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Dying Languages

Posted by Pete Minassian on October 14, 2010 at 2:24pm

The reading this week in How Language Works describes what happens as time progresses with regards to various languages. The author specifically mentioned how languages are starting to die out, about one every two weeks. These languages that are dying out may seem to be worth nothing to the average person; however, if you think about it, these languages hold so much information about our past. And indeed, past does transcend borders and cultures, because we are all human beings, regardless of what part of the planet we call home. These languages, unfortunately will die out. There is nothing that we can do about it. The author says that there are a few methods, including digitizing the languages, but regardless - we will never speak olde english or latin ever again.

I feel as though if a nation has adopted a language as its official language, then that language will never die. In this day and age, even languages like Armenian have been recorded and written down, allowing us to forever retain a copy of this language that stretches back thousands of years.

I wish that I could learn at least a little bit of each of the 6,000 languages in this world, but alas, there are not enough semesters left at UR for me to take self-directed study classes! :(

Journal Entry #7: HLW pgs 336-364

Posted by Alexis Witt on October 14, 2010 at 1:55pm

I really enjoyed this section of the book, mostly because I find languages themselves fascinating. Since I love learning about languages, it was so interesting to learn more about the development of languages.

The first section disturbed me. I didn't realize how many languages were in the world, and I had no clue how many were dying. It is hard to believe that 5,000 languages out 6,000 languages in the world have less than 100,000 speakers and that 3,000 languages will die in the next century. That is a crazy statistic. I'd assume many of those languages are the old tribal languages of Africa, including Nyacusa, which is spoken in the area off Tanzania.

I also learned a lot from the following section. This discussed how languages are born. I learned how pidgin languages evolve into creole languages. This is what happened with Swahili. Apparently, Swahili was invented to help Indians trade with various African people; therefore, it started as a pidgin language. Eventually, it became more popular and more complex, and eventually transformed into a creole language, spoken by many people on the Eastern Coast of Africa. It is also the national language of Kenya, Tanzania, and possibly a few other countries.

I thought the section on how language began was very interesting, but it didn't give any clear answers. I realize that there may not be any answers, but I found that parts of this section were slightly over my head. For instance, I don't have the scientific knowledge to know what the difference between an Australopithecus and a Neanderthal are. It is very interesting, but I would need more knowledge on the development of humans to have a better understanding of this section.

How language changes also is pretty useful while learning a new language. Old English is obviously very different from New English, but language is constantly changing and words are being used in new ways. For instance, slang terms today are different than the slang terms that my parents and grandparents used. When my Dad was growing up the word "gay" meant happy, and today we use it to describe someone (especially a male) who is homosexual. I'm reminded of the song "Back When" by Tim McGraw (yes, I do enjoy my country music). The refrain puts it this way "Back when a hoe was a hoe/ Coke was a coke/ And crack's what you were doing/ When you were cracking jokes/ Back when a screw was a screw/ The wind was all that blew/ And when you said I'm down with that/ Well it meant you had the flu./ I miss back when." Even between generations language changes so much. In Swahili, for example, Hujambo was a common greeting, but now it is mainly used when addressing elders. Now, people just use jambo or vipi to greet a friend.

Artifact 3 - Hello!

Posted by Pete Minassian on October 14, 2010 at 1:00pm

Learning Journal #7 - The Evolution of Language

Posted by Haley Harris on October 14, 2010 at 10:30am

This week's reading was rather depressing. In the next 100 years, half of today's languages are going to die out
It is astonishing that 96% of the world's languages are spoken by just 4% of the people. Eventually there is going to be no diversity in the world and, frankly, that will just be boring. I'm not saying that if everyone spoke a single language that we would all be the same but there would be a general trend towards assimilation.

But wait, there is hope..languages can be saved!!!...but it would be expensive- about $100,000 a year be language. And if you take all of the 3,000 languages, it would be $900 million. Yes, that's a LOT of money but Crystal raised the point that the money needed, $1 billion, is equivalent to only one day's OPEC oil reserves. But I highly doubt that there will be any great strides towards saving languages. Now I'm depressed again.

