Language and Societies abstracts, vol. 11 ( 2019)
The abstracts below are summaries of papers by junior scholars from the 2019 edition of my course, Language and Societies. The authors are undergraduate and graduate students in anthropology and linguistics at Wayne State University. Comments and questions are extremely welcome, especially at this critical juncture over the next two weeks, when the authors are making final revisions to their papers.
Kate Blatchford: Redefining Urban Space: Language in the City Beautiful Movement
Dina Charara: Islamophobic Discourse Beneath the Façade of Liberalism and Atheism
Amanda Diaz: To stage manage or not to stage manage
Sam M: Comparing nineteenth century literature portrayals of AAVE by black and white authors
Justin Mazzola: A Ghost of a Tale: Discerning Evidentiality Among Ghost Narratives on Reddit
Shannon Mckeown: Fake News, Crooked Hillary, and Bad People: A Linguistic Analysis of Donald Trump’s Twitter Insults
Jahnavi Narkar: The Promise of Fairness: A Linguistic Analysis of Skin Lightening Advertisements in India
Jennifer Reed: Linguistic Landscape of Japanese in Novi
Zachariah Shorufi: The linguistic legacy of British colonization in Iraq
Tabitha Trembley: The Dichotomy of Gender in Relation to Honor as Shown in the Language of Irish Fairy Tales and Folktales Printed After 1800
Michael T. Vollbach: Historical Influences on the Odawa Language
Li Zhang: Navigating internet censorship in China
Linguistic Landscape of Japanese in Novi
Linguistic Landscape of Japanese in Novi
Jennifer Reed
This is a linguistic landscape study of the Japanese language in Novi, Michigan. It evaluates the motivations behind language use in connection to the community using historical research approaches. Asian-American landscapes remain understudied in this field. A review of past literature on linguistic landscapes, as outlined by Landry and Bourhis, provides context for this paper. Past work along with research on Japanese language and identity are then applied theoretically to various photos and resources collected from throughout Novi to draw conclusions about the Japanese language community there. Japanese language use in the area targets primarily literate Japanese audience with some regard to English speakers and Japanese speakers illiterate in Japanese. This is in accordance with its status as a language of a Japanese transplant and heritage population in an English dominant society. Future studies should focus on multilingualism in relation to permanent and temporary populations. Furthermore, a long-term study of the area could reveal further historical developments and economic motivations.
Contrastive Focus Capitalization: Nonstandard Usages of Capital Letters in Web-based English and their Capital-I Implications
Contrastive Focus Capitalization: Nonstandard Usages of Capital Letters in Web-based English and their Capital-I Implications
Josh Linden
Like most languages using the Roman alphabet, English has an upper- and lowercase form of each letter and several interconnected patterns governing their use. This paper explores the ways those patterns are changing in the age of the Internet and proposes a novel usage of sentence-internal capitalization called Contrastive Focus Capitalization (CFC). CFC mainly targets nouns and conveys a number of meanings related to legitimacy and givenness as well as drawing attention to the most prototypical or salient meaning as the intended one. This phenomenon is explored via analysis of a 2.2 million-word sample of GloWbE, the Corpus of Global Web-based English, consisting mainly of blog posts made by English speakers around the world. The related but distinct practice of capitalizing common nouns as if they were proper nouns is also discussed. It is found that the latter is more common, but both are used especially in American English. Observations are made about the scope and connotations of these forms of nonstandard capitalization and parallels are drawn to other, less orthography-dependent structures with similar meanings. These findings are then considered in the broader context of Internet-based language with the goal of examining the relationship between spoken language and written language in the Digital Age.
Fake News, Crooked Hillary, and Bad People: A Linguistic Analysis of Donald Trump’s Twitter Insults
Fake News, Crooked Hillary, and Bad People: A Linguistic Analysis of Donald Trump’s Twitter Insults
Shannon Mckeown
As political discourse shifts from traditional media to social platforms, understanding and navigating mass communication becomes increasingly important. This paper explores the correlation between Donald Trump’s Twitter insults and standard propaganda tactics in order to reasonably predict the reach and impact of his social communications. By analyzing Trump’s most retweeted insults, this paper reveals a direct engagement with the seven propaganda devices: name calling, glittering generalities, transfer, testimonials, plain folks, card stacking, and band wagon. The tweets reviewed come primarily from the New York Times’ database of Trump’s insults and are compared to a synthesized definition of “insult” derived from the Oxford English Dictionary, Don Rothwell, and Helen Daly. Similarly, the author’s definition of “propaganda” incorporates ideas from Alfred Lee and Elizabeth Lee. Initially this paper establishes what constitutes an insult and determines how Trump’s tweets exemplify that definition. Secondly, three tweets comprised of his most popular insults “fake”, “crooked”, and “bad” are likened to the seven devices of propaganda and their context explained. Finally, the author discusses the reach and impact of Trump’s tweets, noting how information, unmoderated by reputable organizations, can quickly devolve into dangerous, politically biased propaganda. This paper challenges the veracity of political discourse through social media and highlights the danger of an unmoderated platform. Many value the ease of instantaneous information over the faithfulness of traditional source based reporting. This modern complacency has the potential to allow for more political figures to employ the same tactics, eventually to a greater, more destructive degree.
