Family Interactions: My Final Post

This weekend, I was unable to complete the other two analysis steps of my Family Interactions project. Word analysis was totally out of my control. None of my family spoke any interesting words that I could use to understand the basic etymology of their most common language. They only used simple words during my periods of study. Conversation analysis was also a factor I did not expect when I began this project. During this month, I began Driver's Education, and since I go from there to practice every day, I could not listen to any conversations that may have taken place during this month. Weekends were also pretty hectic as well, and I was unable to complete this final step of my project. I do realize that these are not, and should not be acceptable excuses for the absence of work that should have been on this blog. Despite this, I had a very fun time taking more attention to detail in my family's words, and what information I did gather may be able to be researched at a later date. But, as the year is drawing to a close, I bid this blog farewell. For now.

Tone Analysis: Brother

My brother was a very interesting person to analyze. He switches very often from complicated language to simple language, no matter the setting. For example, he may talk with very complicated language and more simple language during the same event.

Tone Analysis: Mother

I've noticed that my mother does not often use very long and complex words. My father uses them in business situations rather than family situations; my mother does not have a formal business, however, and so she mostly communicates on a family level.

She will often use the same words and phrases as my father does when talking among the family, rarely ever straying over three syllable territory. However, other analyses on her method of speaking may prove more interesting than this one.

Tone Analysis: Father

Earlier, I noticed a common pattern of speaking from my father. When addressing anyone in the family, he usually uses short, simple words. For example, the words used often address a point simply and quickly, rarely edging over the one or two syllable mark. Common sentences he uses are, "We need to get this done as soon as possible." or, "When will you be ready?" However, when addressing someone from his business, whether or not they are a subordinate or a superior, he speaks in a very professional manner, using more complex words to reinforce his position within the company. While I haven't been able to memorize those certain words he uses, he uses plenty of terminology about the inner workings of business and how cars work, since he works for Toyota as a fleet manager.

I wonder, though, is it a coincidence or not that he uses short words when dealing with his family and longer words when dealing with his business? Does he do it on purpose? I suppose I'll find out the answer when I delve deeper into his words and conversations.

Why You Should Give a Sh*t About Words That Offend - Analysis

Melissa Mohr has very interesting information on the subject of swearing. I did a little research on swearing during my etymology unit, but this information is much more thorough than the kind I discovered.

Swear words were very different long ago. Using the word 'Christ' and 'God' in conjunction with body parts offended people because they thought that Jesus and God's body parts would be painfully removed when people spoke those words.

These days, words that used to be exactly what they meant, such as the words for poop and sexual intercourse were described by their swear-version these days. Basically, words that used to be normal, everyday words became offensive over the course of one generation of our language. This is very interesting because these words used to be household words, but were replaced by French variants over the course of a generation of English. How our language will evolve in the coming hundred or thousand years may be very similar to this, making some of our words swear-worthy.

Language: What Do We Know, and Where Did it Come From?

One thing that I have been thinking about recently is the origin of language as a whole. Humans have the innate ability to quickly learn languages at young ages, but how did language evolve? Why did language evolve rather than complex grunts and growls? Today, I hope to use my current knowledge on the subject to  propose a theory of my own.

Humans have a very large brain to body ratio. Many animals have larger brains, but that brain needs to focus on keeping a larger body alive. Our brain to body ratio is perfect, because there is enough of the brain sustaining life functions, but a large part of the cerebrum is focused on intelligence. Obviously, this part of the brain is what makes the human race so intelligent compared to other earth species. However, a small part of the brain called the Broca's area is used for language comprehension and production, although some parts overlap.

This article has provided new information on the fact that language appeared much earlier than previously recognized. Ultraconserved words, which are words that appear very often and sound similar in many languages not necessarily from the same family, appeared around 15,000 years ago in an area of hunter-gatherers in Asia. For example, man, mother, to hear, what, and not are predictable enough, but it also has some words that are more surprising, but also make sense when thought about, such as ashes, to flow, and worm.

Based on this information, I think that the earliest language came around when very early humans attempted to describe things for the first time. Humans may have needed to adequately explain something rather than just know it exists. Other animals in the wild can see a river and understand that it is moving, but humans developed the ability to put a certain phrase to it. It is very interesting to understand how the brain comprehends language, and how the language function possibly evolved in humans.

Here is a list of ultraconserved words identified by linguists.

Just a Thought: Teenage Slang Terms and the Future of English

Groups of teenagers run amok using slang terms popularized by their favorite celebrities. For the sake of my discussion, I am going to use the terms 'YOLO' and 'Swag'.