The text also talked about how languages began and how language changes. It seems like common sense that languages started as a result of the need for trading. I found it very interesting that poetry is used to figure out what old languages sounded like. Again, it makes sense.

I feel like my language learning took a fall break this week too :( I reviewed most of the vocabulary I have learned so far but I don't think I really learned anything new. This week I am really going to focus on being able to make sentences. I can't just go around shouting the vocabulary I know. Hey...maybe I can make my own pidgin language.

Learning Journal 7

Posted by Rebekah Yowell on October 14, 2010 at 1:53am

I have oftenwondered why it is important to keep dying languages alive. When there is no practical necessity for a language, such as when another language is spoken just as widely by the people group, what would be the use of maintaining the language? The way the text describes how the loss of a language “reduces the diversity of our planet” (339) helped me realize the value of preserving a language, even though it is only spoken by a small minority. Languages contribute more to a people than just a method of communication. They provide a way for a culture to identify with each other and other people groups with similar historical roots. Languages help track “movements of early civilizations” (339), and thus have strong historic importance.

It interested me to find out that Modern Hebrew is one of the few cases where a language was successfully resuscitated. It provides interesting ground for studying why the language was so important to the peopleof Israel that they would have the desire and will to go through the difficult process of reviving an ancient language. This goes back to the idea that language is more than just communication, but an important symbol of cultural identity and legitimacy.

The chapter that explains how and why a language changes made me think about how the English language has evolved. It also causes me to worry. With all the slang and abbreviations that are becoming more commonly used, is English deteriorating? And is this not deterioration, but a natural change that comes inevitably with a living language? Although “proper” English is still spoken widely, will “most deff” (most definitely), “toats” (totally), “obvi” (obviously) and other words such as this eventually become more commonly spoken, and therefore more accepted, than the original words?

Languages evolving

Posted by Kristen Harrison on October 13, 2010 at 2:35pm

So this week we read about the lifespans of language -- how languages die (and how some people try to save them), how they evolve and form creoles, how human Language first developed, and how they change linguistically over time. I had heard that languages are dying out, but I never realised the full scale of it. Of the 6,000 or so languages in the world, half of them will die out this century. That's about one every two weeks. I guess that can be blamed on globalization and imperialism, and the cultural dominance of English at the expense of other forms of expression.
So many cultures are all colliding now, from faster and more efficient communication and travel as well as expanding economic and political contact. As a result, the younger generations are gravitating toward speaking the languages they hear on the television and in movies and in music -- usually English, seen as the language of the future and of opportunity. The internet is dominated by a few very popular, very strong languages, with the result that these languages are perpetuated in the next generation of speakers, whose society's former first languages fall into disuse.
I was interested to read about the revitalization efforts some people have taken to try to stop the death of a language, because I hadn't ever heard of these movements. Some of them might just be slowing down the inevitable, but I think it's a great idea to try to save a language, if a community has the necessary resources and commitment, because there is so much identity and history contained within a language and it's always a great shame when one dies out. A language is a society's entire mode of expression of their culture's world view and ideas and philosophies, and it's hard to think how any of us could function if we were the last remaining lone speaker of our language.

Learning Journal Entry #6

Posted by Melanie Waligura on October 11, 2010 at 8:00pm

Honestly, this week has probably been the least productive for me thus far. I have been sick for the past few days, so I have not been able to spend as much time practicing Hebrew as I would have liked. However, for this week we were supposed to have read pages 96-158 in Crystal’s book. While I am trying very hard to get into the book and to learn from it and from everything the author talks about, I still cannot seem to motivate myself to at least try to enjoy the readings. Overall, I have not found the book to be very helpful, but hopefully, this will eventually change; I am trying to stay optimistic J

