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This will be your final announcement.
Hello, Linguists!
Test Three is going to be on December 4th. It will be a “traditional” in-class test. Bring a pencil that day.
The Final Quiz — “Quiz 20 – Outro Quizz” — will be available from December 5th to December 15th. DO NOT FORGET TO DO QUIZ 20! Remember, it’s not graded for accuracy, but do your best anyway.
Our last class day is Tuesday, December 9th. We’ll have lots of fun that day.
If you’re doing a final PROJECT, you need to get me something (like a script or an outline) *immediately* if you haven’t already! Do that. Your final project– in whatever form it will take– needs to be turned in to me by December 11th unless you email me asking for an extension until Decebmer 15th at 3pm. I would prefer your group be there “in person” to turn your project in, whenever that is, so we can have a look at it together. (If you’re making a video or a presentation and you can have it mostly ready by Dec 9th, we can watch it in class!)
If you’re doing a final TEST, you’ll get a hard-copy dataset in class on December 9th and your finished product will be due by 10am on December 11th.
I’ve got WIDE OPEN OFFICE HOURS from December 8th to December 16th– I’ll be in my office anytime I’m not in class. Feel free to stop by, though some times have already been requested by other students and you may have to wait. When in doubt, e-mail me first.
You’ve been great, junior linguists. I hope we cross paths again in the spring.
-doug
Looking For Linguists: an extra credit opportunity
Hello, Linguists and Members of Various Communities of Practice!
So, a lot of you have been asking for extra credit opportunities. Here’s a great one– you’ve got until Thursday morning’s class to complete it.
One of the most common ways that we display the categories and communities we belong to is through the use of online profiles– your Facebook profile, your OK Cupid profile, your Soundcloud profile, your LastFM or Pandora profile, your Ello profile, your Tumblr profile, your Twitter profile, your LinkedIN profile, and on and on and on…
Your task for these possible extra credit points is to create a profile for the brand-new social meet-up site:
“Looking For Linguists”
Looking For Linguists is a social meet-up site where linguists are paired with non-linguists for language-related adventures. Choose your role– either you’re a linguist or a non-linguist– and create a profile that would encourage someone to pair with you for an adventure.
A couple things all LFL profiles must have:
1.) Tagline: Eleven words or less. Something that would make people searching LFL want to check out your profile. The title of your post will be LFL: [your tagline]
2.) About Me: Up to 140 characters describing who you are, generally (if you’re not sure how many characters 140 is, use this online tool)
3.) My language: Up to 500 characters. Must include– Geographic Region I’m From / Race~Ethnicity / Two Possible Communities of Practice I engage in / Two unique or interesting ways I use language / and optionally, you can include information on your social class or your gender~sexuality.
4.) Favorite Movies or Music (limit yourself to three things)
5.) Favorite Word. — make sure you describe *why* it’s your favorite– don’t just state the word!
6.) Describe your ideal linguistic adventure. Begin with who you’re looking for (be linguistically relevant!)
7.) Answer the question: “How is linguistics like a pine cone?”
8.) Under post “tags” give five words that describe you or your language experiences
9.) Under “categories” choose Pine Cone Linguistics, Thought Exercises, LFL, and Posts
10.) Finally… make sure you upload a profile picture to include! The profile picture should be oriented in the top-left of your post and should be 150 x 150 pixels (use the WordPress image editing tools if you need to change the size of your picture). Set your profile pic as a “featured image” if you want!
Here’s MINE so you can see what these things should look like.
GRADING: Grading will be a trickle-down system– Whoever has the best LFL profile will get the most extra credit points, and so on down the line. So be aware of things like formatting, spacing, use of good tags, appropriate insertion of links, proper formatting of the picture, use of a good (or interesting) picture, etc. After you post, look at your “LFL profile” and make revisions if necessary. And if you see any of your fellow students’ LFL profiles, make sure to comment on them!
Have fun!
-doug
LFL: Language wizard, intellectual agrarian, general bon vivant filled with bons mots.
About Me. Writer for Lexicon Valley; Linguistics Professor; occasional blogger of comics, dogs, and gay stuff. Still angsty after all these years.
