2D1S7Juc7TRrKyY5rUuXzPrGTfQ5wlAPo_6GdQL9MEisG_8/s320/Screen+Shot+2013-02-24+at+7.06.00+PM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Visuwords screenshot</td></tr>
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There is a search box at the top, where you can enter a word you want to explore, or you could choose to hit the "random" button to the left of the search box, which will give you exactly that--a random word.<br />
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Running down the left of the blank white area (where your word will be mapped) is a key to understand what you're about to see:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxPqhnK_g9-IoIMt_gW78pd9ASATH7HDQr4rCdaWuw7aPpKKgob4ZcRzRwo3TjvX8NCODv7EuOy13PPrLYb-nQ5-Ry6nslhEZU1clRxF12UvOHdVdPY4yVitdxlRlseU81qSKBoBpUlJ0D/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-02-24+at+7.03.24+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxPqhnK_g9-IoIMt_gW78pd9ASATH7HDQr4rCdaWuw7aPpKKgob4ZcRzRwo3TjvX8NCODv7EuOy13PPrLYb-nQ5-Ry6nslhEZU1clRxF12UvOHdVdPY4yVitdxlRlseU81qSKBoBpUlJ0D/s320/Screen+Shot+2013-02-24+at+7.03.24+PM.png" width="65" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Visuwords key</td></tr>
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Using Visuwords can help identify parts of speech and semantic relationships, both helpful in a linguistics classroom.<br />
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I chose to search for the word 'linguistics', which resulted in this graphic display:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZf_vdo_1JdICErho5PvlGoTqpST7VyRL95Fj_i9XBG4uqqGwHdzy9mmdIdelMmNK0BTO4P6ES3kWgVzFJEqvZzx7D67Mkb851RyhbvDm0VA9KHszoKPY3SC0ZeuHzzDYRd9TkUbkbY8eC/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-02-24+at+7.03.45+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZf_vdo_1JdICErho5PvlGoTqpST7VyRL95Fj_i9XBG4uqqGwHdzy9mmdIdelMmNK0BTO4P6ES3kWgVzFJEqvZzx7D67Mkb851RyhbvDm0VA9KHszoKPY3SC0ZeuHzzDYRd9TkUbkbY8eC/s320/Screen+Shot+2013-02-24+at+7.03.45+PM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Visuwords search for 'linguistics'</td></tr>
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You can zoom in on the area to pay more attention to some of the detail going on:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu-6ynzbr3CAa4rEvG60S5h_LUokgWQbjvgWmbBUifCR3dRLOnQ795MGDgVwnslUM_ahmbCd5HwALB2WzW4FHIubPq8lDEWhRrg7NXQ1anZ7GWcwwMqg2zsgpCbIC8b4ZtKjbAainsTYJu/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-02-24+at+7.04.52+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu-6ynzbr3CAa4rEvG60S5h_LUokgWQbjvgWmbBUifCR3dRLOnQ795MGDgVwnslUM_ahmbCd5HwALB2WzW4FHIubPq8lDEWhRrg7NXQ1anZ7GWcwwMqg2zsgpCbIC8b4ZtKjbAainsTYJu/s320/Screen+Shot+2013-02-24+at+7.04.52+PM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zoomed in section of 'linguistics'</td></tr>
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Using the key down the side of the page, I can see that linguistics is a kind of humanistic discipline, that lexicology is a kind of linguistics, and that 'linguistic' and 'lingual' are derivations of the word 'linguistics'. If you hold your mouse over any of the the visual definition, you can get more information:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPrANf8BYUFIIWCCcOWJRHkyrMu-nmPOVv-jaWJfUzzDHDF1ZI3iR19SnOV1DHMQgjMrFW9qkHjdNCvTK9Bw_crpXQEO0czVbgL4rxCkCVru8YZP7beO-p93EU7frl4LhX5xb_jrIo3G93/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-02-24+at+7.05.14+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="129" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPrANf8BYUFIIWCCcOWJRHkyrMu-nmPOVv-jaWJfUzzDHDF1ZI3iR19SnOV1DHMQgjMrFW9qkHjdNCvTK9Bw_crpXQEO0czVbgL4rxCkCVru8YZP7beO-p93EU7frl4LhX5xb_jrIo3G93/s320/Screen+Shot+2013-02-24+at+7.05.14+PM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mouse over information</td></tr>
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In this image, you can see a yellow box of more information about the 'humanistic discipline, humanities, liberal arts, arts' entry.<br />
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All in all, I think this is a pretty cool tool to visualize relationships among words and concepts and is something I will introduce in my linguistics courses when we discuss semantics.Jessie Samshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18216459040272971854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437613784279912153.post-47528529500565759172012-11-15T22:01:00.001-06:002012-11-15T22:01:22.700-06:00Great Vowel Shift: Dinosaur ComicsIn History of the English Language, we were covering the Great Vowel Shift. My students asked why it occurred, and I had the pleasure of telling them, "No one knows." One of the students spoke up and asked if I had ever seen the Dinosaur Comics about the Great Vowel Shift; when I said I hadn't, she pulled it up on her phone to show me. I laughed so hard when I saw it that I snort laughed in the middle of class. Now that it's nearing the end of the semester and we all need a laugh, I'm sharing the comic with you, too. Enjoy!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWFkKgJrU85QhYBHYn3pjOVCRGC8rr919_ijn4cfqLdIZfM6p_7okWQOarHx6afUL5U3EY58sJNiI1j3RLQg9mrdd91RbtsONj-R45a37DQ9xbP37zKZNV5KiuRhY95w9KuBDi5O95weSs/s1600/Dinosaur+Great+Vowel+Shift.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWFkKgJrU85QhYBHYn3pjOVCRGC8rr919_ijn4cfqLdIZfM6p_7okWQOarHx6afUL5U3EY58sJNiI1j3RLQg9mrdd91RbtsONj-R45a37DQ9xbP37zKZNV5KiuRhY95w9KuBDi5O95weSs/s320/Dinosaur+Great+Vowel+Shift.png" width="320" /></a></div>
Taken from <a href="http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1264" target="_blank">Dinosaur Comics</a>.<br /><br />Jessie Samshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18216459040272971854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437613784279912153.post-41073009954996691962012-09-25T18:30:00.001-05:002012-09-25T19:53:54.845-05:00The Joy of Phonetics: Getting help with IPAOne area many students struggle with in linguistics is phonetics. Understanding IPA, the IPA charts, transcriptions, and the application of IPA to phonology can be quite frustrating for beginners. Luckily, there are several helpful websites that just might help those frustrated students. (Some of these are mentioned in a <a href="http://sfalingblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/ling-websites-phonetics-and-ipa.html" target="_blank">past post</a>, but they are worth mentioning again.)<br />
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1. <a href="http://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/course/chapter1/chapter1.html" target="_blank">UCLA's Interactive IPA Chart (from Ladefoged's "A Course in Phonetics")</a><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0xybFhhvr0yUZ-JQXPBiL6wr7oC6uP4ihbpv5unO-yR3BzhFOrr0uJUExliblQcgbwSzNH7bKjZF8-NatWBzRnhkNIreCNjdH8WcEVNoEfkdyMC2Kqka-2sKKOkZqFFNlpPVzgn85UE3J/s1600/UCLA+Phonetics.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0xybFhhvr0yUZ-JQXPBiL6wr7oC6uP4ihbpv5unO-yR3BzhFOrr0uJUExliblQcgbwSzNH7bKjZF8-NatWBzRnhkNIreCNjdH8WcEVNoEfkdyMC2Kqka-2sKKOkZqFFNlpPVzgn85UE3J/s320/UCLA+Phonetics.png" width="276" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screenshot of UCLA's IPA Interactive Chart</td></tr>
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The IPA chart that can be seen in the screenshot is interactive in that it allows you to click on any area to zoom in; once you're zoomed in on an area, it allows you to click on an individual symbol, and a sound file will play so that you can hear the sound that particular symbol represents, which is incredibly helpful for those world sounds that may not be in your native language. The only downside is that the sound files take you to a different screen instead of playing while you're still looking at the chart.<br />
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2. <a href="http://www.yorku.ca/earmstro/ipa/" target="_blank">York University's Interactive IPA Chart</a><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib4fhNFZv8tcUK_qu9ofjGVmuPlQsy_1vsgfDZfcxSCnYDKHwCkx25F9mdVO0Eamc4j4rXq_5k8XyNtUqu-YUDtww15zjUzPohaC8GIB_aFl0YJQbUL_Njm1Om7Ka6Rm36AvKC-oLv9L6n/s1600/York's+IPA+Chart.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib4fhNFZv8tcUK_qu9ofjGVmuPlQsy_1vsgfDZfcxSCnYDKHwCkx25F9mdVO0Eamc4j4rXq_5k8XyNtUqu-YUDtww15zjUzPohaC8GIB_aFl0YJQbUL_Njm1Om7Ka6Rm36AvKC-oLv9L6n/s320/York's+IPA+Chart.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screenshot of York's IPA Chart</td></tr>
