105 Journal Entry #1

I have learned a lot from the assigned readings. I have always been interested in Psychology and the way brain works, so the "How the brain handles language" article was very interesting for me. We do not usually think too much about how complex our brains are, and how even the simplest task involves the performance of many areas of the brain.  

I have learned that it is most likely that I use the left hemisphere for language as I am a right-handed person. According to the article, the left hemisphere is dominant for language in most right-handed people (estimates are usually over 95%).

Another part of this article that I found interesting was the idea of slip of the tongue. Slip of the tongue is a mistake in speaking, for example saying "Nice to beat you" instead of "Nice to meet you." This is a common error in speaking because the average pace of speech is 150 words a minute, so a slip is likely to occur as we talk. I believe that I will make many slips of the tongue in the process of learning the language, especially pronouncing the words that contain letters that I encountered for the first time. 

Another article talked about the naturalist view (Plato) and the conventionalist view (Aristotelian). The naturalist view believes that there is a connection between the sound of a word and the thing it refers to, while the conventionalist view believes that there is no connection, and thus the relationship is arbitrary. I agree to both views to a certain degree. From my learning experience, I can say that there are some words that I could just guess their meanings because they just seem and sound as the things they refer to. For example, when I heard the word "kedi" I immediately associated it with animal cat, and I was right. However, this is a case in maybe less than 0.5 %. All others words need translation, and explanation. For example, I would never guess or associate the word "balta" with "axe." Thus, even though I do agree with the naturalist view to a certain extent, I still believe that in  majority the conventionalist view is more correct. 

Many languages have only one word that are used for several purposes. There is a good example in the article that says that in English "cousins" can be male or female. Unlike Turkish language that has separate words for a male and female cousin, English does not have different words to distinguish male cousin from female cousin. For example, female cousin in Turkish is "kuzin", while male cousin is "kuzen." As we can see, Turkish clearly distinguishes between male and female cousins. This is also a case with the word "uncle". "Uncle" refers to the brother of one's mother or father, while in Turkish language we have different words for the brother of one's mother (dayi) and the brother of one's father (amca). I think that separation of such words is very useful because it gives a better picture of who you are referring to and you avoid the possibility of misunderstanding. 

Also, from reading this article I learned the importance of relationship between words. Words by themselves do not make much sense. Vocabulary is important but knowing only vocabulary will not help you much to express yourself in right terms. Words are ambiguous and one word can have several meanings (such as word "table.") Therefore, when learning vocabulary it is of a great importance that you not only memorize the word but also understand deeper meaning behind the words and idioms. 

Synonyms are also important in becoming proficient in a target language. However, I believe that at this stage it is still too early to start worrying about synonyms as I have to learn basic vocabulary first. 

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