The linguistic legacy of British colonization in Iraq
The linguistic legacy of British colonization in Iraq
Zachariah Shorufi
In this article the author’s goal is to understand better how the plethora of English loanwords found their way into the Iraqi Arabic dialect. Some of the research questions brought up in the article are how Iraq developed into the nation it is today, how the Iraqi Arabic dialect evolved alongside the nation, how the dialect compares to those in countries that are geopolitically similar and share a similar history as Iraq, and how the people in the region feel about these changes to their language. The article is interesting since it aims to investigate a dialect of Arabic that is not that common for foreigners to learn and attempts to make sense of the current linguistics of the Iraqi Arabic dialect. By setting the scene for what needs to be answered or uncovered, the author runs through the history of Iraq to clarify how the current country came to be, segueing on to the more common loanwords and understanding their English origin via literature reviews. The author also draws on articles regarding the surrounding dialects in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Qatar in order to paint a picture of the regional influences English has had, considering that these countries also has very strong influences from the British. Concluding the article with how people feel about the changes to their language and attempts to replace English terms used for modern objects with original Arabic terms, the author finishes by summarizing the influences English has had on Iraqi Arabic and how English is further being intertwined with dialectic Arabic while also b4eing filtered out of the standard language.
Navigating internet censorship in China
Navigating internet censorship in China
Li Zhang
This paper explores linguistic features Chinese citizens use to communicate across the internet and social media in a political environment where the totalitarian government is intent on exerting control and limiting free speech. Ever since access to the internet became widespread, the Chinese government has imposed strict censorship to prohibit (or limit) the spread of criticism of the government, the escalation of alternative viewpoints from political activists and the growth of profanity on the web. This strict censorship has resulted in a great number of words and phrases becoming taboo in the webspace with the result that these words and/or phrases are routinely blocked or deleted by the internet service provider. However, with thousands of years of practice in circumventing taboos, Chinese people never cease to utilize their creativity and linguistic resources to formulate new expressions to communicate important political and social messages. This paper will briefly introduce the current political and social environment that has resulted in a high level of censorship and then focus on the analysis of the newly-coined expressions popular among internet users in China in the last ten years to avoid taboos. This will demonstrate which linguistic features of Mandarin are most often used by internet users to creatively communicate their message and avoid censorship.
The Promise of Fairness: A Linguistic Analysis of Skin Lightening Advertisements in India
The Promise of Fairness: A Linguistic Analysis of Skin Lightening Advertisements in India
Jahnavi Narkar
This study aims to shed light on the factors that dictate the discourse on skin lightening in India by analyzing the language used in online advertisements for skin lightening products. In many cultures, light skin is considered desirable and often represents cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1979). In such cultures, people, mostly women, often engage in the use of skin lightening products and treatments. Light skin is considered an important element of female beauty in many Asian cultures. Asia is one of the largest markets for skin lightening products with hundreds of local and international brands in India alone. In conjunction with the premium placed on light skin, stigma is attached to the lack of cultural capital symbolized by dark skin. In most Indo-Aryan languages, using the word for ‘dark’ to describe a person’s complexion is considered offensive. Euphemistic words like ‘wheatish’ and ‘dusky’ are used instead. This also applies to Indian varieties of English. This study analyzes advertisements for skin lightening products on the English and Hindi platforms of the e-commerce website Amazon, www.amazon.in, along four comparative metrics – the language of advertisement, the targeted gender, the price of the product and its country of origin. The dependent variables studied are the specific words used to describe the bleaching properties of the product, the product itself, the targeted user prior to their use of the product, the qualities the product promises to impart to the user, and the conceptual metaphor (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980) used in the advertisement. This study highlights the role of language in the construction of the notions relating skin color to class, gender, and caste.
