Linguistic rights

In this essay I will explore structuralism and evaluate the usefulness of the theory. I will look at examples of Structuralism in ethnography, such as observable binary oppositions and interpretations of the importance of myth, also exploring criticisms of the theory. I will explore the claim that Structuralism is too theory-based and cannot account for the experience of the individual, and whether this means that Structuralism can be relied on to inform us about human life from an…

innovators of the world wide web; otherwise it will develop to serve and promote men's interests over women's. Spender's (1980) work attended to the powerfulness of those who can exercise some degree of control over language. People with public speaking rights, those who record and communicate ideas, and the information-rich are all in a position to exercise some power over language ± to use the power of language and communication to promote particular social and cultural beliefs and suppress…

Being a bilingual speaker myself, and having grown up in a multilingual home, I was particularly interested in this topic. Bilingualism is on the rise, “It has been estimated that more than half the world's population is bilingual, that is lives with two or more languages. Bilingualism is found in all parts of the world, at all levels of society, in all age groups. Even in countries with many monolinguals, the percentage of bilinguals is high.” (Grosjean, Myths about bilingualism). This means…

used this for its strengths, it is used to fill the general population that uses this website with insight, while also allowing for their reasoning to show through, and persuade their audience to do something more. If an article is portrayed in the right ways, it leaves behind an audience that is understanding of the topic given, and even further it leads them to want more. Rhetoric ties in aspects such as audience, context, purpose, genre, and much more to get the point across. One article…

language learning is full of uncertainty and there is a considerable amount of ambiguity in learning a foreign language. In an L2 context, learners are likely to have some difficulties in constructing meaningful interpretation due to the inadequacy of linguistic cues (Chapelle & Roberts, 1986). According…

exaggerated and apparent when we compare the language of Shakespearian England to today. If there had been a band of people to rally against the word ‘thy’ becoming ‘thee’ and then ultimately the word we know today ‘the’ then we would perhaps still have linguistic feet planted in the past. As is stands new words enter the dictionary every year. There is not argument when ‘copernicium’ enters the dictionary (a word so new the spell check on my computer doesn’t recognise) Language has words that…

impressed by the statements in the podcast, that most of the content was the first time for me to hear. Because I do not know much stuff of linguistics and common knowledge about languages, I cannot decide whether the facts in the podcast are right. I would assume that most of what they said was truth, but I will make adjustments to my knowledge about linguistics and languages in the future. As an evolving language, English speakers have borrowed words from all other languages because of need…

Code-switching is a normal part of everyday language and is often overlooked, but through this assignment it became more apparent than ever before, most notably when code switching occurred between languages and within each separate languages. For this field report, I analyzed code-switching in my native language-Polish and then English as they both took place in the same context, my sister’s kitchen. It was a rather peaceful and relaxed saturday afternoon when the communication event took place…

While the experimental findings used to support the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, such as the foreign language effect or behavioral differences in bilinguals based on the language used tempt us to infer that thought might employ natural language, they only account for the influence language has on concept acquisition. In order to perform reasoning, the brain takes a body-centric approach: define and determine the desirability of an idea as a sum of elementary sensorial input from the body or the…

biases people have about the way language should be. In “Correct American,” linguist Edward Finegan writes a compelling argument in favor of descriptivism because he believes that there is no right or wrong when it comes to language. Grammarians should only “aim to describe rather then prescribe linguistic forms and their uses.” We use language to express ourselves and that is a good thing, but language can also create separations between people by creating prejudices. On a different note, the…