I've recently thought about how these words are used. 'Swag' seems to have replaced words that describe something's coolness or fashion appeal. YOLO is a term used to say, "I am going to take a risk and have fun doing it." Sometimes, however, these words are used mindlessly.

But what does this have to do with anything regarding proper English? Everything, actually. Eventually, these teenagers are going to grow up and have children. Those children will have children. Perhaps these slang terms will take root and begin to replace certain words in our vocabulary.

Let's go back to the term 'Swag'. It is used in place of 'cool' sometimes. Many words also have done the same throughout our history, such as groovy, neat, far out, radical, you name it. However, cool was also used in the same context for just as long as these words were used. In the '10 era, not many words have survived and served the same purpose as cool. Perhaps 'swag' will be another word used in junction with cool.

When you take a moment to stop and think about our youth using new terms, you may think that they're being ridiculous and odd, but they are actually creating new words for our language and recycling old ones, whether or not they know it.

Algeo's Origins and Development of the English Language - Reflection - Part Five

The most important aspect of this chapter was the differences of the English language depending on culture and environment. I found it extremely interesting that English words differ in different environments. British people did not have a name for certain geographical landmarks that didn't appear in their everyday lives. Americans, however, became less cultured in British geography terms as they lived in America. People in America didn't need the word moor, for example, since they did not encounter it in their new homeland. As generations passed, no Americans used the word anymore. Different words that change depending on culture, however, work almost the same way. It's how slang terms evolve and become rooted in the language's vocabulary. Lift and elevator mean the same thing, but the names evolved differently depending on what each speaker of the language used to describe the machine that lifts or elevates a group of people.

The Brightness of the Future: Analyzing a TED Talk on the State of Education

In the TED Talk we analyzed in class the other day, it is apparent that this class is much like the vision that the speaker had for the future's education. It is much more valuable for a skill or ability to be taught in a non-structured environment, since the student is able to learn at their own pace. More importantly, however, the student is able to learn what they want, rather than possibly outdated material at the pace of the classroom. This class is similar to the speaker's vision because every student is able to learn exactly what they want by picking their own topic and blogging about it. The freedom of mind and creativity that delivers the same grade as structured classes may help people become more creative thinkers adequately prepared for the outside world.

Algeo's Origins and Development of the English Language - Research - Part Five

Today, there are at least one billion people on Earth that can speak English fluently. Of these people, most can be divided into two groups: British and American English. There are several differences within these groups. First, the R sound was temporarily lost in British speakers, and this loss transferred over into the New Englander's accent. Americans use the word 'got' in several technically out-of-context ways, such as 'She has got to help us'. Gotten is supposed to be a past participle of get, such as it is used in 'ill-gotten gains'. 'Got' in the American vocabulary has transformed into a different way of saying 'to be obligated to'. Some words that differ between British and American, besides the obvious ones, are waistcoat and vest, and fortnight and two weeks. British also has words that the American vocabulary has no need for: copse, dell, fen, heath, moor, spinney, and wold. American English also mirrors this by having several geographical words that British English has no room for, such as underbrush, creek, (which is a sea inlet in British, and a small stream in American), backwoods, canyon, mesa, and prairie. When English explorers discovered new species of animals in the Americas, they used Indian words to name the unfamiliar ones, such as raccoon and woodchuck. Animals that looked similar to British animals shared their British name, whether or not they were of the same species. For example, British and American robins are not related at all. This included plant names, such as catalpa, (literally meaning 'a type of tree') and catawba, (literally meaning a variety of grape.) Sometimes they relied specifically on their imagination of they ran out of ideas, and the etymologies of these specific words are unclear for this specific reason.

Algeo's Origins and Development of the English Language - Reflection - Part Four

It intrigues me that the change from Middle to Modern English was so sudden. Unlike Old to Middle, which was a long period over many years after Latin, French, and German influences changed the language; Middle to Modern was very sudden after many political changes, the prominent reason being a shift in power. The power went from being in possession of the Church and into the hands of the King. However, Queen Elizabeth also helped the language change because of her innovative ruling period.

The big change from Middle to Modern, besides new Shakespearean words becoming popularized at the end of the Middle English period, was new sounds and new usage for letters that were introduced. The language of the first period of Modern English greatly reflects our own language, but does not fit it to a T. Some of the characteristics we understand from Middle English history changed to reflect our modern dialect today, such as the Y in the becoming a TH. Also, the consonant/vowel shift of I/J and U/V changed the language to be more similar today's dialect.

Overall, the period of change that was the first period of Modern English is very fascinating. Also, the second half of Modern English that I still have yet to explore intrigues me as well. What other changes separated Modern I from Modern II?