Historical Influences on the Odawa Language
Historical Influences on the Odawa Language
Michael T. Vollbach
The Eastern Ojibwe dialect, often referred to as the Odawa language, is currently a secondary language spoken among thirteen thousand people in North America. The intent of this paper is to explain the changes that the language underwent as encountered other indigenous and European languages. Furthermore, the paper delves into the revitalization of the language that occurred in the early twentieth century. The paper relies heavily on primary sources. Many early sources observe the Odawa’s first contact with Europeans. These observations are important as they relate to the reader where early settlement and interaction with other indigenous took place. The research bears out that the result of the Iroquois Wars forced the Odawa to seek refuge in larger numbers of indigenous people that spoke a separate dialect. Living among diverse speakers effected the base language over time. As well, European influence often time saw that loan words appeared in the Odawa tongue. American domination of indigenous people had the most detrimental effect on the language. The goal of the government was to set up boarding schools that cleansed indigenous youth of their culture. These schools, sometimes called Carlisle Schools, have a very negative consequence on the Odawa language as usage began to disappear. During the decade of the 1930’s the language of the Odawa was dying. The recognition of this plight of the language led to elders leading a revitalization of the language to a modern Odawa language that is currently being spoken and taught in high schools near historical settlements today.
The Dichotomy of Gender in Relation to Honor as Shown in the Language of Irish Fairy Tales and Folktales Printed After 1800
The Dichotomy of Gender in Relation to Honor as Shown in the Language of Irish Fairy Tales and Folktales Printed After 1800
Tabitha Trembley
Fairy tales seem to be such an important part of our lives, both as children and as adults. We enjoy the stories of the prince saving the princess, fairies that play in the water and with the mortals, or even the evil stepmother who is always up to no good. On a deeper level, when looking at these stories there is a clear dichotomy of language used to describe not only males and females, but also the character traits they possess. My interest specifically is how “honor” is described between males and females, if there is a difference, if it is specifically stated or is it assumed based on other words. While “honor” itself may not always be stated, there are descriptions that lead to the assumption of honor and dishonor. It is these terms I choose to focus on. I did this by focusing on analyzing a handful of Irish folktales, researching scholarly articles written by those specializing in fairy tales, and combining it all into a cohesive and easy to follow analysis. I hope that this work can lead into what these stories tell us about ourselves, how they effect the way we see male/female roles and the differences of honor between the two.
Fairy tales seem to be such an important part of our lives, both as children and as adults. We enjoy the stories of the prince saving the princess, fairies that play in the water and with the mortals, or even the evil stepmother who is always up to no good. On a deeper level, when looking at these stories there is a clear dichotomy of language used to describe not only males and females, but also the character traits they possess. My interest specifically is how “honor” is described between males and females, if there is a difference, if it is specifically stated or is it assumed based on other words. While “honor” itself may not always be stated, there are descriptions that lead to the assumption of honor and dishonor. It is these terms I choose to focus on. I did this by focusing on analyzing a handful of Irish folktales, researching scholarly articles written by those specializing in fairy tales, and combining it all into a cohesive and easy to follow analysis. I hope that this work can lead into what these stories tell us about ourselves, how they effect the way we see male/female roles and the differences of honor between the two.
To stage manage or not to stage manage
To stage manage or not to stage manage
Amanda Diaz
To speak and to understand are two concepts that do not always work together. The language that one speaks in their profession is one that is unique. The only individuals that understand are those that have firsthand experience. This paper shows how language in the theater is unique in the type of language used for a specific type of theater. The language is focused on the stage manager, and how they interact with the director, designers, actors, and crew. In turn how the director, designers, actors, and crew interact with the stage manager. The role of the stage manager is that of parent, teacher, liaison, priest, and so on to those they work with, with the knowledge that it varies between musicals, non-musicals, and dance. Both the Social Exchange Theory and the Boundary Theory play a role in how the interaction will play out.
Comparing nineteenth century literature portrayals of AAVE by black and white authors
Comparing nineteenth century literature portrayals of AAVE by black and white authors
Sam M
Research concerning African American English in general is not common and even less common is the study of the dialect in written form. Thus, this paper asks a unique question – is there a difference in how black and white writers portrayed black speakers of AAVE in literature? I examine four nineteenth-century literary works dating from 1852-1888 for uses of double negation in both white and black characters and compare them for frequency of use. I find that there is indeed a difference in how these writers portrayed black characters speech. African American writers used fewer AAVE constructions than white writers. I think these findings demonstrate to us possible attitudes of white writers toward African Americans, and black writers toward themselves. Future research on this issue could reveal more systematic difference in portrayals of black characters and could provide further insight into the attitudes toward African Americans at the time.
