Refer to the diagram below from page 9 in Aitchison’s linguistics. How do you combine different disciplinary perspectives to formulate a more holistic understanding of your target language? Do you give preference to one disciplinary approach over the others? How will your knowledge of language structures and disciplinary methodologies inform the trajectory of your learning plan?
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I combine sociolinguistics and anthropological linguistics to explore key aspects of Korean culture and social dynamics. These approaches help me examine how language reflects social structures, such as the hierarchical relationships embedded in honorifics, as well as cultural practices and traditions. Although I’m fluent in Korean, I’ve had minimal formal education in the language and primarily learned it by speaking with my mom at home.
Because of this, I sometimes miss certain cultural nuances deeply tied to the language. For example, in Korea, age is one of the most important social factors, and the way you address someone depends on their age relative to yours. While other factors, such as professional rank, can also matter, age is the most central. Growing up, I often made the mistake of calling someone slightly older or younger than me a "friend," which isn’t correct in Korean culture. In Korea, only people of the same age are called "friends," while others are referred to using specific titles like unnie (older sister for females) or hyung (older brother for males). This was initially confusing for me since in the U.S. it’s common to refer to anyone you’re close to as a "friend," regardless of age. I’ve also noticed that some of the words I use are outdated. For example, I used to say "gukmin hakgyo" (국민학교) for elementary school, but my peers today use "chodeung hakgyo" (초등학교). I later learned that the term gukmin hakgyo was officially replaced in the 1990s. It was changed because the term had been introduced by Japan as a way to reinforce its authority during the period of colonial rule over Korea.
A better understanding of how society and culture shape the Korean language will help me have smoother conversations with peers and speak more confidently, overcoming the barriers I currently experience.
I’m interested in learning several languages as well as several of the fields described which focus on analyzing language. I agree with Gareth that all branches of linguistics are enhanced with the more language study a person has had. Everyone has preferences and mine are Sociolinguistics, Psycholinguistics, and Applied Linguistics.
Applied Linguistics. I teach ESL and am interested in the study of how best to teach language. While teaching changes drastically with the audiences, times, and topics, there are timeless methods and strategies and I’m interested in learning them.
Sociolinguistics. How does culture inform language and language inform culture? In Indonesian, there are four levels of respect with different sets of greetings, addresses, and exits. One of the most interesting things to me about the language was that the two groups who receive the highest level of respect in Javanese society are the monarchs and the president. True they’re both in positions of highest authority, but it seems interesting that in Indonesia ‘Mr. President’ has the same degree of respect and reverence as ‘your Majesty’ or ‘Your Highness.’ In the United States, people would have a great reverence for a president but an even greater reverence for a monarch. This is just one small example from my experiences in Indonesia, but as I continue to study Portuguese, I’d be interested in looking into its sociolinguistics. A sociolinguistic question worth asking for Portuguese could be since Brazilians have a higher power distance score using the Hofstede metric than the United States, how does that show up in how they address authority figures?
Psycholinguistics. How the words available to us shape how we see the world. One of the pearls of the George Orwell’s 1984 and the subject of the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, I’m interested in the psycholinguistics of Portuguese. One good question to ask could be how does the presence of the pronoun “a gente” – which negates the necessity of conjugating verbs in the “we” form in Portuguese – affect attitudes about togetherness. Perhaps having “we” be able to be formed without changing conjugation increases we’s vernacular use increasing the cultural stigma of loneliness.
While I might explore these linguistic questions for the final project in SDLP, I think at this stage of my Portuguese knowledge exploring these questions might not be in scope. It’s something to keep in mind, and something to build an informed opinion on over the years but not something that I believe is worth exploring at the cost of being able to express myself more clearly in Portuguese.
It’s great that you want to learn several languages and focus on fields like Sociolinguistics, Psycholinguistics, and Applied Linguistics. Your thoughts on Applied Linguistics show a strong commitment to teaching ESL effectively. I also found your observations about respect in Indonesian culture fascinating—it’s interesting how languages reflect cultural values.
The diagram reflects what I believe is the most fascinating aspect of language; the variety of subject fields that we can explore language through. Personally, I am interested in exploring language through "language" (applied linguistics) and the intersection between sociology and anthropology. While I feel that we hit all disciplinary perspectives when learning languages, we are naturally inclined to have preferences to individual approaches over others. For example, I'm not as interested in computational linguistics but would pay more attention to sociolinguistics. In this instance, I'm interested in seeing how language shapes society and vice versa, especially given how social Malay and Manglish can be. Given that the language is shaped by those who speak it, I'd like to explore how this plays a role in identity formation. It goes back to the question of 'is culture acquired or formed?'. Understanding the multifaceted approaches that languages can take, I will look at relearning Malay through different lenses. Not just through a "I need to fulfill my requirements" perspective, but rather, how does speaking Malay differ from mixing it with different languages. (Codemixing vs Codeswitching)
This is a very insightful response and it encouraged to reflect on my own language learning approaches. I think you are totally right in saying that we are naturally inclined to have preferences to individual approaches over others. I also am interesting in learning Korean through multiple lenses and this definitely motivated me to step out of my comfort zone!
The three disciplinary perspectives that resonate with me the most are psychology, sociology, and anthropology. Given my interest in psychology and studying human interactions/emotions and my Korean-American culture, I think I combine the studies of psycholinguistics, sociolinguisitcs, and anthropological linguistics to formulate a more holistic understanding of Korean. For example, being able to communicate my emotions and feelings to my parents, and having a reciprocal relationship in which I can extend the same grace and empathy to them, is especially important to me. Despite my proficiency in Korean, the language barrier always seems to be the most prominent when more complex emotions and nuanced thoughts arise. I am hopeful that as I gain a wider understanding of language structures and disciplinary methodologies, I will be able to apply this knowledge to express things in a way that is more comfortable for my parents to comprehend. Whether that be breaking down my own personal preferences that became habits from speaking English so comfortably, or structuring/patterning my sentences differently in a way that is more digestible to my parents, I aspire to diminish the the language barrier and reduce the negative impacts it can have on fostering authentic and intentional communication and understanding. This further strengthens the trajectory of my learning plan to increase my vocabulary range, which remains consistent with my goals.
As a student of psychology and anthropology, I really admire how you’re approaching language as both a tool for emotional connection and a way to bridge cultural and generational gaps. Your goal to reduce the language barrier with your parents resonates deeply—it’s such a thoughtful way to apply what we study to create more meaningful and empathetic relationships.