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THE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXT

What is tolerated in one culture might not be acceptable in another: e.g. Italian culture tolerates overlapping

more than many others.

Proxemics: (intimate, personal, social, public space)

Some age groups tolerate “bad language” more than others.

Religious communities will not usually tolerate blasphemy.

Shifts over time: politically correct language (e.g. gat, queer, half­cast, mixed race).

How to communicate with two different audiences

language, influence and manipulation

st

­1 person singular subject pronoun: I

(Because I’m worth it…= perchè io valgo)

­ this cream visibly reduces wrinkles and lines by up to 30

%. fino a= subtle use of language

We/Our/Us

­ we are all friends; our family; come and stay with us!

­we know what’s best for you;

­our troops in Iraq will be coming home soon (unusual in

Britain= the British troops) FIFTH LESSON

11/09/01 Italy

09/11/01 America

The war on terror: refers to the international military campaign that started after the September 11 attacks on

the United States.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ Queue= la

fila; to queue= fare la fila; Q=Homophone

PUNS: (giochi di parole) LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT

Sapir­Whorf Hypothesis – 1930s :

­ language determines thought (strong version): if I speak Italian, I think differently from an English person.

­ the language you speak will determine the way you think. Ex:

Hopi concept of time:

1) tribù di indiani d’America, pellerossa. There were no tenses, so the Hopi people had no concept of

time (or the contrary!)

Eskimo words for snow= 27 words (Inuit­ Inukitut language)

2) In Italian, we say “superato l’esame” (I pass) and “mi hanno bocciato” (I fail).

3)

Language and thought are connected (weak version).

Language can influence thought

Newspeak

“1984”, novel by Orwell (1949), control people through language.

simple, controlled language to limit freedom of expression and thought

fewer words, less thought, no synonyms (good­bad­ungood)

no

POLITICAL (IN) CORRECTNESS

PC LANGUAGE

If we change the words, will it change the way we think? (people attitude= atteggiamento).

New linguistic forms to represent social change. Ex.:

Policeman + policewoman = police officer

Chairman + chairwoman= chairperson (capo)

Headmaster+ headmistress= head

Incorrect correct

Red Indians native American disabled handicap

black population African American the Down Syndrome boy boy with the D.S.

half­cast mixed race Housewife homemaker

Bin man (uomo pattumiera) refuse collector (operatore ecologico)

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Christian name (nome di Battesimo) given name, first name

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Bachelor:

BA= bachelor of Arts laurea in discipline umanistiche (MA=master)

BSc= bachelor of Science laurea scientifica (MSc=master)

Bachelor= scapolo! spinster = zitella! (scapolo donna)

Actor actress (less good, less values)

women talk about themselves as “actor” = gender gap

Nurse= typically associated with women (male nurse)

Euphemisms

soft way of saying something:

­ the company is downsizing (stiamo licenziando);

­ a pre­owned car (usata)

­ collateral damage (danno collaterale) PC HUMOUR

­ Worst least best

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­ Funny: funny ha­ha or funny peculiar?

› used when someone has described a person as "funny" and you want to know if they mean "humorous" ("ha­

ha"), or "strange" ("peculiar"):

"She's a very funny woman." "Funny ha­ha or funny peculiar?"

Short vertically challenged;

­ Bald follically challenged

­ Dishonest ethically disoriented

­ Ugly cosmetically different

­

Inclusive language, gender­neutral language

Ms Jones = you’re just a woman;

Miss Jones= you’re not married;

Mrs Jones= you’re married.

We need a new teacher. He or she should…

WRITTEN AND SPOKEN LANGUAGE (sixth lesson)

language evolves over time

Diachronic variation in language: sociolinguistics analyses many of these variations within the field

synchronic variation in language:

of Discourse Analysis DA), we can look at differences between written and spoken language.

Spoken is more informal, but obviously is more complicated.

Commenting on a passage from Victor Hugo’s novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831) set in the late

fifteenth century.

The archdeacon first points to the great cathedral and then stretches out his right hand toward a fifteenth­

century printed book and announces.

“Ceci tuera cela” “ this (the printed book) will kill that (the cathedral, which had serves for centuries as an

encyclopedia in stone).

Commonly­held views on differences between written and spoken discourse:

Grammatically intricacy;

1. Lexical density (quantità di sostantivi e verbi);

2. Nominalization (there are more nouns in a written test);

3. Explicitness (the writer is not there when you read, so he has to be more explicit);

4. Contextualization;

5. Spontaneity (spoken one is more spontaneous than written one);

6. Hesitations, repetition, redundancy (unplanned, spontaneous spoken language);

7.

