https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj We All Want to be Understood en-us 2018-01-27 18:57:40 UTC 2018-01-28 03:30:35 UTC hello@padlet.com nia_walker2016 https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225319951 In this article, the topic of ape's and their ability to produce language. Whether it is with each other or with human's, it is shown that apes do have the ability to communicate. Many ape's have been taught American Sign Language or ASL for short. Not only did they prove to be able to mimic signs and understand their meanings but also are able to initiate and contribute to conversation. Physical items and plastic tokens that represent words are also used as a mode of communication between ape's and humans. The reason why vocal communication from ape's is not developed is because they do not have the physical capacity to do so like humans. How ever that does not mean that they can not understand language spoken to them and be able to reply in signs. "To date, Kanzi has learned approximately 256 lexigram words and can understand 500 spoken English words." The research makes me question if there are any other animals who have the ability to learn to communicate with humans such as ape's can. ]]> 2018-01-27 19:44:12 UTC https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225319951 nia_walker2016 https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225321010 2018-01-27 20:01:05 UTC https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225321010 nia_walker2016 https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225321169 This article discusses music and how it is a language on it's own that anyone can understand. There was a study done at Harvard about the different emotions in songs and if people could pick up on them and categorize them correctly. "...researchers from Harvard University selected 86 songs from small-scale societies scattered throughout the globe. It asked 750 web users, in 60 countries to listen to 14-second excerpts from a random selection of these songs and the listeners had to evaluate whether they thought the songs were a lullaby; a love song; used for dancing; used to heal an illness; used for mourning; or used to tell a story.
After collectively listening to a total of 26,000 excerpts, the results – published in the journal Current Biology – showed accurate inferences about a given song’s function. Regardless of whether the music came from Highland Scots or Iroquois societies, the listeners were able to collectively decide what purpose a song has."
What amazes me about this experiment and also proves this article's point is that though all of these different people speak different languages they can still understand the meaning and value of the songs. Music is something that can blend different people and culture's because we can all understand it and this is really something to be amazed by. ]]> 2018-01-27 20:03:04 UTC https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225321169 nia_walker2016 https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225322149 2018-01-27 20:18:32 UTC https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225322149 nia_walker2016 https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225324482 Dan Everett discusses how instead of believing that grammar was created after a mutation in Homo Sapiens like Chompsky believes that grammar and language actually date back to Homo Erectus and grew alongside culture. Everett explains that in the signs of an early culture there must be signs of communication as well which leads to language. "Looking at the anthropological record, Everett sees that iconography and symbolism pre-date the Chomskyian contention about when human language began to appear among Homo sapiens. The ability to recognize symbols goes back 3 or 4 million years, Everett explains, citing the discovery of a naturally formed pebble shaped like a human face found preserved among a group of dissimilar pebbles in a cave in South Africa “by some ancient pre-human ancestors who agreed it ‘stood in for’ an actual face,” he says. “That’s the origin of language, language before grammar. So is drawing a circle with two horns and culturally agreeing it represents a bison,” says Everett." Logically all cognitive living things need a way to communicate and in communication grows connections and relationships which breeds culture so I wouldn't be surprised if culture and language date even farther back than Everett is suggesting. ]]> 2018-01-27 20:57:24 UTC https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225324482 nia_walker2016 https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225325722 2018-01-27 21:16:16 UTC https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225325722 nia_walker2016 https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225325818 2018-01-27 21:17:50 UTC https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225325818 nia_walker2016 https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225325892 2018-01-27 21:19:14 UTC https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225325892 nia_walker2016 https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225325992 2018-01-27 21:20:42 UTC https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225325992 nia_walker2016 https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225326032 2018-01-27 21:21:19 UTC https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225326032 nia_walker2016 https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225326063 2018-01-27 21:21:47 UTC https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225326063 nia_walker2016 https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225338675 2018-01-28 02:51:00 UTC https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225338675 nia_walker2016 https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225338692 aa]]> 2018-01-28 02:51:23 UTC https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225338692 nia_walker2016 https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225338707 Norman McQuown is a linguist and an anthropologist who died in 2005. He taught about language and culture and was held in high esteem by others. So much so that the release of his course material is cause for celebration by many who wish to celebrate it. "The papers include McQuown’s course syllabi, lecture drafts, audiovisual recordings, and notes on work by his colleagues, among other material. The collection also incorporates the papers that McQuown inherited from anthropologist Manuel Andrade that McQuown helped make more accessible to researchers. Also included are previously unreleased records from the Chiapas Project, a set of research projects that “aimed to investigate the language, culture, environment, and history of local Maya communities,” as per the Library’s news release." People like this man are important because they are the ones who find artifacts and then go on to teach their importance as well as how they tie into the culture we know today. It takes a special person to understand then teach these important topics so it is a shame that he has passed but he will live through is books and course material that he has left behind, still teaching many even in death. ]]> 2018-01-28 02:51:51 UTC https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225338707 nia_walker2016 https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225338991 2018-01-28 03:01:45 UTC https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225338991 nia_walker2016 https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225339064 A student at Dartmouth University is concerned that there is not a class that teaches the third most spoken language in the world, Hindi-Urdu. The student believes that is important to make a class that will teach the language. The student claims that adding this class will only better others students chances at being connected to the outside world and the other larger powers that control it. ". This is especially relevant considering the relative size and impact of South Asia. Combined, the countries of South Asia, or what was formerly British India, are the most populous in the world and contain two nuclear-armed States. India itself will overtake China in population in the coming decade and currently has the second largest Muslim population worldwide..." The student brings up a good point that other less popular Asian languages are taught so why isn't Hindi-Urdu? The history, anthropology, and economics are being taught pertaining to South Asia and this student feels that the language should not be an exception. "We have multiple scholars whose work engages with South Asia in departments such as anthropology, government, and religion. Dartmouth’s history department also has a renowned historian of South Asia in Douglas Haynes. But without a Hindi-Urdu program, enrollment in South Asia-related courses and student engagement cannot reach its potential." I believe that representation in education is important especially when it comes to learning out the bigger nations that have a lot of power over how the earth works so I am on the side of the student that there should be a class that teaches Hindi-Urdu.]]> 2018-01-28 03:04:56 UTC https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225339064 nia_walker2016 https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225339359 2018-01-28 03:15:52 UTC https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225339359 nia_walker2016 https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225339418 2018-01-28 03:17:14 UTC https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225339418 nia_walker2016 https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225339437 All of these articles have the common theme of communication. Whether it be who we communicate, when we communicate, with who do we communicate or who teaches communications. I feel that this is such a researched and sought out topic is because there are so many intricacies that go into our languages that also link to our culture that everyone just wants to be able to understand all of the facets of it. People want to know if they can talk to animals, people want to know who's been reaching language, people want to learn new languages, people want to communicate through music. There is just so much to know when it comes to linguistics and we as people don't even realize how much of our lives is compiled of it. Without communication and language there would be no connection and without connection, there is no culture. This is why language matters. ]]> 2018-01-28 03:17:58 UTC https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225339437 nia_walker2016 https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225339696 2018-01-28 03:25:42 UTC https://padlet.com/nia_walker2016/eg4g3xizczzj/wish/225339696