These readings brought up a couple of very interesting concepts about language. I had never known the research about left-handed versus right-handed people processing different sides of the hemispheres. I have always heard of the left side of the brain or the right side of the brain being related to whether or not a person was more ‘analytical’, more ‘rational’ or more ‘creative’. Also the slip of the tongue” part of the first article was very interesting. I know that personally I find these language mistakes happening to me when I am rushed and or nervous. Speaking too quickly I often make these mistakes. It is interesting how the process of speech formation throughout the brain could be disrupted by some emotive force that may come from another part of the brain. I know that in language learning, for me confidence while speaking is hard to come by because of the discomfort with the possible mistakes I could make, and then the subsequent embarrassment. It is interesting to think into how, even in native languages, emotions may disrupt the actual word and speech formations.
Then in the second article, I was fascinated by how representative the words available in a language shape the view that a certain people have about the world at large. This concept is something that really drew me to language learning. When the article outlined how we refer to different persons within our lineage, grandfather, or mothers father, it represents the culture and style of the speaker. What is important to the speaker, whether certain distinctions are necessary etc. I also found the section about meaning making. “Isolated words do not lack meaning. Rather they have the potential for conveying too much meaning”(161) This quote is very interesting to me because I think of the ways in which words have relational meaning an the ways in which we assign meaning through sequences of words, but also auditory cues. I think that for me, as an auditory learner these articles really outlined how listening to words themselves in context may be the best way to learn new vocabulary. Also learning vocabulary through antonym→ I think that observing these sorts of word’s relationships to one another helps with my recollection of their meaning. I have always felt like knowing a word and its antonym helps me feel a sort of balance within myself.
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