As for my progress, like I mentioned before, I have not been feeling well at all this week, so my progress has been minimal. I am still using the BYKI to help with my vocabulary, but I am in the process of trying to find other ways to learn Hebrew vocab. While I love the BYKI and think it is very useful, I want to experience other types of tools and familiarize myself with multiple ways of learning Hebrew. Also, I still do not have a language partner to help with learning Hebrew. Despite the fact that I am trying, on my own, to learn Hebrew as best as possible, I feel like I would be much better off if I had someone who knew Hebrew and was actually able to guide me through everything. Coming into this course I knew that it was self-taught and that I would have to do a majority of the work on my own, but after hearing that I would be getting a language partner I was much more relieved, knowing that since I had no idea about the Hebrew language, at least someone would be there to help me. But, I can say that I am making the best of it and am doing what I can to learn as much Hebrew as possible. I knew from the beginning that I would not walk away from this class fluent in Hebrew, so all I can do is the best I can J .

I have not made my voki yet because I was unable to go to class because I was not feeling well. However, I talked to one of my classmates and he said that he actually had a lot of fun making it, although he is not sure what he is supposed to do with it. I am looking forward to making one though!

VoiceThread

Posted by sharongs on October 5, 2010 at 3:33pm

Journal Entry #6 - HLW pgs 97 - 158

Posted by Alexis Witt on October 5, 2010 at 1:41pm

One thing in the book, that really caught my attention was the part on sign language. I realize now that I accidentally started reading on 159 because I happened to leave the book open to 159 rather than 98, but I still felt that it was worth mentioning. My cousin, Jamie, is currently teaching her year old daughter, Alexis, sign-language, mostly because my cousin's in-laws are deaf. They are teaching her basics, like "more" and "eat," so she can always have some sort of communication with her grandparents. Alexis is better with sign language than English at the moment, since all she really says now (well, the last time I saw her) is Mama and Dada. It is interesting how she picks up the sign language so easily.

That section also reminded me of an Australian comedian, Adam Hills, who does many of his shows with a sign interpreter. I think they do British sign language, but I am not entirely sure. Of course, not all of the signs would be "school appropriate," but he had a skit on sign language that went into some of the british signs for things like Scotland, Ireland, and Australia. It was interesting to see how the sign related to the country or whatever he was talking about.

I found this reading really intriguing. I found this particularly interesting because I have always been better at writing new languages than speaking them. I tend to learn writing quickly because I can easily pick up grammar and other rules in order to write letters or notes to myself.

And I also love looking how people from who speak or spoke different languages write. I always have loved looking at hieroglyphics and other ancient writings. I may not be able to understand them, but the drawings or the characters are written so beautifully. I love watching documentaries where people decode the mysterious messages on the walls of the pyramids or the temple at Karnak. It has always fascinated me, probably because I love ancient Egypt and other ancient civilizations.

Also it is interesting to see the differences in people's handwriting today. I've noticed that generally older people tend to write more in cursive, while younger people like to print. There is even a Facebook group called "Third grade lied to me; I never use cursive." In my AP US History course, my teacher would write in cursive, and there were students who couldn't read it. I was always one of the few who wrote in cursive. My grandparents, older people at my church, older teachers, etc. seem to write in cursive more frequently than people my age.

I also found the analyzing handwriting portion pretty interesting. I've heard several different psychological analyses on it.

I can also relate to the part on spelling. I have always been a good reader, but I have difficulties spelling. This is partially because I was never taught how to spell, in general. In elementary school, we were taught how to spell certain words. We had these "no excuse words" every year that we had to be able to spell, but we were never taught phonics or other strategies to learn how to spell. I have always been quite thankful for spell check computers.

Posting a Voki

Posted by sharongs on October 5, 2010 at 12:00pm

To post a Voki to your blog, you need the code for 'Other' in the 'Choose Destination' menu under your Voki. Copy this code.

In the Ning, choose to add a new blog post and give it a title. Click the HTML button at the top of the 'Entry' box. Paste the code you have copied.

If you wish to add text to your post, click the 'Rich Text' button.

