https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54 Made by Rana Somekhian en-us 2018-11-27 20:34:31 UTC 2025-10-26 02:20:23 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Apple.png ranaliat https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/308527829 In 2003, John Baugh presented is research on linguistic profiling and how people are prejudice to those who speak a certain way - aka "speaking black." Over the Summer, I received a job as a receptionist at an opthamologist's office in a city with the highest population of non-native English speakers - Silver Spring. I was assigned one of the phone positions where I had to book appointments, search for a patient's prescriptions, and confirm appointments. Each patient has a photo on file when you search their account. Subconsciously, after speaking with a patient on the phone, I would paint a picture of them in my head simply based off of the voice I heard on the other end. Some patients would have heavy southern accents, others with thick hispanic accents, or accents rooting from regions of Africa. Some even sounding older or younger than the way they spoke. Seeing the patient's profile on the office's computer system allowed me to put a face to the voice, and prove to me that you can only gain so much information about someone based on the way they speak.
These are my thoughts recorded from July 2018 to August 2018.]]> 2018-11-27 20:41:02 UTC https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/308527829 ranaliat https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/308530732 In an assignment, we had an opportunity to to study Asian-American poetry and how certain words and phrases can be emphasized in a way that cannot be expressed with English. This applies to many multi-lingual families in America, including my household. Growing up in an Iranian-American family allowed me the opportunity to be bi-lingual at a young age. To this day, I always find myself switching between Persian and English. Especially in situations where I couldn't find the right word in English. The most prominent example is when we apply tarof. Tarof is the term for a way of etiquette used when people dispute over courtesy. This can vary between situations such as who is paying for the check to who is going to walk through the door first. In some ways, This is a way that Iranians show respect our courtesy to one another, and there is no word in the English language that could directly translate to it.]]> 2018-11-27 20:47:38 UTC https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/308530732 ranaliat https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/309910198 The dialect autobiography assignment provided an opportunity for us as students to reflect on how we speak reflects on the four domains of language: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Given this assignment I was able to use the writing domain to depict how my dialect is affected by speech.]]> 2018-11-30 18:19:17 UTC https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/309910198 ranaliat https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/309916728 This discussion provided a segue for the connection between language and culture. Just like the affects of social, economic, and cultural capital, culture affects the way someone interprets language in their own terms. For example, a new student coming to study in America begins learning English and is still accustomed to the culture that they grew up with back home. Because of this, they struggle to pick up specific parts of the English language because they cannot relate that to what they currently know. To grasp English, non-native speakers must essentially Americanize themselves to understand the meanings and implications coming from what they are learning.]]> 2018-11-30 18:31:28 UTC https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/309916728 ranaliat https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/309920330 Sociolinguistics delves into the concept of how social status and even geographical location can affect language. It's how people speak in their daily lives when communicating with one another. I included this assignment because it allowed me to understand why I speak the way I speak. The area that I grew up in and the people I have surrounded myself with are what makes me sound like what one would coin as a "typical white girl." Despite, the smaller scale of sociolinguistics, the dialect quiz analyzed language at a larger scale by assessing regions of America. And despite the way I speak with my friends, I still manage to fit in the category of "Mid-Atlantic" dialect.]]> 2018-11-30 18:38:11 UTC https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/309920330 ranaliat https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/309950159 As a group, we studied the dialects pertained to Israeli society. After significant research, we had concluded that a lot if the dialect picked up by observing foreigners is based off of cultural aspects of Israeli society. People make references to their daily lives ranging between army life and food. While I am Jewish and had the opportunity to live in Israel for three months, this assignment opened up a new lens as to how Israelis are seen from a completely different point of view.]]> 2018-11-30 19:32:07 UTC https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/309950159 ranaliat https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/310494317 For as long as I remember, whenever I would visit my dad at work, he would always introduce me to all of his clients. Beginning with, "This is my daughter Rana," and then tell them something about me like what I'm studying in school. As I grew older, my dad used his social skills to connect me to people from all parts of the professional world. When I was planning on going pre-vet, he connected me to various veterinarians or farm owners. As I switched to sociology and languages, he immediately found new clients for me to speak to just to understand what their occupations are like. I found myself on various phone calls on a weekly basis just speaking to people I had never met before but were genuinely interested in telling me about their careers. Some people may call this nepotism, I just call this networking! Just recently, at a philanthropy event, my dad dragged me to speak to every person in the room. While I might have found this to be overbearing at the time, watching him speak to people with such ease has taught me the value of connecting with all types of people. This event was recorded on December 1, 2018.]]