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This IPA chart is similar to the UCLA chart above but was created by Eric Armstrong and has a few extra features that students may find helpful. Just like the UCLA website, you first have to click on a section of sounds to zoom in before you can play with the individual features. Once you're zoomed in, you can click on an individual symbol to hear what sound it represents; one advantage to this website is that the sound file plays without taking you to a different screen.<br />
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Another advantage is that if you mouse over any words/symbols on the chart, you can find out more information. For instance, if you mouse over a manner or place label on the consonant chart, a definition box will pop up, like this:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw1UgcnT7Lm0oFjDRyUTk-4Re_JwdsqhjCuInqym5xklJf0u7qGhWJf00Wos4hzneixauh10rBHCDLe2BR40s6qJjCXb7r08zeVimUAGzdc2kqKiyTD5dLMJA42dL5UNTdFWa28yRZRbp9/s1600/York+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="153" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw1UgcnT7Lm0oFjDRyUTk-4Re_JwdsqhjCuInqym5xklJf0u7qGhWJf00Wos4hzneixauh10rBHCDLe2BR40s6qJjCXb7r08zeVimUAGzdc2kqKiyTD5dLMJA42dL5UNTdFWa28yRZRbp9/s320/York+2.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Definition box</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
If you mouse over a symbol in the chart, the IPA descriptors of the symbol and the "common" name will appear in the box over the top of the chart:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfjbFH16t1h4Rt1644lKZQgepnU8WfriNyiFM2oYXI4_yyKUZG7RKNLtBGd5_1eSiJcL2-mPySUh5YceuUUZe85qPJUNyJlW_ftYfZ6xplXf_UM9Nqz9BfWxSyFBvsdG2ohBbykrxdmwMr/s1600/York+3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfjbFH16t1h4Rt1644lKZQgepnU8WfriNyiFM2oYXI4_yyKUZG7RKNLtBGd5_1eSiJcL2-mPySUh5YceuUUZe85qPJUNyJlW_ftYfZ6xplXf_UM9Nqz9BfWxSyFBvsdG2ohBbykrxdmwMr/s320/York+3.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Symbol information</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Students often get frustrated by words like 'engma' being thrown around when learning the IPA; this website can help those students learn those names while still learning the IPA descriptions associated with them.<br />
<br />
3. <a href="http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/#" target="_blank">Iowa's Interactive Sounds of Spoken Language</a><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjexEeCo9b8YKplwVuqfQqKM_v4OFg220R8rqKwL54zy4ETdq851JlhtWxo6fOLmuvhp-o8-LXgvCEMMH2NsnVJzK5kqPzelBoR0fcPx4BSYGG7s6h7w0rpck3C8wYasTQSR6-xQd6IZOCO/s1600/Iowa's+phonetics+website.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjexEeCo9b8YKplwVuqfQqKM_v4OFg220R8rqKwL54zy4ETdq851JlhtWxo6fOLmuvhp-o8-LXgvCEMMH2NsnVJzK5kqPzelBoR0fcPx4BSYGG7s6h7w0rpck3C8wYasTQSR6-xQd6IZOCO/s320/Iowa's+phonetics+website.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screenshot of Iowa's Phonetics Website</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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If you aren't learning the IPA charts for world languages but are focusing on either American English, Spanish, or German, then you will most likely find this website helpful. From the home page (which you see in the screenshot above), you can click on your language of choice. Clicking on the American English option will take you to a new screen that looks like this:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUQ_KIUXDmI-fOFrTyLPfeLXdc0QM2NvqOZqx7mjS7H5GF9Pya8L9FH7m2m3Zr_3iToCS1yVcwH252Yi-ziKYAFQadcyXQaxYabwlA3FNVuoBKR7xDld7gOU6QkzMnQ1a2vGl5qJdliCfO/s1600/Iowa's+Phonetics+-+American+English.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUQ_KIUXDmI-fOFrTyLPfeLXdc0QM2NvqOZqx7mjS7H5GF9Pya8L9FH7m2m3Zr_3iToCS1yVcwH252Yi-ziKYAFQadcyXQaxYabwlA3FNVuoBKR7xDld7gOU6QkzMnQ1a2vGl5qJdliCfO/s320/Iowa's+Phonetics+-+American+English.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Sounds of American English</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
From this view, you can decide whether you want to look at consonants or vowels and which category you want to explore. For instance, you might click on the "fricative" button and then click on the "/z/" to get to this screen:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw3u0K3KX3l8PjT6LFm8ZuOOT6nvtB_8Q5sPkhy64F5wH4eti-8WgFaWDWsFC4QiEPxk1GXGNeUQQAWr3lRxgh8om3F4sqc4RjxSTNkgy16wSKsPFHQvmBeWlPgfz6bQDjGkuEi48hKPIy/s1600/Iowa's+Phonetics+-+Fricatives.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw3u0K3KX3l8PjT6LFm8ZuOOT6nvtB_8Q5sPkhy64F5wH4eti-8WgFaWDWsFC4QiEPxk1GXGNeUQQAWr3lRxgh8om3F4sqc4RjxSTNkgy16wSKsPFHQvmBeWlPgfz6bQDjGkuEi48hKPIy/s320/Iowa's+Phonetics+-+Fricatives.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Focus on the /z/</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
<br />
<br />
Every aspect of this website is interactive. You can play the animation to watch what happens in the sagittal section when the sound in focus is made. You can choose a play-by-play, in which case each stage of the sound is fully described. Or you can listen to sound files on the right-hand side while watching what the outside of the mouth looks like during sound production. This tool is especially helpful for anyone working in the speech pathology field.<br />
<br />
<br />
4. <a href="http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~danhall/phonetics/sammy.html" target="_blank">Interactive Sagittal Section</a><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6d5QFc0ljImcsaWgRCzsiJcduW23k9EYbmcURVLqzGP64BLUipAez3xFGs6EqJDLghzsGoZps52nklqISCr9ygQuqsdfWcDVyOt5P2Oiu3KqbrG6lXQ_XUIokMi4I04VUrgNQvDxj5ToO/s1600/Interactive+Sagittal+Section.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6d5QFc0ljImcsaWgRCzsiJcduW23k9EYbmcURVLqzGP64BLUipAez3xFGs6EqJDLghzsGoZps52nklqISCr9ygQuqsdfWcDVyOt5P2Oiu3KqbrG6lXQ_XUIokMi4I04VUrgNQvDxj5ToO/s320/Interactive+Sagittal+Section.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screenshot of Interactive Sagittal Section website</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Created by Daniel Currie Hall, this website allows you to choose the features of the sound you're working with (e.g., voicing, placement, manner), and the sagittal section on the screen changes to match the requirements, which can help internalize the difference between all those columns and rows in the IPA chart (and, in the end, help with understanding natural classes). After seeing Iowa's website before this one, you may wonder if it really is all that helpful. The answer is yes. This website isn't constrained to sounds in particular languages (but is constrained by types of sounds). Also, the sagittal sections more closely resemble what some students see on exams/homework assignments and might be more helpful.<br />
<br />
There are other online interactive IPA tools, such as the <a href="http://web.uvic.ca/ling/resources/ipa/charts/IPAlab/IPAlab.htm" target="_blank">University of Victoria's IPA chart</a> and another IPA chart that is simply housed at <a href="http://www.ipachart.com/">www.ipachart.com</a>. The goal is for you to find one that you can work with and that helps you understand the material better. Phonetics shouldn't be frightening--it should be fun to explore the sounds of language.<br />
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If you have know any other phonetics websites that you feel should be mentioned, leave the website (and the reason you like) in the comments below.Jessie Samshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18216459040272971854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437613784279912153.post-31957707758713585552012-05-08T10:18:00.003-05:002012-05-08T10:18:57.920-05:00De-stressing fun with Google TranslateFloating around Facebook is a photo (as far as I can tell, Adam Port is the beginning of the sharing thread and so should be credited for this) that instructs you to copy and paste the following text into Google Translate:<br />
<br />
