Posted: December 3rd, 2022

Literature( linguistics)

Literature( linguistics)

Theme: In writing this paper, you will get a little taste of the kind of systematic data collection that is the input for linguistic analysis. You will also use the tools and knowledge from the class and apply what you have learned to novel data, your own. The purpose of the paper is to get you to reflect on your own language(s) by taking a closer look at how you speak and comparing your native language with another language that you have some familiarity with. One of the languages will be YOUR NATIVE LANGUAGE. The other language will be a language with which you have some personal experience. If your ability is weak in the second language, so much the better! It will make for a good comparison. The second language could be any of the following: English, if you speak a language other than English as your first language. A language that you have studied in school, even if only two years in high school. A language in which you have some ability because of exposure to it through relatives who speak it, having lived where it was spoken, or any other circumstance. Research: Your only sources of information should be your knowledge of the two languages you choose and the information you get in Linguistics 1 from lectures, the course textbook, and course readings. If you choose a language that you studied in school, you may want to consult your textbooks, but you do not need to do any library research. Length and form: The paper should be 4-6 pages, double-spaced, and in 12-point type with 1 inch margins. You will not need a bibliography other than listing a language text(book) you may have consulted, as mentioned just above. Your paper is to be submitted to TurnItIn through the BruinLearn course website.

Outline of the Paper: Your paper must include all four of the following sections (in underlined bold below). The title and orders of the sections in your paper should be exactly as they are shown below. Syntax/Morphology: Select one point of “grammar” for comparison. This could either be a point of: Syntax, e.g. order of words in a sentence, order of elements in the NP, use of endings that mark words for whether they are subject or object, etc. Word formation, e.g. inflection of verbs, marking words for gender agreement, formation of compound words, etc. The grammar description need not be technical, but you should use terminology and concepts introduced during the lectures on Syntax and Morphology. Describe the way the two languages mark a comparable structure, e.g. how each language marks past tense, what the order of a noun and its modifiers are in each of the languages, etc. Be sure to include examples from both languages to support all claims that you make about similarities and differences. Language and thought: Find an example of how the two languages express thoughts differently such that a “Whorfian” view would argue that the languages CAUSE their speakers to think differently. Some types of examples you might use are: One language has several words to express what the other language expresses with one word, e.g. wear (could have different words depending on the article of clothing), break (could have different words depending on type of thing broken), snow (may be expressed with different words depending on quality of the snow), color words may break the spectrum up in different ways in the two languages, etc. One language may require different forms of words when addressing older people from the forms used when addressing friends of the same age. Explain how your data provides confirmatory or disconfirmatory evidence for Linguistic Determinism.

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