Clark's 5-parts project Poster by Clark Hui

My Language Ideology (represented in this TedTalk

ch3784_1 — 2024-05-02 06:24:21 UTC

I'd like to finish my poster with this video in which Kellam Barta gave a speech in line with my own language ideology: there is no "right" or "wrong" language, language-diversity should be celebrated, and varied languages can function better within their corresponding contexts.

Phonetics & Phonology

ch3784_1 — 2024-05-02 14:16:00 UTC

Phonetics study the physical sounds and sound systems in human speech. It investigates how/the rules of sounds are produced, transmitted, and perceived.

Phonology is the study of organization of sounds in a language. (Callary)

Part I: Learner's phonetics & phonology

ch3784_1 — 2024-05-02 14:37:32 UTC

Study participant: my cousin's younger son Q (pseudonym) 61/2 years old, 2nd grade

Aspect focused: Allophones, the various ways of pronouncing a phoneme.

Findings: Apico-alveolar fricative /s/ will always be added after Apico-alveolar stop /t/ with a few exceptions. E.g. He pronunces don't as don'ts, while can pronunce words ending in -s and -ts in respecitve sounds.

Possible reason: Q learned plural forms of words ending in -t and singular third person, and thus strengthened the significance of letter "s"

Suggested further test: mix up words like "toys" (voiced /s/ to be /z/ after vowels or voiced consonants), "won’t"(no s) and “students”, “bikes”, when /s/ is voiceless but have allophones and ask Q to pronunce them randomly. Start analysis from collected data.

Morphology

ch3784_1 — 2024-05-02 14:43:47 UTC

Morphology is the study of the structure and formation of words. Morpheme is the smallest unit that carries meaning or grammatical function. Bound morpheme(derivitional or inflectional) vs free morpheme(can stand-alone).

Part II: Morphology and Emerging Buzzwords from China's Internet

ch3784_1 — 2024-05-02 14:45:08 UTC

Observed participants: Q and his older brother Big Q

Findings: the real-world usage of two emerging Chinese buzzwords which belongs to those constantly shaping contemporary vernacular Chinese language.

Q: 麦门永存。He's suggesting that Mc Donald's is what he want to eat instead of KFC. Think about what “门” used to mean in Chinese, like in “水门事件” (Watergate scandal) and its derivational use, e.g. 拉链门, 虐囚门

Big Q: 你是i人还是e人？Came from he recently took the mbti test.

Think about whether your parents or older generations can understand this question.

Syntax

ch3784_1 — 2024-05-02 16:02:30 UTC

Syntax refers to the study of the structure of sentences and the rules that govern the arrangement of words within sentences. "A sentence, then, is more than the sum of its words: it is words ordered in a particular way" (Henry, p.191)

Part III: teaching Syntax

ch3784_1 — 2024-05-02 16:17:44 UTC

(from my supplementary material to part 3)

One thing relating to syntax that I did in my past teaching experience is teaching students noun clause as a subordinate clause.

Simple sentence: at lease one noun+ one verb (subject verb, e.g. He laughs.)

Simple sentence word order in English: Subject-Verb-Object.

Noun clause: functions as a single noun in a sentence.

Dealing with complex sentence: first sorting out the stem. In a complex sentence there's still a stem sentence.

Semantics

ch3784_1 — 2024-05-02 16:23:16 UTC

Semantics is the study of meaning in language. It examines how languages encode relationships between signifiers (like words, phrases, signs, and symbols) and what they signify.

Part IV: pragmatics under MLF model

ch3784_1 — 2024-05-02 16:33:30 UTC

I observed how my bilingual co-worker V (who speaks Cantonese, Mandarin and English)

Classic codeswitching: only one language’s grammatical structure serves as the morphosyntactic frame of a bilingual clause. (Myers-Scotton. 2005)

Matrix language provides morphosyntactic frame in bilingual clause.

Findings: (transcript)

V: 那就按照My community这个topic不就好了

V: 之后设计课程可以通过画她dream community 来延伸writing/reading

V's languages identified: Chinese (Matrix), English (Embedded)

Codes selection: aimed instead of random

Pragmatics

ch3784_1 — 2024-05-02 16:54:39 UTC

Pragmatics is the study of how context influences the interpretation of language meaning; or how speakers and listeners use and understand language in specific contexts. Meaning aren't solely determined by lexical and grammatical information, but also derives from the speaker's intentions, the relationship between the interlocutors, and the circumstances surrounding the language use.

Part V: SLA/ Multiliteracy in school

ch3784_1 — 2024-05-02 17:29:00 UTC

I recalled on my past experience in Open Friday: Chinese day at my observation site, an elemantary school located in lower Manhattan. In this activity, the teacher decided to invite parents to bring in Chinese foods in order for students (diverse backgrounds, learning Chinese in dual language program) to contextualized what they learn in class.

Doing vs Having language: the debate that goes dichotomizing

A third way: Larsen-Freeman's CDST (Complex Dynamic Systems Theory), views languages as systems in dynamic, co-adaptive relationships with one another and the environment.

The students neither only learn to acquire L2 (Chinese) in classroom and through homework, nor only participate in natural, unorganized Chinese language practices.

They promote cultural awareness, lingual-identity affirmation while developing bi-literacy (e.g. take jiaozi into plate while articulating "我喜欢吃饺子”