pv zk bschk pv zk pv bschk zk pv zk bschk pv zk pv bschk zk bschk pv bschk bschk pv kkkkkkkkkk bschk bschk bschk pv zk bschk pv zk pv bschk zk pv zk bschk pv zk pv bschk zk bschk pv bschk bschk pv kkkkkkkkkk bschk bschk bschk pv zk bschk pv zk pv bschk zk pv zk bschk pv zk pv bschk zk bschk pv bschk bschk pv kkkkkkkkkk bschk bschk bschk pv zk bschk pv zk pv bschk zk pv zk bschk pv zk pv bschk zk bschk pv bschk bschk pv kkkkkkkkkk bschk bschk bschk pv zk bschk pv zk pv bschk zk pv zk bschk pv zk pv bschk zk bschk pv bschk bschk pv kkkkkkkkkk bschk bschk bschk<br />
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Once you paste it into the box, you need to click on "German" as the source language and then hit the symbol for listening to the text on the German side (not the side that translates it into English). You should see this screen:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbIlK-axR1Bgy6KjyPLymFseXpN_v8X9kAaodlkIl6JGIbeLHg4ZkAqCv8qr0KbGNUcLfGJC_pLXipFp1eJUhz9QzxcgYr9C-QmYtoAWjSm8biCoKDyxLJGjqj9k8CqbuGNIHqHyzOnctF/s1600/Google+Translate+fun.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="123" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbIlK-axR1Bgy6KjyPLymFseXpN_v8X9kAaodlkIl6JGIbeLHg4ZkAqCv8qr0KbGNUcLfGJC_pLXipFp1eJUhz9QzxcgYr9C-QmYtoAWjSm8biCoKDyxLJGjqj9k8CqbuGNIHqHyzOnctF/s320/Google+Translate+fun.png" width="320" /></a></div>
The purple circles mark the areas you need to pay attention to--make sure the source language is German and click on the circled symbol to listen to the text read aloud.<br />
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It just might put a smile on your face as you're swamped in finals week...Jessie Samshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18216459040272971854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437613784279912153.post-9520967057313156402012-04-03T07:44:00.006-05:002012-04-03T07:45:25.617-05:00Written Language and Brain ProcessingA colleague shared the following article that appeared on <i>Science Daily</i> with me: "<a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120321105338.htm" target="_blank">Brain's Involvement in Processing Depends on Language's Graphic Symbols</a>."<br />
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In the article, researchers claim that Arabic takes longer to process because it cannot be processed unilaterally in the brain; that is, it requires both the left and right hemispheres to communicate in order to process language. What's interesting is that the study compared English, Hebrew, and Arabic. Both Hebrew and Arabic are written from right-to-left and both omit vowels (which are represented as diacritics in the orthography) for native writing. It doesn't surprise me that perhaps English is processed differently, but it does surprise me that Hebrew and Arabic are processed differently. That leaves me to wonder if it is the actual shapes of the letters in the orthographical system that lead to different processing.<br />
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The article ends with this thought:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Thus, the question is again raised as to whether in the modern world those who speak certain languages have an advantage over those who speak other languages...</blockquote>
I'd think the next step is to test native Arabic speakers who are fluent (or extremely proficient) in English or Hebrew to see if they still use both halves of the brain to process a language that native speakers can process unilaterally. (And vice versa--study how native English or Hebrew speakers process Arabic.) After that, naturally, it'd be interesting to see how other orthographical systems are processed.Jessie Samshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18216459040272971854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437613784279912153.post-2500925031383060272012-02-28T08:39:00.000-06:002012-02-28T08:39:18.777-06:00Women as Linguistic PioneersA colleague shared a link with me this morning from <i>The New York Times</i> for an article on linguistic innovation: "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/science/young-women-often-trendsetters-in-vocal-patterns.html?pagewanted=1&_r=3&hp" target="_blank">They're Like, Way Ahead of the Linguistic Currrrve</a>" by Douglas Quenqua. The article focuses on how many people tease young women for the way they speak--whether it's using <i>like</i> as a filler or using creaky voice to end a statement; and yet, many of those same things young women are teased for become linguistic markers in English at large. The following few paragraphs portray nicely what the whole article is about:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.467em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“If women do something like uptalk or vocal fry, it’s immediately interpreted as insecure, emotional or even stupid,” said<span class="Apple-converted-space"> Carmen Fought</span>, a professor of linguistics at Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif. “The truth is this: Young women take linguistic features and use them as power tools for building relationships.”</span></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.467em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The idea that young women serve as incubators of vocal trends for the culture at large has longstanding roots in linguistics. As Paris is to fashion, the thinking goes, so are young women to linguistic innovation.</span></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.467em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“It’s generally pretty well known that if you identify a sound change in progress, then young people will be leading old people,” said<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Mark Liberman, a linguist at the University of Pennsylvania, “and women tend to be maybe half a generation ahead of males on average.”</span></div>
</blockquote>
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I urge you to read the original article, as there are other very interesting insights throughout it. While the article (and the linguists quoted in it) cite young women as linguistic innovators, what is perhaps more intriguing is that no one knows why. The article offers several theories, but I'm not sure we'll ever be able to pinpoint the exact reason why these linguistic phenomena catch on like they do and why (or how) young women start many of them in the first place.<br />
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What do you think?Jessie Samshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18216459040272971854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437613784279912153.post-13522892037887003862012-02-26T08:46:00.002-06:002012-04-02T14:18:44.237-05:00Spotlight on Linguistic Tools: Syntax Tree GeneratorA fellow linguist recently shared a link with me for another online tree-diagramming program--one that I think is definitely more user-friendly than the other online programs that I've tried out. It is the <a href="http://mshang.ca/syntree/" target="_blank">Syntax Tree Generator</a>. The Help page states that the program works best with Google Chrome--I've tried it on Firefox, Safari, and Opera without any issues. If you are on Google Chrome when you go to the website, you'll see a screen that looks like this:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9GNnZfxNqEQWjEwShgaIur7CgfFxrn_aHiwEQ69-EB2MbB8Mo0Jjme-rDKFp1PXqtq55SFAkqUwhHN4JINTdXOnAcXK37s4nZxkFzjE2wJ0iyMz24DjUGMoQmDDHqG7AJEcNWAuXmBeUZ/s1600/Syntax+Tree+Generator+1+-+Initial+Screenshot.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9GNnZfxNqEQWjEwShgaIur7CgfFxrn_aHiwEQ69-EB2MbB8Mo0Jjme-rDKFp1PXqtq55SFAkqUwhHN4JINTdXOnAcXK37s4nZxkFzjE2wJ0iyMz24DjUGMoQmDDHqG7AJEcNWAuXmBeUZ/s320/Syntax+Tree+Generator+1+-+Initial+Screenshot.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Initial screenshot of Syntax Tree Generator</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The screen changes just a bit if you use other browsers (e.g., the sliders for font and spacing are boxes for numerical inputs), but the overall design is still the same. The text box at the top is where you put in the information that dictates what the tree will look like.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih5UNpIlid9ik_u69r94bNbY54d_cXs70-ZV6msvQO99dr8wy84015ZNUSCwvgWY0VhstX5EME3gAMDNVzxOooAScGTJ3u0Lr9EWAbdzElmBH9K4pXJ-AFaEpd0ol_0cF4CDgdDJA5G4UX/s1600/Syntax+Tree+Generator+2+-+Text+box.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="41" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih5UNpIlid9ik_u69r94bNbY54d_cXs70-ZV6msvQO99dr8wy84015ZNUSCwvgWY0VhstX5EME3gAMDNVzxOooAScGTJ3u0Lr9EWAbdzElmBH9K4pXJ-AFaEpd0ol_0cF4CDgdDJA5G4UX/s320/Syntax+Tree+Generator+2+-+Text+box.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Text box for diagramming</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The sentence in the above screenshot is what you see when you first go to the website. You can play with that sentence or put in your own new sentence entirely. I'm using my own sentence for the examples below.<br />