Preview and then Publish!

Learning Journal Entry #6

Posted by Nicolas Dacey on October 4, 2010 at 10:30pm

For this week we read pages 97 - 158 in Crystal's book. I remember last week a couple people in class had read this section already, and considered it very helpful. This entire section of the book was about writing, and although I found it very interesting, this aspect of language learning is least important to me right now. Even though I had this impression about the section, I did find that chapter 23: How writing and speech differ, could be useful stuff to think about when I am speaking a language, and when I write it down. He talks a lot about the "permanence" of words that are written, and how it can be analyzed thoughtfully. Writing also lacks the interaction of speech, a fundamental part of language that helps convey meaning. He then went on to talk about how electronic writing is a medium between the two; an idea I have never really thought of before, but it makes sense. Technically, I am writing this blog post electronically, but am not doing so in CMC or Netspeak. I write in a carefully thought out and socially respected manner. I suppose when he talks about online writing, he is referring to how people communicate to each other in more of a live setting, instead of how I am communicating to others (this can be read at any time).

To update on my progress, I have downloaded the byki software and started using it at home. Once again, I am not a big fan of this software for the same reason as Rosetta stone. The words come up written in Hebrew instead of phonetically. I want to recognize the words in multiple ways. I want to combine hearing the words with seeing them, and because I don't understand the sounds of the Hebrew aleph bet yet, I can't do so with these softwares.

I made a voki today. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with it. I tried to make a text box in this ning and put the code to imbed my voki on my homepage, but that didn't work.

Learning Journal #6 - HLW p. 97-158

Posted by Haley Harris on October 3, 2010 at 10:30pm

As I was reading How Language Works, there were multiple instances where I was glad English is my first language. First, I am glad that English does not have a logographic writing system. I couldn't imagine having to learn 1,945 characters, as in the case of Japanese. AND, you would learn 1,006 characters during the first 6 years of elementary school. That is unbelievable. How many notebooks would you gather over the years?! Second, it would also be hard to use an alphabet of only 11 letters, like in the Solomon Islands. It seems like everything would look alike.

I found the chapter on "how we read" to be very disappointing. Even though Crystal explained the theories of whether we read by ear or read by eye, he did not go into the topic of the direction of reading. For instance, is it more natural to read from right to left or left to right? Or, is there a certain age where it become much more difficult to learn to read from the opposite direction? I guess this would be really hard to test. I do have to believe that it would have been easier to learn Farsi when I was younger.

I also didn't agree with everything in "how we write and spell." Crystal was explaining that writing is more difficult than reading because spellers have to reproduce all of the letters. This isn't the case in Farsi, where consonants are written but only sometimes "alef" ("a") is written. I did like the part where Crystal talks about how children need to learn that writing aids thinking in ways that speech cannot perform. He says that writing gives the person time to reflect, to re-think, and to use language as a way of shaping thought. Now I don't feel so bad that most of my learning has revolved around learning how to write.

On Tuesday, Wadia, my language partner, is going to give me a "test." It is going to consist of the alphabet, writing words she pronounces, family relationships, and colors. I'm excited to see how I do.

This week I am going to focus on making simple sentences. Last week I started to learn pronouns; now I just need to build my vocabulary and work on verbs.

I think this week was the first time I fully realized that Turkish will probably be much nicer to learn than european languages are. From what I've learned so far, it just seems more consistent, not t

Posted by Kristen Harrison on October 1, 2010 at 7:47pm

I think this week was the first time I fully realized that Turkish will probably be much nicer to learn than european languages are. From what I've learned so far, it just seems more consistent, not to mention much simpler grammatically (at least more so than German). I think European languages are more complex or at least more irregular because of how they developed over time as a conglomeration of very disparate influences. They started life as indigenous Celtic tongues that were forced to adopt very different constructions when the Roman Empire expanded and brought a Latin influence. So in reality, most "Romance" languages are really just very unorganized attempts at Latin by speakers of a completely different language. English is particularly bewildering because it began as a Brythonic language, was conquered by Latin, then by Vikings (who spoke some kind of ancient Scandinivian?) and Anglo-Saxons who brought German, then by the French with the Norman Conquest.