Algeo's Origins and Development of the English Language - Research - Part Four

Revolutionary development in English-speaking countries paved the way for English to become a world language in the Early Modern English period of the language. For example, civil authority in the Act of Supremacy was put above church authority, and Queen Elizabeth's reign had a productive 45 year period on England. Several factors brought about the change from Middle to Modern. The English vocabulary was expanded from Latin and Greek words influencing the language. Innovation of pronunciation and conservation of spelling also had effects, as pronunciation of several letters and groups of letters changed and the spelling of the words. For example, TH replaced Y in some cases, changing ye and yee to the and thee, I became a vowel and J became a consonant, U became a vowel and V became a consonant, and H gained a sound.

Family Interactions: A Follow-Up Post

I have inquired within my family about my project, since the project is about them, after all, and I have several changes that will be effective immediately upon my project.

1. I cannot use an audio-video recorder to capture a conversation. They view this as an invasion of privacy and will not allow me to do it. However, I can listen to a conversation and remember sections of it to use on my work.
2. I will also be analyzing the length of the words each family member uses. For example, my father might use short, curt words and my mother may use long, eloquent words. This will fall under the Word Analysis section, which brings me to my second point:

Categories. I will have several categories that I will be analyzing, and to help better organize my work.

1. Word Analysis: Etymology, word length, family members' words
2. Tone Analysis: How do my family members talk?
3. Conversation Analysis: How do conversations pan out? This will contain specifics from both Tone and Word Analyses, and how each of these categories work together to produce conversation.

More specifics will follow, and I plan to start working on the main brunt of the project very soon, possibly next week.

Family Interactions: A Preemptive Post

I have devised a small list of what my plans are for my Family Interactions project.

1. Listen to several natural conversations within my family. These conversations will not be acted out. I will then write down several words used by each family member and search etymologies to find a specific connection between family member and word.
2. Record several conversations and post them on my blog. The procedure will be the same, but I will analyze the entire conversation, such as who is the prominent speaker and any other specifics that may be interesting to analyze.

Where I will go after the second step, I do not know. But I have plenty of time to devise my plan until I get to that point. Expect another update soon.

Getting Help -- Reddit

Since I am a little bored of reading Algeo's book, I'm looking to take a small break. At reddit.com, I will creating a post in an appropriate subreddit looking for assistance with my problem. If the post comes up dry, I will probably resort to e-mailing another college professor. If the post is successful, however, I will edit this post with a transcript of said thread.

______________

No post has been successful over the break, but I will continue my efforts to find a community to immerse myself within the English language. Also, Family Interactions begins this quarter, more updates to follow.

Algeo's Origins and Development of the English Language - Reflection - Part Three

I find it interesting that the English language went through such a large change from the Normandy invasion. The influence the Normans had on the language was possibly one of the largest changes to its vocabulary in its history. French, Latin, and other 'high' languages made up the words we consider 'good' today, and the German influences are considered grisly and unappealing. For example, German words used the animal to describe their food, and the higher languages made words for their foods.
Also, doubled letters appearing and evolving into certain language sounds like 'IE' and 'OU' was especially interesting. I would have never guessed that doubled letters formed parts of our modern pronunciation.

Algeo's Origins and Development of the English Language - Research - Part Three

At the end of the Old English period, the Normans invaded England and conquered it. This invasion subjected the English language and culture to change with the new Norman influence on the area. Three languages existed in the area at the time: English, Latin, and Norman French. The English culture changed in congruence with the French culture at the time because of this reason. Latin also influenced English vocabulary since it was the language of the church. A large amount of Middle English's language was derived from the upper-class French and Latin influences. Doubled letters were also a center-point of the language, and these have survived to our day, but are no longer one letter as a whole and no longer represent the same sound. EE became written as EA, and IE and EI remained as they were. Long U was replaced by OU, which is of French origin. Different dialects rose depending on the area the language was spoken in: North, Midland, West and East Midland, and Southern. Northern, Midland and West Midland kept many characteristics of Old English, and East Midland and Southern influenced each other greatly.


Notice: The Family Interactions Unit will begin at the start of Fourth Quarter. Algeo's Origins will still continue during this time, however.

Family Interactions: A To-Do List for the Near Future

I have devised a list of important aspects of my upcoming Family Interactions project. This list will help me gather my thoughts and proceed with the project.

• Analyze a typical family conversation. What words are used in each context? What words are directed towards which individuals? Which tones are used in happiness, anger, or sadness?

• Record a family conversation. Having a conversation to analyze even hours after the first one will be extremely helpful.