My Sociolinguistic Self. Sociolinguistically, I’m a gay, white, man from St. Louis, Missouri by way of Austin, Texas. I’m a NERD and a ROCKER (so, maybe just NERDCORE?) and a RADICAL ANARCHO-FEMINIST. I use language very theatrically, with a lot of pregnant………. pauses and a lot of variation in pitch, volume, and speed (think Captain Kirk imitating the Gilmore Girls). I also pronounce words like “pen” and “pin” / “Kim” and “chem” / “gym” and “gem” exactly the same– my KIT and DRESS vowels sound the same before nasal sounds.
Favorite Music. Lately, I’ve been listening mostly to Yalls, Conveyor, and Seamonster.
Favorite Word. I think that “saudade” is the most perfect word in English (and it’s borrowed from Portuguese). It describes the particular kind of sadness or melancholy you feel from remembering the past. Also, I like the mouthfeel of the word. It starts out all oceanic– sssss — aaawwww…. and then crashes in with a big explosive DA and then mellows out again at the end… de.
Describe your ideal linguistic adventure. I’m looking for a fellow polyglot– a real DuoLingo junkie. We’d meet at a bar. You’d speak fluent German and Portuguese while I’d speak fluent French and Spanish. As we sip craft beer into the late afternoon, we’d use no English– just my stammering Germano-Portuguese and your amusing “Esfrangol.” Then we’d take a walk around the park and name everything we can with what little Klingon we both remember. “”sor” means TREE,” you’d say, and I’d laugh and correct you– “actually, it’s Sor.” Then we’d play scrabble or scategories in Russian.
“How is linguistics like a pine cone?” … you tell me!
Fly, you gorgeous moths, fly!
Hello, Linguists!
The workflow and the HW-4 description on the website is now updated. As a reminder, the workflow goes in a specific order for a reason… that’s the order you should be doing it in. Going out of the order suggested will just make things harder for you as you’ll start running into advanced concepts before you’ve been introduced to the basics. So don’t do that. Go in order.
You’re all beautiful butterflies, waiting to unfurl your wings. I believe in you. Have some fun with this stuff!!
-dsb
Revised workflow for Thursday (9-Oct)
Hello, Linguists!
First, please note:
— Emergency Office Hours Wednesday, 1:30-2:30
— Thursday office hours are at the normal time, but are in my office, not Starbucks
WORKFLOW
— will be updated on the LING101 website Wednesday afternoon. Check back on Wednesday. Until then, in this next section (during all of October), we’ll be thinking about how language interacts with, is part of, and is indicative of aspects of society, our roles in society, and the kinds of people we socialize with. We’ll start by thinking about regional variation…
FOR THURSDAY:
• Read Grammar Girl’s How to Write a Blog Comment
— http://www.quickanddirtytips.
• Join in Discussion 2: Tuesday night, Wednesday, early Thursday morning.
— http://dsbigham.net/
• Take some online Dialect Quizzes – What were your results? Are they accurate? Blog about it for extra credit!
Definitely take this first one:
— http://www.nytimes.com/
• Take some of these other quizzes if you have time:
— http://dsbigham.net/
• Watch Doug’s “Regional Accent Challenge Meme” video. What’d you think? Did I say anything or have any pronunciations that seemed strange to you?
— https://www.youtube.com/watch?
• Watch (v11) :: Language Variation
— https://www.youtube.com/watch?
See you on Thursday!
-doug
Discussion 2: Language differences I have noticed…
What differences have you noticed in the ways people use language?
Think first about regional differences, then fill in the other major social categories: age, gender & sexuality, ethnicity & race, social class (working class, middle class, upper class).
Then think about broader “community” categories– categories like surfer, stoner, prep, jock, drama/theater kid, band geek, hipster, princess, dork/nerd/geek, meathead, etc.
Are there any groups that stick out in your mind as people who use language in a specific or unique way? What– exactly– are they doing with their language that seems different to you?
To get fullest possible credit, comment on the main post (this one) and at least two other classmates’ posts as well. Make sure to use tags in your responses along with any other media (images, maps, audio or video clips) that you think might help illustrate your point.
This will be available until Thursday morning. Go a-linguisting!
-doug
D5 Creation