The Lupyan reading this week focused on abstract ideas of
triangles and how people’s mental representation of triangles appears to depend
on many factors. For instance, when participants were asked to draw “triangles”
they drew more typical triangles than when they were asked to draw “three sided
polygons” even though triangles and three-sided polygons are really the same
thing. Overall this article was very interesting in that it pointed out the
inherent bias that language creates in listeners, and how one’s abstract conception
of a word may not correspond with another’s abstract conception.
The Rickford reading this week focused on linguists have
drawn on data from the African American speech community for its research but
has given little in return. The African American Speech community has given
variable rules and frameworks for analysis of social class, style, and
narratives, while the linguistic community has not given service in return such
as induction of African Americans into linguistics or representing African
Americans in their writings. The article proposes that the linguistics
community should establish a culture of giving service in return as a general
principle.
I thought both of these articles were among the most
interesting I have read in this class so far. The Lupyan reading made me think
about how imprecise our language is and how one can create bias in subjects by
the word choice used. It makes me question my word choice in everyday life as
well and the possibility that my words do not reflect what I actually mean. The
Rickford reading makes me question the social impact that linguistics has on a
community and whether they are doing their part to make sure they are having a
positive social impact—something that is not usually thought of in relation to
scientific pursuits.
I also really agree that these articles were among the most interesting so far and encouraged a lot of questioning about assumptions we make. I like that you notices how the Rickford reading made you question the social impact of linguistics. In my opinion, I think linguistics tends to make a positive impact, but does not always attempt to reach its full potential of impact on all communities. Not only should linguistics work harder to support communities of color, but it actually has the potential to make an incredibly positive impact on those communities and really make a difference. Thus, in my opinion, the issue is less about the harm linguistics has on communities and more about its lack of effort in certain arenas to make a positive impact on broad social issues.
ReplyDeleteI agree that these articles really made me question my choice in everyday life. It's fascinating that these seemingly insignificant choices made a bigger impact in how people make judgments or mental conceptions of ideas and words. Ultimately, I thought it was most interesting how the Rickford article bring up not only the linguistic consequences but also the social impact of stanford vs. nonstandard english. I'm still not 100% sure if this has changed, given the article by Rickford was written in 1997, but talking about these issues certainly bring more to the topic than simply glossing it over.
ReplyDelete