Back to the Books

I have learned a lot over this course about what it means to be multilingual, how different languages behave with one another, and what English's place in the world is, among other linguistic topics. This way of thinking has led me to look at all languages, dialects, and ways of combining languages (code-switching) as valid and equal ways that serve the original purpose that language was created to do - to communicate. Kasaiplowova's reading last week even changed my mind on pidgin, which I've always seen popular culture depicting as being used by unintelligent people or creatures, and now I believe that pidgin is a perfectly fine way of communicating and that intelligence is not based upon the language someone speaks or the way someone speaks in general. When I thought of pidgin, I thought of characters like Jar Jar Binks from Star Wars, a character who is portrayed as an imbecile primarily through his pidgin speak for comedic effect. Obviously, my thoughts on linguist

Because I had some confusion with my initial direction for project 3, I'd like to take a step back and use this blog post as an opportunity to look at what it means to be multilingual. I am not multilingual. Maybe someday I will be, but for now I'm only able to read at an intermediate level in Spanish and not much else, and I do not consider that being multilingual. To be multilingual is to have the ability to communicate effectively in all forms of communication in a given language. Because I am not multilingual, it's hard for me to fully grasp what being multilingual is like. In doing some research for this blog, I came across an idea that I was unfamiliar with in a TedTalk: being multilingual can be viewed as a negative trait. The more I thought about it, the more I realized this is true. We always talk about the positives of being multilingual, like decreased chances to get Alzheimers and increased cognitive flexibility, but in order to understand what it's real

*This Language Log doubles as my Exploratory Writing for Project 3 I plan on writing a personal essay on how the Iroquois and their language has impacted the region of New York that I live in. This essay will likely have researched elements, as I do not currently feel prepared to write a 2,000 word essay on the topic, but the style will remain personal in nature, and I will take cues from our recent readings on how to incorporate sources without citing them as if the paper was a strictly academic piece. Because this essay should be 2,000 words and not too much larger, I will keep the conversation to how the Iroquois and their language impacted the societal and cultural development of Central Upstate New York rather than, say, the economic development of Central New York. This is a fairly complicated topic, and I believe that if I wanted to dive into the specifics and really research this, this paper could easily go on for 20,000 words, which is the primary reason why I am going to wr

Easter is right around the corner and with it, my normally very religious Roman Catholic family is increasing the talk we have about religious themes. It could also be that we're restricted from going to church and this is some sort of spiritual outlet for us. Anyways, my mom posed a question: What language did Jesus speak? This was a slam dunk for me - I had taken a class first semester that covered the societal and legal history of Ancient Israel, so I knew the answer was... "Hebrew!" Exclaimed my father. Of course, this was incorrect. I knew the right answer. "No, it's Aramaic" I responded. It turns out we were both right. When we researched the topic after getting nowhere saying "I'm right" and "Nuh-uh" a couple of times, it turns out that Jesus spoke Aramaic but was proficient in Hebrew, which I guess shouldn't come as a surprise to me or to anyone. Aramaic, for anyone who doesn't know, is another Semit