Islamophobic Discourse Beneath the Façade of Liberalism and Atheism
Islamophobic Discourse Beneath the Façade of Liberalism and Atheism
Dina Charara
When President Donald Trump issued the first of three travel bans blocking travel from Muslim-majority countries in 2017, it became widely known as the “Muslim Ban”, and caused a mixed set of reactions. Sam Harris, an American neuroscientist, philosopher, blogger, podcast host, and a well-known atheist thinker, and Bill Maher, a Democrat American comedian, political commentator, and an openly atheist thinker both spoke about the travel ban. While each of them has criticized Islam for at least the past decade, this paper examines what they have said about Islam in light of the first of three travel bans issued by Donald Trump by using liberalism and atheism to support the points they make. This paper uses the work of Lakoff and Johnson (1980), Van Dijk (1993), and Santa Ana (1999) in the form of a discourse analysis to show how Harris and Maher used atheism and liberalism as ideologies to demonize Muslims and Islam around the time of the first travel ban. The primary sources of this paper include an episode of The Messy Truth with Van Jones in which Bill Maher appears as a guest, The Muslim Ban by Sam Harris, and Winning the War of Ideas—Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO) in which Sam Harris appears as a guest. This research found that Maher’s and Harris’ critique of Islam by using an Us vs. Them narrative, depicting a war of ideas with the Muslim world, and referring to non-practicing Muslims as moderate reflects Islamophobic notions.
A Ghost of a Tale: Discerning Evidentiality Among Ghost Narratives on Reddit
A Ghost of a Tale: Discerning Evidentiality Among Ghost Narratives on Reddit
Justin Mazzola
Human beings have been telling ghost stories for as long as there have been campfires to tell them around. These narratives take root in fiction or in fact depending on how they are told and who they are told by. This paper utilizes the concept of evidentiality, a linguistic system that seeks to show ‘truth telling’ in text, and how it applies to self-proclaimed ghost narratives the author wishes to convey as fact. Blog posts were chosen on http://www.reddit.com’s r/ghosts subreddit and analyzed via discourse analysis based on word count, popularity of the post, word indicators used by the author to convey truth telling as well as other markers such as skepticism, adamant belief and seeking advice. The data collected from these blog posts were used to consider the commonalities between authors and how the speech they use reflects the truth in their narratives. Ghost narratives treading in a scrutinized territory before they are even spoken/written depend on a specific type of communication in order to be conveyed elegantly enough to be believed by the intended audience. Utilizing the concepts founded in evidentiality I was able to link certain aspects of writing styles and means of establishing fact between authors to show how presenting this particular type of ghostly context fits into a specific formula. That formula ultimately translated into specific words and phrases the authors would use to establish their authority on the matter and why what they were saying about their spiritual encounter was the truth. Although this framework only finds its applications in the type of narrative I have analyzed it would be interesting to explore how these formulas find themselves relevant in broader and much longer ghost narratives that are presented as fact.
Redefining Urban Space: Language in the City Beautiful Movement
Redefining Urban Space: Language in the City Beautiful Movement
Kate Blatchford
Spurred on by Chicago’s World Colombian Exposition in 1893, the City Beautiful movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries sought to improve American cities through ‘beautification’. This took the form in some places of monumental building or city planning, and in others of a new support for municipal art. The extent to which the movement succeeded varied by location. Language used to describe and define urban space has a very real effect on how that space is viewed, and therefore how it is experienced and ultimately what is done with it. This paper examines how language was used by and about the City Beautiful movement in order to further the goals of the movement. In particular, it examines how urban space and landscapes were defined and framed by newspaper articles contemporary to the movement. Articles regarding the movement in Washington D.C., New York City, and Detroit were examined. Through discourse analysis, the paper finds that negative framing was used in discussion of the past and present of the city, while the potential future offered by the movement was framed positively.
Language and Societies abstracts, vol. 10 (2018)
The abstracts below are summaries of papers by junior scholars from the 2018 edition of my course, Language and Societies. The authors are undergraduate and graduate students in anthropology and linguistics at Wayne State University. Comments and questions are extremely welcome, especially at this critical juncture over the next two weeks, when the authors are making final revisions to their papers.
Yen-ting Chang: “Found My Best Self”: Women’s Fitness and Body Transformation Discourse
Asa Choate: French Naming Practice of Assimilating English-based Internet Terminology
Grace Fusani: Languages in Dreams: A Look into the Influencers of Bilinguals & L2 Learners in the Dreamworld
Ashley Johnson: Language, gender, and uncertainty in writing about sex identification in Maya bioarchaeology
Robert McCallum: Tensions, Power and Words: The Use of Authoritative Brand Identity Language on Ad Agency Websites
Andrew McKinney: Sorrow, shame, and lament in Irish folk lyrics
Kelsey McKoy: The Interpretation of African American Vernacular English in Museums
Craig Meiners: Metaphors in Branding and Design of Professional Basketball Players’ Shoes
Carly Slank: Dogespeak: a Heckin Good Descriptive and Contextual Analysis
Samantha Spolarich: The magical discourse of Harry Potter: how spells came to be
Jami Van Alstine: Voice in postcards related to the woman’s suffrage movement in the United States in the early 20th century
Anna Zabicka: “Rigvir, Anyone?”: A Discourse Analysis Of Oncolytic Virotherapy Medication Websites
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