Language defines identity, and creates boundaries between self and other. In Borderlands: The New Mestiza, Gloria Anzaldua refers to the "broken" and "forked" tongues that represented the boundaries and intersections of social, cultural, racial, ethnic, and gender identities. The roots of sociolinguistic hypotheses of language suggest that at the very least, language impacts the social construction of reality, as well as psychic self-perception. According to Noam Chomsky, language use is a type of "organized behavior" that is both a cause and effect of reality (2). The study of language structure and function "can contribute to an understanding of human intelligence," (Chomsky xiv). Chomsky goes so far as to suggest that language precedes cognition in some cases, by stating that, "the study of language structure reveals properties of mind that underlie the exercise of human mental capacities in normal activities," including the use of language as a creative mechanism, form, and function (Chomsky xiv). In this sense, language does not just represent the world; it creates the world. Decades prior to Chomsky, Edward Sapir wrote about sociolinguistics, and how language is an imperative in human cognitive and social functioning. In Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech, Sapir posits that "linguistic forms and historical processes" can help social scientists gain understanding of "some of the more difficult and elusive problems in the psychology of thought," (iii). Sapir, moreover, wrote years prior...
Language is constructed in social groups; it becomes integral to group identity -- and sub-group identity. Even if all human beings have the capacity for language -- and even if that capacity distinguishes human beings from the other primates -- language is more often than not used as a means of division and separation rather than unity. Only if the Earth is invaded by an alien race would humanity suddenly find the impetus to develop a tongue common to us all.
Instead, however, the headline does follow the sequence of events as they happened to present a more chronological overview of the event while still maintaining a good inverted pyramid structure. For example, take the head line of the news story in Appendix A: 'Iranian election uproar tests U.S.', this headline without giving specifics of the actual election result implies that the results were not great overall because of the
Politics of Violence in Pinter's Late Plays When Harold Pinter received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005, he spoke quite directly about the subject of political theatre: Political theatre presents an entirely different set of problems. Sermonising has to be avoided at all cost. Objectivity is essential. The characters must be allowed to breathe their own air. The author cannot confine and constrict them to satisfy his own taste or disposition
Representation of Women Through Media Has Changed From 1960s How representation of women through media has changed from the 1960s Susan Douglas suggests that fifty years ago, mass media existed in the form of music, television, and magazines. However, she suggest that the journey has been tough owing to the manner in, which the media represents women. The media used a sexist imagery to represent women, especially women who took part
Second Language Learning To What Extent May L1 Affect Second Language Learning Linguistic and Metalinguistic Knowledge This category includes variables that are effective in both reading and listening comprehension and that involve knowledge about the structure of language, such as its syntax and morphology. Two questions guide the discussion here: How does linguistic knowledge in L2 develop, and how does linguistic knowledge in L1 affect L2 linguistic knowledge, indicating cross-language transfer? Syntactic Knowledge.
speaking in the target language is the expectation that a proficient speaker will sound like a native speaker. Is this an appropriate or realistic expectation? Not a long while after the emergence of the subject of second language acquisition (SLA), which most of the scholars think came around the time of initial years of 1970s, there has been a need to develop ways by which to measure the development of
The American Dream was repeatedly exposed as a lie by American dramatists, ranging from Eugene O'Neill to Edward Albee to Arthur Miller -- but the PR machine had already been established: Orwell's warning was not heeded -- and "ignorance" became "strength." Millions now enjoy economic, social, and cultural slavery -- and don't even know it -- because they all believe they are experiencing "life, liberty, and the pursuit of
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