• What people use certain words? How does the father's language differ from the mother's, etc.?

• Analyze the etymologies of each family member's words.

Cognates

A cognate is a word that has similar etymological origins to a word from another language. These words are often used to identify relations between different languages, such as English, Spanish, French, and German, which are all part of the Indo-European family. More specifically, even, Spanish and English are both of Latin origin, which gives these two languages a large number of shared cognates. The closer that the languages are related to each other, the more cognates can be found. While most words are different in each language, some words are similar or even exactly the same, such as metal and metal in English and Spanish, and accent akzent in English and German. If the etymology of these example words were looked up, the reader would notice that the etymological facts of both cognates would be similar or even exactly the same. However, there are two types of words that appear to be cognates but are not, which include false cognates and false friends. False cognates mean almost the same thing in two different languages, but have different roots, and false friends have similar roots but diverging meanings. I feel that cognates may have further roots that I may explore, but my searches are beginning to come up dry. If I stumble upon new information on these words, I will be sure to articulate it.

How does a family interact?

My family relations project that I have decided to work on delves into the dynamics of how exactly a family interacts using language and select groups of words. Analyzing how parents talk to children, how parents talk amongst themselves, and how children interact with their parents and themselves may produce some interesting statistics. Analyzing the etymological origins of the words used in certain situations may provide some information on words that stem from different languages, and what language's words are expected to be used in different places. Stay tuned as I delve further into this research project.

Family History with English History? How Could it Work?

To be honest, none of my family members show any interest in the topic of English history the way I do. My father is a regional retail manager for Toyota, and my mother is an interior designer. My brother is currently on his way to research computer science after he graduates from high school. I don't know how I can use my knowledge of English history with my family's background. There may be a way, but I just don't see it.

Algeo's Origins and Development of the English Language - Reflection - Part Two

This last batch of information was a few chapters into the book, as the previous chapters described only how language is formed, and how the body produces words and sounds. None of that interests me, so I skipped ahead a little bit to get into the meat of the book -- how exactly English developed and it's origins.

It's quite fascinating that very early England did not have the language of it's namesake since it's very beginning. The fact that it is actually an immigrant language that took over explains a lot about how many cognates and similarities it shares with other languages. Also, the prehistoric language of Indo-European comes up a lot. I wonder how exactly the language sounded, or if it was actually a language at all. In fact, some sources argue that the Indo-European language is simply a theory. But I believe that it was actually a real language, since many other languages that sound similar but are changed by tradition and location are part of the same family. To me, this point of evidence seems to prove that Indo-European was, in fact, a language, and all other languages in the Indo-European family are simply Indo-European with many modifications from thousands of years of passing down mispronunciations that eventually stuck. Perhaps, other languages not related to Indo-European also influenced languages by sharing words with them that eventually became part of their vocabulary. It's fascinating to analyze how languages may have come about, and the fact that we may never actually know where exactly our languages come from.

Also, it is quite interesting that some languages have no words for certain objects. For example, inland countries with deciduous forests didn't have words for palm trees or other tropical plants until they were shared with them. Also, tropical countries or civilizations probably didn't have words for oak and cedar trees. Being able to find where a language originated by what words are native and which are not is absolutely fascinating. Most people, myself included, take for granted that all languages have words for everything because our society has explored the entire world. Imagine, in the past, that people may have come into contact with absolutely unknown objects or animals, and have no idea how to explain what they are.

I have also found this map of Indo-European language influence on our world. Dark green represents a country with a majority of Indo-European language speakers, light green with a minority of language speakers, and blue with no Indo-European language at all. It's is extremely fascinating that Indo-European languages are some of the most popular in the world, covering most inhabited land on Earth, save for very north Africa, Greenland, and southeastern Asia.

Algeo's Origins and Development of the English Language - Research - Part Two

Old and Modern English as we understand it began as an immigrant language in early Britain, and was tempered over a long period of time to be the area's native language. The language began on the part of the continent bordering the North Sea many hundreds of years before, after evolving from the prehistoric language of Indo-European, which also brought about the beginnings of many other languages. The language may have been spread through the Bronze Age area, when many nations were invading others and forcing their traditions on them.

Places where language groups began can be traced back through the words that may or may not be included in the language itself -- Apple, ash, cedar, aspen, wolf, and bear are all things that exist in the temperate climates of northern Europe, rather than olive, cypress, and palm which exist in the Mediterranean and southern Asia. If the word ocean does not exist, then it is a safe bet to say that the society was far inland. Indo-European, in this case, can be traced back to North-Central Europe and Turkey.

