four video assignments about linguistic

1.Please watch the video of the following talk, and write at least 500-words document, summarizing the ideas and problems presented in the talk. Make sure to provide a paragraph containing your personal opinion: whether this talk was interesting to you, whether the speaker's arguments were convincing, and what you got out of it.

Professor Angel Lin (University of Hong Kong): " Heteroglossia, Translanguaging & the Lyrical Poetics of ‘24 Herbs’ in Hong Kong "

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVA5rj8C8F8

Abstract

In this paper, I analyse the highly heteroglossic lyrical and musical practice of a hip hop group in Hong Kong, 24 Herbs. Through analysing their  ulti-voiced trans languaging lyrical poetics, I analyse their ‘structure of feeling’ (Williams, 1961) and their simultaneously trans-local and local identity in their uniquely postcolonial Hong Kong performance modes . For instance, ‘Do you know me’ is the name of a new song in 24 Herbs’ album in 2011. ‘Do you know me’ also subtly indexes a familiar expression in streetwise Cantonese ‘vulgar speech’ (‘chou -hau’)— ‘Diu neih louh m ei’. This multi-voiced trans languaging not only evokes structures of feelings of both glossy cosmopolitan identities and forceful streetwise local Hong Kong identities , but also destabilizes the conventional boundaries between Cantonese and English, ‘low ’ and ‘high’ social languages, all in the arty and artful act of hip hop poetic meaning-making. 24 Herbs’ hip hop heteroglossic trans languaging practice as both pleasure and public pedagogy is discussed. 

2.Please watch the video of the following talk, and write at least 500-words document, summarizing the ideas and problems presented in the talk. Make sure to provide a paragraph containing your personal opinion: whether this talk was interesting to you, whether the speaker's arguments were convincing, and what you got out of it.

Professor John McWhorter (Columbia University): "Why the world Looks the Same in Any Language"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QglKeIIC5Ds

Abstract

It is commonly thought that a language's grammar and vocabulary make its speakers more aware of some concepts and feelings than others, such that a language's structure is indexed to psychology and culture. However, experiments have proven this only to a very quiet degree. Overall, the idea that how a language works reflects how its speakers think is more dangerous than often supposed, working against the very egalitarianism that the idea seems to foster. Linguist John McWhorter will demonstrate this by approaching the "Language as Thought" hypothesis from the point of view of languages around the world.

3. Please watch the video of the following talk, and write at least 500-words document, summarizing the ideas and problems presented in the talk. Make sure to provide a paragraph containing your personal opinion: whether this talk was interesting to you, whether the speaker's arguments were convincing, and what you got out of it.

David Peterson: "New Media Lingusitics"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbRJtP8_AeE

Abstract

Social media has opened up a once solitary creative pursuit—personal language invention—to other inventors, but David J. Peterson has made it his profession. In addition to creating "Dothraki" and "High Valyrian" for the popular TV series Game of Thrones®, he has designed languages for Defiance, The Shannara Chronicles, The 100, and Emerald City. In his lecture, "New Media Linguistics: Developing Languages for Game of Thrones," Peterson will provide a rare glimpse into the fascinating process of language creation for fictional purposes, and will review the cultural, historical, linguistic, and aesthetic aspects that are involved in it. With degrees in linguistics from Berkeley and UC San Diego, Peterson has closely studied the structures of languages world-wide and offers information and advice about creating naturalistic languages as an artform. His 2014 book Living Language Dothraki teaches fans how to speak this nomadic tongue, and in The Art of Language Invention (2015) he offers a rigorous manual of linguistic principles for would-be "conlangers.”

4. Please watch the video of the following talk, and write at least 500-words document, summarizing the ideas and problems presented in the talk. Make sure to provide a paragraph containing your personal opinion: whether this talk was interesting to you, whether the speaker's arguments were convincing, and what you got out of it.

Dr. Rob Leonard (Hofstra): "The Groundbreaking Science of Forensic Linguistics"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-01uO3uTrgk

Abstract

Forensic linguists solve murders, identify kidnappers, and fight to free the innocent from death row. They also provide expertise in a variety of civil cases, such as Apple’s fight against Amazon and Microsoft to protect its trademarks. Dr. Rob Leonard of Hofstra, described by The New Yorker as "a Sam Spade of semantics…one of the foremost language detectives in the country," has consulted to the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force, the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, Apple, and the Prime Minister of Canada. He also teaches Swahili — he was a Fulbright to Kenya — and opened for Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock with his college band Sha Na Na.

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