Research Project Groups

Politeness Strategies
Margarita
Jenna
Rose

Object Identification Vocabulary Preference (by gender)
Amanda
Domo
Alex
Jasmine

Responses to Profanity (by generation)
Kullan
Owen
Ornella

All groups will be testing general vocabulary comprehension with the same test/task in order to establish a unifying factor across the three projects. 

Our sample population is the Buxton Community.

Proposal Outline

Research Project Proposal Outline

Please write up a one page proposal that addresses the following questions. Bullet point or narrative style are both fine. Bring a printed copy to class on Tuesday.

1) What social division would be appropriate for your study? (Regional, Class, Generational, Ethnic, Gender…) What scale do you imagine? (Buxton-wide, Williamstown, etc.)

2) What linguistic phenomenon would be appropriate? (discourse strategy, pronunciation, orthography, vocabulary, syntax…)

3) What specific variables do you imagine studying? (how to ask for the time, how to describe an object, slang use, etc)

4) What methods of research would you employ? (polling, interview, formal tasks, spontaneous questions…)

5) Any other details or limitations you think are important for your study to work?

6) Why do you think this topic/combination of factors is valuable to study?

THE PROJECT

We are going to try and follow the scientific method in designing and implementing our research project(s). It goes (according to Wikipedia and Will) as follows:

1. Observation: The collecting and organisation of empirical facts; Forming hypothesis.
2. Induction: Formulating hypothesis.
3. Deduction: Deducting consequences of hypothesis as testable predictions.
4. Testing: Testing the hypothesis with new empirical material.
5. Evaluation: Evaluating the outcome of testing

So far this term we have been spending our time in the observation stage; reading theory, discussing language and discourse on an abstract level, listening to experts hold forth on how humans have developed and refined language use as a social structure. Which means we are now arriving at the induction phase. As we transition from collecting information to formulating our hypotheses, you should read the last three pieces in our binders. These are a collection of linguistic research projects that could serve as inspiration, or at the very least as models for how we should proceed. 

For Tuesday's class, you should come with a relatively clear and focused hypothesis about some linguistic phenomenon we have studied in the past few weeks, as well as an outline of possible approaches as to how we might test and then evaluate your hypothesis. 

Second Presentation

Start with the Pinker reading on Politeness Theory, and hopefully that will get your brains churning with some ideas of how to present these subsequent theories of linguistic manipulation. Have fun!

Comedy/Joking
Jasmine
Domo
Alex


Cursing/Swearing
Rose
Amanda
Owen
Jenna

Metaphorical Language
Maggie
Ornella
Kullan

Ready for Bliss?

Why can't we all just get along? Could we achieve utopia if we were to agree upon a limited but fundamentally optimistic language to be spoken/written/read around the globe? Let's contextualize the conversation by analyzing George Orwell's proposal for Newspeak (reading in binder), Charles Bliss' earnest plan for an internationally recognized language of symbols, and Esperanto.

Reading Responses

On the syllabus, you will find (below the awesome chart) a brief list of expectations. The presentations/debates are listed on the syllabus, but the TWO written reading responses can be done after any reading(s), at your discretion. I would love for these responses to become dialogues, if that feels right, so please post them in the comments section for this blog post (you can dialogue more directly by commenting on someone else's comment...whoa...). Feel free to reference other media we have covered, such as the Radiolab podcast or TEDTalks.

First Presentation

Prepare by reading the excerpt from Steven Pinker's The stuff of thought. Each team will have 15 minutes at the start of class on Friday to put finishing touches on their presentation, and then 15 minutes to present their theory to the group. Presentations can include media, please let Carmen know before class if you will need a projector. At the end of the presentations, we will have a debate between the 4 theories, so you should be taking notes during each presentation accordingly.

Team 1: Extreme Nativism

Jasmine David

Margarita Fuentes

Team 2: Radical Pragmatics

Domo Lafontant

Hollis Lane

Jenna Litton

Team 3: Linguistic Determinism

Ornella Njoya

Amanda Ringland

Alex Ross Farris

Team 4: Conceptual Semantics (definitely watch this TEDTalk in addition to the reading)

Rose Shuker-Haines

Owen Thompson

Kullan Warner