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The basics of this program is the use of bracketing to mark constituents and embedding. The mother node label is the first entry after the open bracket, and a space after that label will result in a branch to a daughter node. The cool thing about this online program is that the diagram on the page follows what you type in the text box in real time. In other words, as you make changes, the diagram changes along with what you type, and you can see if what you type is what you had intended for the diagram. <br />
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One of the first features that is handy is the ability to diagram with triangles, which is indicated by the asterisk (*) after the mother node; for instance, if I type in [S* The dog is sleeping], I get this diagram:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg8vj82WDQUOJWDEa8MbEJo4Z2ffr9fwiILDBzq7FKjNSk1HSD3zCSxcv69dOaMn6udZJtlSyX0FNdPc0Pj1-n-FNvzIC0848gDuGa0bp8hvXSvNwioNNEPFOo8frSmiMbwaHRRTMp_DCe/s1600/Syntax+Tree+Generator+3+-+Triangle.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg8vj82WDQUOJWDEa8MbEJo4Z2ffr9fwiILDBzq7FKjNSk1HSD3zCSxcv69dOaMn6udZJtlSyX0FNdPc0Pj1-n-FNvzIC0848gDuGa0bp8hvXSvNwioNNEPFOo8frSmiMbwaHRRTMp_DCe/s1600/Syntax+Tree+Generator+3+-+Triangle.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">[S* The dog is sleeping]</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
If there are no brackets within the original set of brackets, there will be no daughter branches. If you take out the * after the mother node, the triangle will turn into a single branch:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5pm33zGRGo50X69Np4tPdupqPrhk8ZHeCbUg4RDd_oO1EjkGJ0T_oxT3h7EfzRqIpuu-BmHFiHB7iaYrki6x6JWSxR4iZOd16jqbWk9mf9nH2wX4puNu1kK7fP3VAUvh2hwz2RNWutFwY/s1600/Syntax+Tree+Generator+4+-+No+triangle.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5pm33zGRGo50X69Np4tPdupqPrhk8ZHeCbUg4RDd_oO1EjkGJ0T_oxT3h7EfzRqIpuu-BmHFiHB7iaYrki6x6JWSxR4iZOd16jqbWk9mf9nH2wX4puNu1kK7fP3VAUvh2hwz2RNWutFwY/s1600/Syntax+Tree+Generator+4+-+No+triangle.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">[S The dog is sleeping]</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Again, the program reads whatever comes directly after the opening bracket as the mother and anything following it as the daughter. Even though four words (with spaces) follow the mother node, there is only one branch because there is only one set of brackets.<br />
<br />
By adding brackets, you can add more daughters to diagram; the following diagram is made with the input [S [NP* The dog] [Aux is] [VP sleeping]]:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7c61Fxg2aqYJAQpJ7ta4Rdjp01mCP1_e_Jz9jL9rZws22P-HlfZTyW8D5BvvR1AVfFAzb4Q2hYBDFw7XbyItqBCjYLpV7h9DHizW8uVbQTnBEcSJYBZA12qLXTOD2IIl3MNIVpXyMUMcE/s1600/Syntax+Tree+Generator+5+-+NP+triangle.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7c61Fxg2aqYJAQpJ7ta4Rdjp01mCP1_e_Jz9jL9rZws22P-HlfZTyW8D5BvvR1AVfFAzb4Q2hYBDFw7XbyItqBCjYLpV7h9DHizW8uVbQTnBEcSJYBZA12qLXTOD2IIl3MNIVpXyMUMcE/s1600/Syntax+Tree+Generator+5+-+NP+triangle.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">[S [NP* The dog] [Aux is] [VP sleeping]]</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Now the mother node S has three daughters because there are three sets of open and closed brackets inside the S brackets. Each of the daughters in this example have only one branch (or one triangle). Each daughter can be expanded by adding more sets of brackets within it. The following diagram is [S [NP [Det The] [N dog]] [Aux is] [VP sleeping]]:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjDkcEdb9ieo3XdofpuR82rQsh_G1ttZX5wUvc7LP0ohBc6rWL2FpaK7O4SQ7NyxdLZFzfn6U8gj0livHdL4o569POtulvM0ryLx0BRxA7zJjc3fkipWgDM5AMfbI_0O6U3gNfhkkiVIF6/s1600/Syntax+Tree+Generator+6+-+Full+sentence.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjDkcEdb9ieo3XdofpuR82rQsh_G1ttZX5wUvc7LP0ohBc6rWL2FpaK7O4SQ7NyxdLZFzfn6U8gj0livHdL4o569POtulvM0ryLx0BRxA7zJjc3fkipWgDM5AMfbI_0O6U3gNfhkkiVIF6/s1600/Syntax+Tree+Generator+6+-+Full+sentence.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">[S [NP [Det The] [N dog]] [Aux is] [VP sleeping]]</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The difference with this diagram is that the NP node has been expanded to have two daughters; that's because the NP brackets now have two sets of brackets--<i>[Det The]</i> and <i>[N dog]</i>--inside.<br />
<br />
Nodes can also be "uni-branching", as in the following diagram:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTju8NT170yE1aXtTxbbgjiBEQodNpbH2t8X__HkVQLF4OMrc_M-055kxYDubIWv7IBkL9ozvY_FkcEPuStI4kkFBjEe2Gkk-OUsIo6lr38aWO2lrUi0Uj7t8F6atuwVqpvSeafbhhmrfC/s1600/Syntax+Tree+Generator+7+-+Full+sentence+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTju8NT170yE1aXtTxbbgjiBEQodNpbH2t8X__HkVQLF4OMrc_M-055kxYDubIWv7IBkL9ozvY_FkcEPuStI4kkFBjEe2Gkk-OUsIo6lr38aWO2lrUi0Uj7t8F6atuwVqpvSeafbhhmrfC/s1600/Syntax+Tree+Generator+7+-+Full+sentence+2.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">[S [NP [Det The] [N dog]] [Aux is] [VP [V sleeping]]]</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In this case, the VP node now has the daughter V, which then branches down into the text node <i>sleeping</i>.<br />
<br />
By using the bracketing method, sentences can get more and more complex. Again, the wonderful thing about this is the real-time diagramming that follows the input in the text box. Whenever you have a diagram you want to use in a document, simply right-click the image and copy it. Then you can paste the image into any document you need.<br />
<br />
Another nice thing is that you can download the app for offline use by going to the <a href="https://github.com/mshang/syntree/wiki" target="_blank">Wiki</a> page and clicking on the download link. After downloading the .zip file and unzipping the file, you'll see the following in the downloaded folder:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhGZkGOxyg2FOs9TJNtplimV_8r1qQkoNu1I_JDeyz-Wtbtp9jh4oWqKTRd2trh_KtgCNBKUuSCtnobIH4d0_gM50NEgBJIpgIytsWP5_4Ew-KwxmU3zTmcU1hppFrgMILiuEtxRxAUOFF/s1600/Syntax+Tree+Generator+8+-+Offline+use.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhGZkGOxyg2FOs9TJNtplimV_8r1qQkoNu1I_JDeyz-Wtbtp9jh4oWqKTRd2trh_KtgCNBKUuSCtnobIH4d0_gM50NEgBJIpgIytsWP5_4Ew-KwxmU3zTmcU1hppFrgMILiuEtxRxAUOFF/s320/Syntax+Tree+Generator+8+-+Offline+use.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Downloaded folder for offline use</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Click (or double-click) on the index.html (which is highlighted in the image above), and an offline version of the webpage will open. It's routed through your computer files, so you have full usage of the program without needing internet access. You need all the other files in the folder in order for the program to work without being online, so you need to keep all those together.<br />
<br />
Have fun diagramming!<br />
<br />
Updated note: The designer of this app updated the look, so the screenshots are a bit dated. The new look is incredibly sleek and even more user-friendly. I highly encourage you to check out its new look: <a href="http://mshang.ca/syntree/">http://mshang.ca/syntree/</a>. <br />
<br />Jessie Samshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18216459040272971854noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437613784279912153.post-53003125385806037362012-02-18T10:03:00.001-06:002012-02-18T10:03:24.537-06:00Linguistics, Science, and Critical ThinkingIn the urge to make sciences and critical thinking more fundamental in our education system, I hope administrators, curriculum writers, and teachers see the potential (and importance) of using linguistic principles as a conduit of teaching critical thinking skills. Over at the Language Log, there is a great post today about <a href="http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3779" target="_blank">teaching science through language</a>.<br />
