Finegan Chapter 6 Semantics

Semantics is the study of meaning in words, sentencesm, and phrases. In semantics there are three types of meaning. They are linguistic, social and affective. In this chapter there are a number of semantic fields covered including hyponymy, part/whole relationships, synonymy, antonymy, and converseness.

Hyponymy refers to a group of words that can be categorized into a generalized term.

Converseness refers to a reciprocal relationship between words. An example would be teacher and student or employee and employer

Synonymy in this relationship the words have the same meaning.

an example of a part/whole relationship is the body-arm, foot, and hands. The last three are all parts of the body and the whole is the body.

antonymy is the opposite of synonymy so the words are opposites.

Class 4/16/09

Today's class topic was the historical development of English. Today's class was very engaging for me because I was interested in the topic and also able to use my background knowledge of other languages.
My favorite activity was the passage comparison. It was fascinating for me to see how languages develop over time. Also, my knowledge of German and a little bit of Dutch was very helpful in analyzing old English because German and Dutch are the two closest languages to English. So the final "e" in words often appears in German and Dutch in adjectives. Also, German tends to end sentences and clauses with verbs. Also, V's were initial syllable which is very common in German. V's are not usually place in the middle of words. So for me to be able to see these similarities and differences was very eye opening. It was great to be able to make all of these connections between languages. It also showed me that languages can have influences on other languages.

Class 4-9-09

Today's class went by very smoothly. Todays topic was speech acts. We first met in small groups to discuss a few questions that Dr. Smidt had put on the discussion notes. Then, we discussed our trial writing sample in small groups. We then moved into large groups and discussed some of the terminology that we will need to use when doing our final writing sample. I thought it was good practice to hear some of these terms again and keep working with the material that we have covered through out the semester. Overall, I thought it was a great class even though I continue to have microphone problems.

Class 3/26/09

Todays class focused on Chapters 10 and 11 and the "he said she said" video we watch. Todays class began with a discussion about differences in registers between eastern and western societies with regards to gender and ethnicity. The overall consensus is that there are differences between gender and ethnicity. We then moved to small groups where each group went over the different parts of the quiz from chapters 5 and 6 in Finnegan. My group worked on the tree diagram for the fourth sentence and we never got to the second part of the activity which was to discuss section 6-4. Next, we moved back into the big group and discussed the tree diagrams for the first section of the quiz. My impression of the class is that if we had a more flexible writing medium it would be easier to complete group activities, but we do not have this so it complicates communication.

Class 3/19/2009

Class last week was focused on semantics. We broke into groups and talked about specific lexical semantic groups such as hyponyms, part/whole relationships, synonyms, and antonyms. I thought these terms were pretty understandable in the reading. We also talked about practicing for our final assessment. We talked with our group members who we are supposed work together with for the practice writing sample. It is good that we were able to meet and talk with them because it keeps me organized and focused. Also the practice writing sample with be a good opportunity for me to prepare for the final assessment and give me a chance to practice what I have learned so far. My biggests concerns with class is working out technology bugs and also keeping track of group members. I feel often times that I am in too many groups and it is hard to keep track of which groups I am in for different activities. The online class makes it harder because I do not have a face to put with the name.

Syntax

I do not think Chapter 5 in Finegan could be written any more technichal than it is. Yes, the book provides you with great information, but it is very difficult to understand and hard to translate into the classroom. One thing I found interesting in this chapter is that not all languages use word order rules to express meaning for example "she ate the cat" means she ate the cat. " You can not switch she and the cat without changing the meaning of the sentence, but in other langauges for instance you can. I would like to know why there is this difference between languages. What has influenced the language in its history to create differences like this?
Freeman is like a breath of fresh air. So easy to read and understand. I like Freeman so much because it does take into account different perspectives about learning and relates them to teaching. In this chapter Freeman asserts tahat students have trouble learning and applying grammar rules when they speak and write. In chapter 9 Freeman also provides a plethora of examples of tree diagrams. These diagrams were very easy for me to understand and I was able to see a variety of sentences some that included conjunctions, auxillaries, and compound sentences. While I read about auxillaries, seeing them in a tree diagram helped me put them into perspective and made them easier for me to identify them.