Similarities that occur in between languages can also be used to identify languages being of the same language tree, such as German and English are both part of the Indo-European family, and many words in both languages are very closely related. Words that sound similar in two languages are called cognates.

David Shook of Huffington Post on the English Language in Other Countries' Literature -- Analysis

The article in question.

Even though this article is not quite as new as I'd like it to be, it is interesting nonetheless. Basically, English has been popping up in literature all over the globe, and more specifically in South Asia. Bangladesh, more recently, has allowed a certain English book to be featured in it's books and art festival on the 15th and 16th of November.

It's interesting to me that some countries have absolutely no English at all. Since it is the only language I speak, it is strange that some countries do not use it or even allow books to be shown in the language during their festivals. But, more importantly, that the language is spreading around all over the world, even in countries that have never used it, it very fascinating. Having English as a common language that almost everyone speaks in the near future would be very interesting, even though the likelihood of that happening is very slim.

Algeo's Origins and Development of the English Language - Reflection - Part One

Even though Algeo's textbook has not yet delved into the depths of the history of English itself yet, it has perused upon the topic of the history of language as a whole. It is very interesting to me that the beginning of language has remained an enigma. Language is the shining beacon that makes humans human, and the fact that no one knows where that defining characteristic emerged from makes language in itself all the more interesting to study. I feel that the origin of language as a whole would be a very interesting topic to study, even if we may never know the exact place that language came from.

Written language, which is almost as important as spoken language, has only been around for several thousand years. I cannot imagine a time before writing, as writing makes documenting history and reading thoughts directly taken from someone else's mind much easier than passing on traditions orally. I wonder where exactly early humans got the idea that certain scrawls on pieces of stone or wood stood for different letters that make up words, or even entire words. The first writings must have been an extremely innovative invention for its time.

I also discovered this simplistic chart of the West Germanic branch of language on Wikipedia recently. It ignores some of the more obscure names, but the fact that so many languages are related is remarkable.

Anyway, there is so much more information on history of languages entirely that I almost forgot I'm supposed to be looking for English history. There is just so much more content to be explored than I ever imagined. Next time, I will be documenting research on the next section of Algeo's text.

Algeo's Origins and Development of the English Language - Research - Part One

Language is an excellent indicator of one's community. A very small amount of languages belong to any one community, and sometimes one language is the main language of several communities. Either way, language is part of what makes us human. Language is the biological aspect of being human. People have been speaking for almost as long as our species has existed, but written language is a separate matter entirely. Written language in any form has only existed for several thousand years, which is minuscule compared to the massive amount of time language in itself has existed.

The origin of language is very obscure. Almost no one knows where the very first language came from. The only theory of the beginning of language that exists is that communicating with hands became too complicated, and produced sounds began to have meaning.

Children also have an innate ability to learn a language without being taught it by their parents. But after very early childhood, learning a second language is very difficult. Acquisition and usage of a language seems to be a human instinct.

Bringing in the New Semester

Semester 2 has begun, and as a result, many aspects will be changed within the blog and within the content uploading schedule.

1. Any and all posts not pertaining to my blog topic have been subsequently removed. These are clutter posts and do nothing to benefit the forwarding of my knowledge.
2. The tag system has been updated and any tags that are now null and void have been removed. This will free up space and make looking for specific content much easier.
3. Research and analysis of said research will be the majority of my blog content and these posts will be much more detailed and much more frequent.

I look forward to the following months being the most productive months in my R199 research. I will still be continuing with John Algeo's Origins and Development of the English Language textbook to begin this semester.

What am I doing with myself?

It is blatantly obvious that my individual blog work has wound down to an unfortunate, disappointing halt. Over the few weeks that this occurred, I thought I would be able to administer a quick-fix simply, and have a new area of research ready to go before any significant gap appeared in my work history. Unfortunately, this has not been the case. I have too dim of an idea of any areas that I can cover pertaining to my topic, and I am hopelessly, utterly, lost.

These last few blog posts have been quite the same: I have an idea, I try it, it doesn't work. The analyses of popular works of literature was a total bust, and I was completely lost throughout my work on that over the break. It was such a terrible, utter failure that I didn't even bother to post my end result on the blog. Even though the foundations I have laid out have crumbled to ashes and dust, I still have one unanswered question that I must overcome before I can move on from my defeat – what am I doing with myself and the blog?

I need to discover an answer, but I'm not even sure that there is one for me. I have made an extremely terrible mess, and I don't think I can pick up the pieces anymore. In my own eyes, I have failed everything this course has assigned me to do.

Believe me, I still want to continue, but I do not know how I will continue.