<br />
My students know how passionate I am about telling anyone who will listen that linguistic study really complements any major and profession--this is just one more example of how linguistics can stretch is interdisciplinary reaches.Jessie Samshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18216459040272971854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437613784279912153.post-14936090086967271952012-02-02T10:02:00.000-06:002012-02-02T10:02:44.453-06:00Spotlight on Linguistic Tools: Linguistics Online Playgrounds<a href="http://languagelink.let.uu.nl/%7Elion/?s=about&lang=en" target="_blank">Linguistics Online</a> (or 'LiOn') is a website that was developed as an online supplement for linguistics students at Utrecht University. One of the components of the website is the Tool Playground; in the Tool Playground are two incredibly valuable resources for many linguistics students: the IPA Keyboard Playground and the Treebuilder Playground.<br />
<br />
The <a href="http://languagelink.let.uu.nl/%7Elion/?s=Playgrounds/IPA_keyboard_playground&lang=en" target="_blank">IPA Keyboard Playground</a> is exactly what it sounds like: another online IPA keyboard. The keyboard is organized in the consonant and vowel IPA charts but doesn't have all the diacritics and more obscure IPA symbols (like those for clicks). Since many students don't necessarily need the extra IPA symbols, this keyboard is more streamlined for ease of use.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcVFLd6V9N-qsvmSgOi3tX5B_mKA-nYyzDxxG1M8yRFtcW1q0OJagaNjPlrri75wZKwVC5Vz43Yyig0fvi6iyqbOWq4Fk_LLMBljZ7o_CfW2Na4EBG6Upp7HBzoB8QIz0BmIsvcw7eoQnW/s1600/LiOn+IPA+Keyboard+Playground.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcVFLd6V9N-qsvmSgOi3tX5B_mKA-nYyzDxxG1M8yRFtcW1q0OJagaNjPlrri75wZKwVC5Vz43Yyig0fvi6iyqbOWq4Fk_LLMBljZ7o_CfW2Na4EBG6Upp7HBzoB8QIz0BmIsvcw7eoQnW/s320/LiOn+IPA+Keyboard+Playground.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LiOn IPA Keyboard Playground screenshot</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
When using the keyboard, you can (as with other online keyboards) simply type into the text box (which for this one is situated between the consonant and vowel charts, which helps to visually separate the two). When you need a symbol you can't type, you simply click on its button in the chart, and the IPA symbol will be inserted where the cursor is. When you've finished with what you'd like to type, you can then copy and paste the text directly into your document on your word processor of choice. <br />
<br />
The layout of the IPA Keyboard Playground is accessible and visually appealing. The text box isn't as large as the text box for some of the other online IPA keyboards, but often when we're typing in IPA, we're typing one line or one utterance (or even one word) at a time, so you may not find that to be a downfall. If, however, you want to enter multiple lines of text in IPA at once, you won't be able to put in a line break in this keyboard. Remember that online keyboards are all about functionality--you may find that you like to use one online keyboard for one task while you prefer a different one for another task.<br />
<br />
The <a href="http://languagelink.let.uu.nl/%7Elion/?s=Playgrounds/Treebuilder_Playground&lang=en" target="_blank">Treebuilder Playground</a> is also what it sounds like: an online tree diagramming (or tree building) program. This online system is not as intuitive or user-friendly as the downloadable <a href="http://www.ece.ubc.ca/%7Edonaldd/treeform.htm" target="_blank">TreeForm</a> software; however, it may be more accessible to many students than the online <a href="http://ironcreek.net/phpsyntaxtree/" target="_blank">phpSyntax</a> program. When you go into the Treebuilder Playground, you'll see this:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisPGVy-EHp1aWg666aAEh-THjRbjGLRWaXh-kCBy2WE3rhEGUv5_TN8uV8Ks6jNeV6lbsIjJ-KmfIHxfugtEmddCCpy5CiV8KM0YSVsdgs5qPk_eeRQwDtQivnunwxZgyukMwfq1x4-Qn4/s1600/LiOn+Treebuilder+Playground+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="97" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisPGVy-EHp1aWg666aAEh-THjRbjGLRWaXh-kCBy2WE3rhEGUv5_TN8uV8Ks6jNeV6lbsIjJ-KmfIHxfugtEmddCCpy5CiV8KM0YSVsdgs5qPk_eeRQwDtQivnunwxZgyukMwfq1x4-Qn4/s320/LiOn+Treebuilder+Playground+1.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LiOn Treebuilder Playground</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The program automatically starts you with a top node of S; however, if you want to diagram something else--like a morpheme tree, for example--then you simply need to click on the box with the "E" (if you look closely, you'll see it actually says "Edit"). In edit mode, you can change the text for the top node. Every time you edit a node, you have to click on the green checkmark that appears next to the editing text box. Otherwise, it won't save any changes you made.<br />
<br />
To add nodes below the top node, click on the "L+" or "+R" in the box. For the first node you add, it doesn't matter which of those you click. When you go to add a second daughter node, though, you need to decide if you want it to the left or right of the first one. As you add nodes, a tree will begin to form in the area above the top node box:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0a9pu5wWXymlF2TK85dw2_RK9-Z8-JOHFx3qO6ralX3aC6I0Wnp051vfzFPxhklOnD2hRKSDBypod2qlfYr9HpCErRXNyz7r1SzP-IEN6uM96fYDLBGNzRwbzWGdGGzD3qbNoEHdD2g2n/s1600/LiOn+Treebuilder+Playground+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0a9pu5wWXymlF2TK85dw2_RK9-Z8-JOHFx3qO6ralX3aC6I0Wnp051vfzFPxhklOnD2hRKSDBypod2qlfYr9HpCErRXNyz7r1SzP-IEN6uM96fYDLBGNzRwbzWGdGGzD3qbNoEHdD2g2n/s320/LiOn+Treebuilder+Playground+2.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LiOn Treebuilder Playground: Building a diagram</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As you can see in the screenshot above, the building space retains all the node boxes that you add--you can continue modifying the tree by adding more or taking away any existing nodes. When you add new nodes, make sure you are adding to the mother node--the trees in this program are built top-down. Once you've finished your tree, right-click on the tree diagram above all your nodes, and click on "Save image as..." to download the image to your computer. You can then insert that image into your document, like so:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdsqpX9oHSczDC-5Vjo7lTtAQ1O95fE0OTtWUK_UbgimiAAA5ZKMe3Ligu61w5eAIjKcAMz73OWulVgKEBDcbwwW6ANEk6joPK6lW9HGm24l7lfYYhJoMVql0x6l91NU4u7UA3ECu56SmH/s1600/LiOn+Treebuilder+Playground+syntax_tree+%25281%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdsqpX9oHSczDC-5Vjo7lTtAQ1O95fE0OTtWUK_UbgimiAAA5ZKMe3Ligu61w5eAIjKcAMz73OWulVgKEBDcbwwW6ANEk6joPK6lW9HGm24l7lfYYhJoMVql0x6l91NU4u7UA3ECu56SmH/s1600/LiOn+Treebuilder+Playground+syntax_tree+%25281%2529.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LiOn Treebuilder Playground: Diagram</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Again, this is more intuitive for many people than the system utilized by phpSyntax (with embedding through bracketing), but if you're able to download software, I still highly recommend using TreeForm. The LiOn Treebuilder Playground is a very handy tool to utilize, though, when you don't have the ability to download software (like when you're using a computer in the library).<br />
<br />
The Tool Playground area of LiOn has many more useful tools that you may want to explore--it also has exercises for learning linguistic concepts, which is a nice feature for anyone learning more about linguistic analysis.Jessie Samshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18216459040272971854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437613784279912153.post-56364429712066577892012-01-15T13:15:00.001-06:002012-01-15T13:15:13.789-06:00Updated Ling MinorIf you check out our Ling Minor page, you'll notice there are a few changes. We submitted this modified minor in August to the university. It is still awaiting state approval, but we wanted to update the blog to share with you our vision for an updated program. If all goes well, the modified minor will be effective Fall 2012.Jessie Samshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18216459040272971854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437613784279912153.post-39671360422963681262011-12-13T09:00:00.000-06:002011-12-13T09:00:02.781-06:00Hardest Language to Learn?One of the first questions linguists get asked is "What is the