Class 3-5-09

In today's class session we discussed syntax. We created tree diagrams in small groups from sentences that we created. We also went over the quiz from the week before which covered morphology. Overall I thought the class was good. I have found it very useful to practice the skills we use in activities during class time. I think it helps reinforce and process the information. Problems with technology still seem to be an issue. I think one possible solution could be for us to create the activites before class and then upload them through microsoft word if that is possible. I think this could be an alternative too quizes or the practice activites.

Class 2-19-09

Yesterday's class went well for me yesterday. We started out in small groups analyzing the lexical parts of speech of a sentence that Dr. Smidt provided. I thought it was a great activity because i understood it rather well. The problem area I see with this class is the technichal difficulties associated with it. It is extremely frustrating for me to sit there and listen to the class because I get bored very easily because I am a kinisthetic learner. However, one plus was using the whiteboard to draw the chinese characters. These broke up some of the monotony of the class for me. It was great to see and hear how a logographic writing system has developed of thousands of years.

Finegan Chapter 2

In Chapter 2 of Finegan lexicon and morphology are discussed. This chapter begins by explaining the different lexical categories. Then moves on to discuss different types of morphemes and what they are. Next, Finnegan explains how languages increase their vocabulary by using compound words, suffixes, prefixes.

The first part of the chapter was a refreshing grammar lesson for me. Relearning what lexical parts of speech there are and what their function in the sentence is was rather easy. It did help me brush up on a few things like interrogative and demonstrative pronouns.

What are morphemes? Morphemes are the meaningful elements in words. Free morphemes are morphemes that can stand alone. Bound morphemes are morphemes that can not an example of this would be prefixes un or re. Derivational morphemes produces words in two ways either from changing a words lexical category or by changing the meaning of a word. Inflectional morphemes change the form of a word but not lexical category. For example by signifying a plural noun from a singular noun.

According to Finnegan languages increase their vocabulary in three ways. By creating new words from existing words or morphemes. Words are borrowed from other languages. Lastly, new words are made up. Words can use suffixes like ly, ed, and ment to create new words. This form is very common. The last common is developing new words from scratch.

Class 2-12-09

This class was a relief. Being able to go through some activities was beneficial to me because I am the type of learner who likes to have feedback so I know that I am doing something correctly. Otherwise, I will sit and ponder whether I did an activity correctly and then get nothing accomplished. I like meeting in the small group to discuss the seperate parts of the chapter. It is always good to think pair share. Hopefully, I can continue seeing more positives in this class instead of getting frustrated with the content and activities. I think i can achieve this being analyzing how this will apply to my classroom. If I look at linguistics in this perspective, I think it will make it more enjoyable for me.

Class 2/5/09

Class was very difficult today. We started out in small groups and were to decode a transcription using the IPA code. The decoding in groups was not good. My group started working on it and we never really discussed what everyone was going to do. So i really feel like I did not get the chance to practice working with the decoding. Otherwise it would have been a good activity for me.

When we went back to the large group. My affective filter was pretty high because I didn't feel like I learned anything from the group activity, and I thought it would be a good chance for me to practice it because I am having trouble understanding the material. So when lecture started and I started hearing all of those terms, my affective filter skyrocketed. I did try to stay focus and key in on what seemed familiar, but it was so difficult. I felt like the lecture was in Hindu. Not a productive class at all in my personal opinion.

Freeman & Freeman 3-4

Two theories, word recognition and sociopsycholinguistic try to explain how students develop phonemic awareness or the ability to identify phonemes in a word and changing them.

The word recognition theory asserts that phonemic awareness is conscious. Students use metalinguistic knowledge or knowledge about language. Where as, the sociopsycholinguistic view, would assert that phonemic awareness is subconscious. They would view oral langauge as a continuous stream which has no segments, and for students to understand oral language they must be able to percieve the sounds that are being produced and the parts that accompany the sounds. Students acquire this ability rather than learn it.

I agree with the sociopsycholinguistic view. I believe that phonemic awareness is subconsciously acquired. Being able to differentiate between different segments in speech is the actual goal of being phonemically aware. Meaning you are acquired this ability. I believe the best way to help students develop phonemic awareness is to have them read or read aloud to them. Not soley for their phonemic awareness, reading also increases vocabulary, and metalinguistic skills. Just to name a few of its advantages when learning a language.