More useful to view them on a continuum rather than as binary opposition.

Conversation analysis:

How we open and close conversation;

1. Politeness strategies;

2. Turn­taking (how long each person speaks, I turni nella conversazione);

3. Overlapping speech (speaking over someone) (parlare sopra un altro);

4. Pauses (hesitation, emphasis);

5. Fillers (er, um, y’know you’re filling the gaps), false stars;

6. Volume, pitch (you find it in music, il timbro della voce), stress patterns (when you put the stress within

7. a phrase), intonation (the up and down in a statement);

Accent (in British language, accent is very related to social class, the more educated you are, the less

8. noticeable is your accent; a strong accent is because you’re less educated)

dialect, slang (colloquial form of language), register (formal, informal).

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Written discourse:

1.Permanent nature of written word

2.Physical object

3.Well planned, edited, proofread (correzione delle bozze)

4.Objective

I read it so it must be true. Written test has more authority.

5.Institutional communication

Typically used to communicate to a large number of readers.

Writing is also seen as repository of knowledge and therefore as a means of educating ourselves.

Writing produces tangible permanent artifacts – books – and as such is the archive of a culture’s ideas and

attitudes.

Traditionally, spoken language was universal while written language was confined to the élite and is still

associated with a “good education” and power.

Examples of importance attached to written texts:

written exams (proof of performance);

• CVs and application forms;

• Legal documents;

• Translations;

• Signing your name (as opposed to verbal agreement);

• Libel vs Slander

• Different way to say, diffamazione e calunnia. Libel is written, is punishable because it stands.

Verba volant, scripta manent.

•

Written texts:

Importance of literacy (been able to use written language) in day­to­day (quotidiano) functioning:

Taking notes during lectures;

• Following instructions/reading roadsigns;

• Understanding contracts;

• Running a search on google;

• Texting your friends;

• Updating your Facebook profile;

• Looking words up in the dictionary

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These are all ways of controlling and negotiating our world.

Reading and writing as forms of instrumental, every day communication.

How PCs affect the writing process:

Spell check;

Grammar check (for instance in Microsoft Word);

Word count (conteggio delle parole) for instance for guide translation;

Automatic layout formats;

Rearranging and modifying blocks of text (draft= bozza)

Inclusion of graphics (arrows, numbers, etc.)

Ease of production tends to create longer texts.

On­line texts typically have more words overall and longer sentences.

Much of this production is not edited (to any great extent) by an expert reader or professional editor.

There are many similarities between certain text­types composed on PCs and oral discourse:

Email conversation, chatrooms, tweeting;

­ Both (or more) parties are often participating simultaneously;

­ Transient nature typical of speech;

­ Material not intended to be reread;

­ Often deleted as soon as read;

­ Mistakes are (often) tolerated;

­

Medium and message:

­How do we choose? What is socially/culturally appropriate? ;

­Ansafones (segreteria telefonica) – voice mail (posta vocale) (one­way communication) telefono fisso: “land

line”;

­Sat Nav [navigator satellitare] (reacting to one voice);

­Voice recognition (software reacts to voice);

­Mobile phones (we don’t know where the other person is);

­Skype (speaking and writing);

­Wi­Fi (communicating on the move has removed space and time limits);

­Texting (brevity­ un/limited texts);

­Tweets (140 characters – following others, being followed, retweeting);

­Facebook – social networks (constructing identity through language);

­Blogs – conversational tone / reverse chronological order;

NEW OPPORTUNITIES

Collaborative element:

­ Comments;

­ Reviews;

­ Creating links;

­ Uploading content, videos, photos, etc. ;

Hypertext:

­ Provides cross­references;

­ Intertextual links;

Experimental writing:

­ 253 by Geoff Ryman (a novel set on the London tube)

­ Hearts, Keys and Puppetry by Neil Gaiman (twovel, novel written through twitter)

Email:

­ urgency

­ unsolicited messages – spam

­ salutations and signatures

­ profanity (politeness strategies – flaming)

­ netiquette (net + etiquette)

­ use of caps (avoid the use because it seems you are shouting)

­ emoticons /smileys, emojis (paralinguistic cues)

Beyond the single text:

Context;

• Genre (science fiction, advertising, comics);

• Cultural context;

• World knowledg