hardest language to learn?" Or, to be quite honest, the question often
comes out as "What is the easiest language to learn?" Either way,
though, the questions are based on the same premise: that there are
languages that are easier/more difficult to learn than others.<br />
<br />
My
answer is typically the same--it hovers somewhere around "all languages
have their own unique difficulties." However, if the person who is
doing the asking is actually interested in having a linguistic
conversation, I like to bring up the fact that some languages may appear
easier or more difficult to learn, depending on their native language.
For example, as a gross generalization, if your native language is
English, it will be easier for you to learn another Indo-European
language like Spanish or German than it will be to learn, say, Mandarin
Chinese.<br />
<br />
I had never seen someone break languages down
into difficulty by the estimated required hours to become proficient in
the language until I saw this picture below on <a href="http://twentytwowords.com/2011/04/07/infographic-ranking-the-difficulty-of-different-languages-for-english-speakers/">22 Words</a>:<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEZfOptiNzpb2B9DTXa5Ec1ei1WLvDMmB-lqEJjTd5s-FQyPougB37Cb0pO3GKiJrvF-dBRckLRaMC0PxdAMC-LLwC7ocNWj84Tm7XkJThLR5vTXXqfPWbL9orrIAEGzNkX89KXAl7whKm/s1600/Picture+3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEZfOptiNzpb2B9DTXa5Ec1ei1WLvDMmB-lqEJjTd5s-FQyPougB37Cb0pO3GKiJrvF-dBRckLRaMC0PxdAMC-LLwC7ocNWj84Tm7XkJThLR5vTXXqfPWbL9orrIAEGzNkX89KXAl7whKm/s400/Picture+3.png" width="117" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chart from <a href="http://twentytwowords.com/2011/04/07/infographic-ranking-the-difficulty-of-different-languages-for-english-speakers/">22 Words</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
The entire chart assumes a native English speaker is the one
learning a new language and then breaks the target languages into three
groups. What I wish could be conveyed by the chart (but the chart would
quickly become less of a graphic and more of a document) is what
features of the languages were used to determine whether a language is
closely related to or significantly different from English, how the
number of hours were calculated for how long it takes to reach
proficiency, and how <i>proficiency</i> is defined for this chart. I
don't quite agree with the groupings--for instance, I have a hard time
believing that--for the purposes of this chart--Hindi would be in the
same level of ease for an English speaker as Polish.<br />
<br />
<br />
What do you think? Can we group languages by
difficulty of learning according to native language? If so, do you agree
with the image above?Jessie Samshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18216459040272971854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437613784279912153.post-22971813431230516792011-12-06T09:00:00.000-06:002011-12-06T09:00:00.768-06:00What the ....?The post title sums up my reaction to the first time I saw these two sentences, both of which are supposedly sentences in English:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.</blockquote>
<blockquote>
James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher.</blockquote>
The first sentence relies on three different senses of the word <i>buffalo</i>: the city Buffalo, NY; the noun (the large mammal that once roamed the prairie freely); and the transitive verb, which according to my Mac dictionary means to "overawe or intimidate (someone)." The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo">Wikipedia article</a> on this sentence provides the background and some syntactic trees for the sentence, but I'll give you a shortened rundown here:<br />
<br />
Let's start at the beginning: <i>Buffalo buffalo</i> work together to mean the NP "buffalo that are in Buffalo". This NP occurs three times in the sentence:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
[Buffalo buffalo] [Buffalo buffalo] buffalo buffalo [Buffalo buffalo].</blockquote>
The remaining instances of <i>buffalo</i> in the sentence are the verb form. The first instance of <i>buffalo</i> as a verb is working with the NP [<i>Buffalo buffalo</i>] to modify the first NP [<i>Buffalo buffalo</i>]. You might reword the entire first part of the sentence (this will take care of the first five instances of <i>buffalo</i>):<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
The buffalo that live in Buffalo that buffalo (other) buffalo in Buffalo...</blockquote>
Now the sentence is finished off with the transitive verb and its object, which also happen to be the buffalo in Buffalo:<br />
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<blockquote>
The buffalo that live in Buffalo that buffalo (other) buffalo in Buffalo buffalo the buffalo that live in Buffalo.</blockquote>
Is it a sentence? Sure. By loose-ish standards. Is it a good English sentence? No. Why would Buffalo buffalo be buffaloing other buffalo that live in Buffalo two times over? That just doesn't make sense. So while it is syntactically possible, it's semantically void of really meaning anything. While it may not be a sentence you'd want to use in an everyday conversation, it is a sentence you can wow your friends with at parties. Just think of all the debates you can get into once you proclaim, <i>Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo</i> is too a sentence in English!<br />
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The second sentence from above only works with added punctuation. In fact, its <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_while_John_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_a_better_effect_on_the_teacher">Wikipedia article</a> states that this sentence shows why punctuation can be necessary in some sentences to understand meaning. The sentence with its appropriate punctuation looks like this:<br />
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<blockquote>
James, while John had had "had", had had "had had"; "had had" had had a better effect on the teacher.</blockquote>
Obviously, there was some sort of test, in which James wrote "had had" on the paper but John wrote "had", and the teacher preferred "had had" as the correct answer. All this took place in the past in a situation that required the past perfect to show that the activity was finished, thus leaving us with the seemingly (yet not) redundant pairing <i>had had</i>. In everyday speech, we often put the first <i>had</i> into a contraction, which sounds way less odd: <i>I'd had three bananas before I realized that two would've been enough</i>. That sentence just as easily could have started out with <i>I had had three bananas...</i> and been grammatically sound. That's what happens when a verb that has been grammaticalized as an auxiliary remains a main verb--<i>have</i> as an auxiliary (or helping verb) no longer has anything to do with its use as a main verb that usually (and loosely) shows some sort of possession (though "possession" doesn't even come close to fully describing the use of <i>have</i> as a main verb).<br />
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Again, is it a sentence in English? Yes. Is it one you're likely to come across? Not unless you're a teacher that left a blank on a test that should have been filled in with <i>had had</i> instead of <i>had</i>.<br />
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Do you know of any other crazy examples of sentences like these that people use to show off the oddities of language and syntax?Jessie Samshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18216459040272971854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437613784279912153.post-14403893031711950962011-11-30T09:00:00.000-06:002011-11-30T09:00:10.353-06:00Beauty is in the eye of the beholderWhat does it mean for a word to be beautiful? That question is what Robert Beard (Dr. Goodword) tackled when he compiled the list of the <a href="http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/100_most_beautiful_words.html">100 most beautiful words in the English language</a>.<br />