> 2018-12-03 16:21:09 UTC https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/310494317 ranaliat https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/310959261 In this assignment, my group members and I chose to discuss the written implications of the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT). While the exam itself does its best to avoid any dialectal implications and to follow SAE to the best of its abilities, those who may not speak English as their native language could still be perplexed by the exam. Certain wording has cultural implications that are not present in someone else's previous lifestyle and culture. Because of the difference of understanding the exam between someone who is a native English speaker and someone who isn't, examination results can vary.]]> 2018-12-04 15:51:25 UTC https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/310959261 ranaliat https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/310969927 I think that this assignment was one of the most crucial in terms of understanding the impact that socioeconomic status has on language. Because of this, a child's rate in vocabulary growth can vary depending on the income of their parents. Regardless of how the parents raise their children, the tone in which they are spoken to can be a simple ripple in effecting their language growth. This could also explain why those who come from a higher SES speak with more a more "proper" voice with eloquence as well.]]> 2018-12-04 16:06:15 UTC https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/310969927 ranaliat https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/311070596 This discussion was one that I found to be one of the most intriguing. I was fascinated by the teaching plans provided to see how educators aim to normalize Pidgin. I chose to focus on the grammatical aspects of Hawaiian Creole and was interested to see the many similarities as well as contrasts between English and Pidgin. I think grammar is a huge factor in deciphering between a language and a dialect. In this case, I can see why Pidgin is a language itself rather than a dialect of the English language.]]> 2018-12-04 18:43:13 UTC https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/311070596 ranaliat https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/311608429 The linguistic assumptions assignment intrigued me because I was surprised to see two contrasting ways that people can be profiled just based off of their language. Cross-cultural communication in a way seems more positive. Two people of the same respective religion communicate in a way that is unbiased. Intercultural communication shows that there can be a clash between two people communication with vastly different cultures. Or two of the same culture communicating in a new culture/language that they have adopted. This stresses the importance of learning to avoid prejudice, especially in a work environment to create a more clear and coherent form of communication between all types of people.]]> 2018-12-05 21:25:30 UTC https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/311608429 ranaliat https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/311610665 When responding to the linguistic assumptions assignment, I noticed a familiarity in the work. When an immigrant comes to America and tries to adopt their culture - including "lingo" or "slang" - their attempts at doing so might cause people to see them as lesser. I immediately recognized this situation from an episode of Modern Family where Gloria Delgado-Pritchett, played by Sofia Vergara, bursts in a fit of frustration. She expresses that it is so difficult to communicate in a language that is not native to her, and then when doing so, people see her as "dumb" or "oblivious." When, in fact, she's well aware of these inferences people make of her.]]> 2018-12-05 21:33:35 UTC https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/311610665 ranaliat https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/311612213 In high school, during some units of history lessons we would learn about types of music or specific lyrics to songs that had political propaganda or meaning behind them. This coincides with using music as a tool for protesting or supporting a particular issue in today's society. While it doesn't have to have specific reference to news, it could heavily relate to a social class or part of a cultural group. I chose to use the lyrics from "God Bless the U.S.A." by Lee Greenwood. Specifically taking lines from the chorus, evoking the most emotion out of the listener, I observed the impact that lyrics might have on a stance compared to an average speech given by a political. Music gives writers and listeners the flexibility to speak on behalf of their issue without greatly focusing on the importance of rhetoric that a political leader might normally need to consider.]]> 2018-12-05 21:38:51 UTC https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/311612213 ranaliat https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/311614138 Language is one of, if not the most, crucial aspect of journalism. The way a journalist speaks or writes to their audience is directly correlated to the response that they will receive from the readers. If you're in a highly diverse area, chances are the journalists will cover a multitude of topics to appeal to all sorts of viewers or readers. By doing so, they may seem favorable so long as they focus on their audience and what they may want to hear.]]> 2018-12-05 21:46:35 UTC https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/311614138 ranaliat https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/311615200 In one of our first assignments of the semester, we were required to read about the story of one new international student in high school. To understand their obstacles and how they may have overcome them. For my student, Monique, she had difficulty adopting basic American mannerisms such as raising her hand to answer or ask a question during class. And because of these barriers that she faced, she cut of communication all together. Language is a powerful tool to use. And when a person feels as if they are unable to communicate entirely, their sense of adapting to society is cut off.]]> 2018-12-05 21:51:05 UTC https://padlet.com/ranaliat/ps7y63fbny54/wish/311615200