Week 3 of class

This weeks class was very frustrating but also relieving. Given the breadth of the content in this class it is good for me to know that I am not the only one barely swimming to understand. It is a very comforting feeling. I was frustrated however with my headphone set. Breaking into groups is still going good. The discussion was great we were able to work together as a team and come up with definitions of the terms from Finegan 3-4. It is so relieving to work with the material. It gives me an opportunity to let it sink in. Phonetics, Phonology, Allophones, Africates, Stops. When I first read the two chapters for today, it was like I was driving too fast on the road and couldn't read the signs.

Read and retell???

Well, after just reading chapters 3 and 4 of Finegan's book. My brain is about to explode. I have never taken and phonetics courses except for one but it was in German and mostly focused on pronunciation. SOO this would be a crash course to say the least. So for this blog i just want to keep it simple.

Finegan says that consonants can be produced by obstructing air flow as it passes from the lungs through the vocal tract and out the nose or mouth. This differs from vowels which "are produced by positioning the tongue and mouth to form differently shaped passages."

there are three types of consonants. They are fricatives, stops, and affricates.

• fricatives: air is forced through to form a continuous sound
• stops: air passage is blocked then released
• affricates: is formed by combining a stop and fricative (judge)

These three form a group called obstruents.

My personal experience with this chapter besides definitions was that it is extremely difficult for me to say the words and be able to recognize where my tongue is going whether i am stopping my breath. I think memorizing the words and definitions will help me with this task as I become more familiar with them.

English consonants are described in three properties

1. voicing: vocal cord vibration or not
2. place of articulation: where airstream is obstructed
3. manner of articulation: way airstream is obstructed

Week 2 of class

Starting class with Krashen's theory of second language acquistion was great. For me, this theory encompasses so many elements of L2 acquisition in the five hypothesis. I am glad that i already have a good understanding of these hypotheses so the group exercises were just review. I was hoping that we would be able to talk about the first chapter in Finegan's book Language: Its structure and use, but there was not enough time.

The American tongues movie was amazing. I love hearing different accents and languages. So for me just learning about them and hearing them speak in such a different way even though the distance between dialects maybe not be that far but the way people communicate is completely different in terms of accents, phrasing and wording.

The transitions with the microphones seems to be helping my dislike or online course. So as soon as i buy one maybe things will get even better.

1st day of class

I am glad to have some familiar names and voices in the class. It is also good to have new comers to provide a differenct perspective. I am not looking forward to this online class but maybe just maybe it can be a positive experience and change my mind.

Week 1: Learning vs. Acquisition

The first two chapters of Essential Linguistics cover first, second and written language theories. According to an array of theories including Krashens theory on second language acquistion, which is probably the most well known. It encompasses five hypotheses. These include learning/acquistion, monitor, affective filter, input and natural order.

1) learning /acquistion: learning is studying vocabulary and rules. Acqusition is unconscious can develop in conversation and other language activities.
2) monitor: focusing on how a sentence was said rather than what you actually said.
3)affective filter: certain factors can inhibit learning. These could include lack of motivation, a student's attitude in the class or even outside noise that distracts the student.
4)input: i + 1 if a student is recieving something that is too advanced they will not learn anything. However, if it is just above their understanding they can use social cues and metalinguistic knowledge understand a sentence or conversation.
5) natural order: some aspects of langauge appear before others do.

Developmental Psychology

• language and cognition develop seperately but related
• most children develop langauge, do rapidly without instruction (language different from other learning

Sociology, Anthropology, Education

• communicative competence: the knowledge of what to say to and under what circumstances
• invention and convention: students will invent words and phrases to express themselves. However each context in which the students live as different conventions or ways of using language. I.e. school more formal than at home, but may not always be the case.

Linguistics

• Universal Grammar: humans are born with the basic structures of every langauge in the brain.
• Generative grammar: two parts surface structure ( what we say or write) and deep structure ( what is meant). Sentences can be ambiguous because words have multiple meanings. Example: She's a cougar. Could mean she likes to date younger men or that she really is a furry animal with whiskers.

Looking back at my first, second and written language experience. Most of it was primarily conducted in the learning camp. Not until i got to college did i really experience acquisition teaching techniques in my second language. The positives of using the acquisition approach definitely outweigh the negatives. Students can relate to the topics easier because it is built toward communcative competence. They do not have to worry about the constant drilling. Lastly they do not have to fear being corrected repeatedly, which is something i personally have experienced and it did inhibit my learning. I was afraid to participate in class, and in a language classroom this is the worst thing that could happen because you need students to participate to be successful.