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After looking through the words, I am guessing he was going for sound and not meaning; otherwise, words like <i>beleaguer</i> and <i>untoward</i> surely wouldn't have made the list. But there must have been more than just sound being considered because words like <i>bucolic</i> and <i>ripple</i> just don't sound any more "beautiful" to me than other words that didn't make the cut.<br />
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I would imagine that most people would find less common words to be more beautiful than more common ones (after all, people tend to be more attracted by the things they don't encounter as often), and many English speakers would probably find borrowed words more beautiful than native Germanic words (I'm going with the foreign-is-exotic-and-thus-beautiful theory on that one). I've long been fond of words like <i>facetious, quotidian, felicity, draconian, stygian, inveigle, fastidious, melodic, </i>and<i> phenomena</i> because of the way they roll off the tongue--their meaning doesn't add beauty or intrigue (especially words like <i>quotidian, stygian, </i>and<i> draconian</i>), but they sound nice to me. It's entirely subjective, though--I can't say why one word sounds "pretty" but another doesn't. And the words that sound pretty to me probably don't sound pretty to other people. All these examples are of English, yet other languages have words that can be deemed as more beautiful than others by its speakers or by its learners. I rather enjoyed saying αληθεια and αμαξια while learning Ancient Greek (pardon my lack of diacritics on the words)--even moreso than the other words I learned.<br />
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If you read the description that's on the website, Dr. Goodword wants to help people beautify their language use, and yet I'm not sure what it means to have beautiful language. What do you think? Can words be beautiful? And if they can, what makes one word more beautiful than another? And, more importantly, what words do you find "beautiful"?Jessie Samshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18216459040272971854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437613784279912153.post-74956304125924954082011-11-22T09:00:00.000-06:002011-11-22T09:00:01.728-06:00Crazy MeasurementsAmericans have long been the oddballs in the measurement world with our inability to accept the universal measurements like grams and meters, preferring instead our feet and inches and pounds. In fact, if someone tells me something in 3 centimeters, it won't mean much to me until they say it's just over an inch. You can tell me you ran 10 kilometers, but I won't really be impressed until I figure out that's just over 6 miles. We like our measuring units that we've grown to love even if we don't fully understand them (what's an acre, anyway?).<br />
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I'm rather fond of our measuring system, but I might be willing to add new units of measurement to that system, especially if they're anything like <a href="http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/87029">these</a> that were posted on the <i>Mental Floss </i>blog. Now I can say, with pride, that I am roughly one smoot tall. That sounds so much cooler than 5'7".<br />Jessie Samshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18216459040272971854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437613784279912153.post-17031927090252522752011-11-17T09:00:00.000-06:002011-11-17T09:00:02.931-06:00Conlanging, how I love theeSince I was a kid, invented languages have been near and dear to my heart; in fact, I attempted to invent my own language (with very little success) when I was young, and then I grew up to teach a course on invented languages, for which I finally invented my own language. In the spirit of sharing the love of invented languages, I am sharing these six very cool websites about or promoting invented languages:<br />
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<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.dothraki.org/">Lekh Dothraki</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.learnnavi.org/">Learn Na'vi</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.phy.duke.edu/%7Etrenk/elvish/index.html">Parma Tyelpassiva </a>(Elvish)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.kli.org/">Klingon Language Institute</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.divinelanguage.com/">Divinian </a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.conlang.org/">Language Creation Society</a></li>
</ul>
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The first five are about specific invented languages while the last link is for anyone interested in becoming a conlanger (that is, someone who invents languages (or <i>constructs</i> them)). There are many, many more websites about invented languages, but these are some of the most helpful for anyone interested in a specific language or in what goes on behind the scenes with inventing a language.<br />
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As I'm closing this post, I realized I focused solely on creative invented languages, but I'd be remiss if I didn't at least mention that some languages were constructed to serve as auxiliary languages, such as Esperanto. While such languages are interesting in their own right, I think the fictional languages have more life because they're meant to reflect an entire culture of a fictionalized civilization. I will also say that while I have never learned to speak any of these languages, I can spend hours learning about them metalinguistically without once getting bored.Jessie Samshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18216459040272971854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437613784279912153.post-25677966262945823452011-11-15T09:00:00.000-06:002011-11-15T09:00:06.634-06:00British vs. AmericanThe other day I stumbled across the Best of British <a href="http://www.effingpot.com/slang.shtml">website</a>, which provides a rather large list of British slang words defined for us Americans who don't know how to speak British. Some of the funniest ones were <i>blow me</i> and <i>blow off</i>, but there are some other great entries. I have no idea how accurate it is, but it's great fun to go through. <br />
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The website reminds me of when Ellen Degeneres had Hugh Laurie on her show and held a contest of sorts to see who could understand more slang--Hugh gave Ellen examples of British slang, and she had to guess the words' meanings; Ellen gave Hugh examples of American slang, and he had to guess the words' meanings. You can see the video below, or you can go <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYmrg3owTRE">here</a> and see it on YouTube.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/wYmrg3owTRE?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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So let's table ideas on slang words and waffle on about sweet fanny adams until we're zonked or until some bladdered tosser who's legging it brasses us off by interrupting our chin wag. It'll be awesome! (Anyone who's British can feel free to openly mock my inability to apply newly learned slang correctly.)Jessie Samshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18216459040272971854noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437613784279912153.post-68114456412796833742011-11-10T09:00:00.000-06:002011-11-10T09:00:04.970-06:00Let's verb thatA poem has been floating around in cyberspace about the "<a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/%7Eharoldfs/family/verbing.html">Verbing of America</a>" with examples of verbalized nouns. The point of the poem is to show how enigmatic our language is in selecting which nouns can be used as verbs, and if they are used as verbs, what their meaning will be. I highly suggest reading through the entire poem; an example stanza is below:<br />
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<blockquote>
If when we change a noun to verb<br />
To come up with our `verbing,'<br />
Why can't I, when I'm using herbs,<br />
Refer to it as herbing?</blockquote>
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It is rather intriguing to think of what can or cannot be used as a verb. I can friend someone (i can even unfriend someone), but I don't think I can boyfriend or husband someone. I can Facebook someone, but I can't Twitter or MySpace someone. I can Google a word or topic, but I can't Yahoo or Bing anything. I can Netflix a movie, but I sure wouldn't Blockbuster a movie. I can DVR or Tivo a show, but I never VCRed anything when I recorded shows via a VHS tape (for that matter, I've never VHSed anything).<br />
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It's no wonder non-native English speakers get lost in our vocabulary. These examples (and so many more) show how arbitrary the process is in deciding which nouns can be functionally shifted to be used as verbs. <br />
<br />What other instances of verbed words can you think of?Jessie Samshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18216459040272971854noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437613784279912153.post-68685012212745743282011-11-07T09:00:00.000-06:002011-11-07T09:00:03.886-06:00How linguists play telephoneDo you remember that classic game of telephone that most of us played when we were younger? It's that game where one person starts by whispering a line into someone else's ear. It could be something like <i>I think she needs to wear a blue blouse tomorrow</i>. It gets whispered from one person to the next until it reaches the last person in line, who says what (s)he heard out loud to the rest of the group. By the time it gets to the end, the sentence might have turned into something like <i>She sees a blue mouse and wants to borrow it</i>. Usually some of the same sounds stay in the words, but it's difficult to hear someone whispering in your ear, especially when there are usually anticipatory giggles erupting all around you as the other kids are waiting to see what the sentence will turn into. If you've never played it before, you should give it a go. You never know what stress relief playing a game of telephone might bring.<br />
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Pamela Fox, who must be a linguist--or at least must be one at heart, came up with a new version of telephone: <a href="http://www.translation-telephone.com/">Translation Telephone</a>. When you go to the website, you'll see a text box; type a sentence into that text box and hit the "Go!" button right next to it. Your sentence will be translated (by Google Translate) into a different language and then from that language into another language, and from that language into yet another language... until it has been translated into 20 different languages. After the 20th language, it will get translated back into English for your amusement. Keep in mind that the chain of translation is being done by a machine, so it's not perfect, and also keep in mind that the translation is going from language to language and not from your original sentence into 20 different languages. Along the way, your sentence is going to get, um, misshapen, if you will. By the time your sentence comes back out of the translation telephone game, it will most likely look quite different.<br />
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For example, I typed the following sentence into the text box: <i>I just drew a ghost for my son on his paper, and he colored it black.</i> I waited (with some anticipatory giggling) and watched as it went from English to Catalan to Chinese to Albanian and on and on until it was finally translated back into English. The end result?<br />
<blockquote>
<i>I have my thesis, my son, his spirit, and he was black</i>.</blockquote>
After laughing, I can go back and trace through the languages I know enough of to see where the sentence started going wrong (<i>ghost</i>, as you might imagine is translated quite differently, depending on the language). You can see the whole train of translation <a href="http://www.translation-telephone.com/#1796832">here</a>. Every time you do a translation, the languages and order of those languages will differ, which makes this even more fun.<br />
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What makes this priceless is that no machine will translate perfectly from one language to the next and that no two languages will word a sentence with the exact same words that have the exact same meaning, leaving some ambiguity for the next translation.<br />
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After you do some translation telephone games of your own, you should share your end results in the comments so we can all get a laugh!Jessie Samshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18216459040272971854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437613784279912153.post-61088364746752556302011-11-03T09:00:00.000-05:002011-11-03T09:00:06.916-05:00Fun with punctuation?!I can't even say how happy the (nonstandard) <a href="http://www.good.is/post/the-culture-of-the-interrobang%253FGT1%253D48001">interrobang</a> makes me. Who knew punctuation could be so much fun‽<br />
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Punctuation is only peripheral to the study of linguistics--punctuation is really just a standard set of conventions for breaking up and marking written language. While punctuation may not be central to linguistic study, it is interesting to see how the conventions of punctuation change and to find possibilities for new punctuation marks.<br />
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For example, I'm not sure when the current love affair with exclamation points began, but I see more and more students thinking academic writing can be spiced up by an exclamation point or three and that question marks are frequently followed by exclamation points. I also like how things......... that have no need of ellipses........ receive more than their fair share!!!!! Punctuation appears to be one more way people are playing with trying to put more contextual (or perhaps perceptual?) meaning into written language.<br />
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I don't know if the interrobang will ever become standard, but it would be handy if it did. It makes the punctuation at the end of a surprising question much more efficient.Jessie Samshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18216459040272971854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437613784279912153.post-73683094568119067792011-10-31T09:00:00.000-05:002011-10-31T09:00:03.152-05:00It's always the linguists...A few years ago, David Chess wrote what appears to be a blurb of a science-fiction type story, in which things are going wrong, and it can all be directly blamed on the linguists who taught a culture concepts they had previously had no words for; you can check out the short story/blurb <a href="http://www.davidchess.com/words/log.20080222.html#20080227">here</a>. What I love about his post is that he explores this notion of whether or not people can think about concepts they have no words for. If a language has no word for <i>yellow</i>, does that mean they can't see the color yellow? If a language has no word for <i>kazoo</i>, does that mean they cannot fathom an instrument that makes noise by humming into it? Then again, since English has no word for <i>bakku-shan</i>, does that mean we can't envision a woman who is only pretty when being looked at from the back? (You can check out <a href="http://www.cracked.com/article_17251_the-10-coolest-foreign-words-english-language-needs.html">this article</a> for other cool words English needs.) How much does our language and its words say about us and the way we think?<br />
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If you're interested in this, you might also be interested in the course on Language and Culture in the <a href="http://sfalingblog.blogspot.com/p/spring-2012-courses.html">spring</a>.Jessie Samshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18216459040272971854noreply@blogger.com0