Anyway, not to wander off-topic, but Turkish just seems to have simpler structures -- no masculine/feminine business, which cuts out memorization of gender, as well as gender suffixes on adjectives or nouns; articles like "the" aren't necessary; there aren't irregular verbs? (YAY!); and subject pronouns aren't often added since they are implied by the verb's conjugation. I was actually happiest to hear about the regularity of verbs, and also that there is one system of conjugations -- in French the conjugation changes based on whether the verb ends in -er, -ir, or -re, and there are SO MANY irregulars, including most of the commonest verbs.
I've been working on grammar this week, because I don't think I could memorize lists of vocabulary very effectively without some sort of context for it.

So far in our group sessions we've covered the "five states for a noun", as in the suffixes for a noun like " in the ---" or "from the ----". One of the most important things for me to know right now is the relations between the vowels, and learning the front and back versus high and low ones. I know the personal pronouns, the suffixes to make a noun plural, how to negate a verb, some common verbs, how to drop the verb stem to make a command, some basic syntax like the verb goes last and the most important part of the sentence goes just before the verb. And also I know the format to conjugate a verb in present tense and the suffixes to indicate possession. So theoretically, I should be able to construct some basic sentences. I have very little memorized at this point, but it's in my notebook so I just need to study it by making example sentences.

Journal Entry #5: How Language Works pg 58 - 96; Reading and Learning New Words

Posted by Alexis Witt on September 28, 2010 at 1:54pm

I apologize for finishing this post an hour before class, but I almost forgot that I didn't finish my entry a few days ago...

Personally, I felt that most of the reading was pretty boring. It had too many technical terms for me to stay intrigued. But I did find a few things quite interesting. For instance, I had no idea that there was an entire system for classifying vowels (chapter 10). I have always just thought of them as a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y, like we have learned since elementary school. Of course, I knew that depending on the word, there can be long or short vowels, but it was interesting to read about the more complex classifications, even if I didn't completely understand it. I felt that chapter 12 was the most useful because it discussed more how we speak and our tones of voice. For instance, we change our tone depending on what emotions we are trying to express, what kind of sentence we are using (a question v a statement), the meaning of the sentence, etc. I also thought some of the information on how children learn language was interesting, but I don't know how to apply that to self directed learning. I really thought the part on page 87 with the study with the fish was really interesting. Although the child knew that the word was fish, he kept pronouncing it fis.

I think my vocab is coming along well. I can recognize about 50 - 75 words while reading something, and have about half of that memorized into my vocab. My biggest problem is that in drill with Professor Kapanga and our language tutors it is all spoken, and I am more of a visual learner. I have to write something down to remember it. But it is coming along quite well in my opinion.

To Nuray and Sharon

Posted by Yazmeen Nunez on September 28, 2010 at 11:12am

Movie on 2010-09-16 at 20.04.mov

I haven't been successful with the times I've tried to upload this movie. Stephanie and I did this on September 20th but now I think I've found a way to put it on here :) Here you go!

Journal #5

Posted by Yazmeen Nunez on September 28, 2010 at 11:08am

I've always found it very rewarding to study vocabulary. Stark memorization, they say, does not help to learn a language most efficiently, but I find that repeatedly studying a list of words does indeed help me to grasp the concept of these words; I can link them to pre-formulated ideas or create my own way of learning them that will last me a lifetime ("sandalye" means chair because I put my sandals on the chair - I don't, but it will certainly help me remember that word!) To learn more vocabulary, I have been choosing topics like food, clothing or school and building a list of related vocabulary for each topic, then studying them and repeating them in my head until they are stuck. Additionally, I have been putting up Post-Its all around my room, with each piece of furniture labeled in Turkish, so in the morning as I get out of "yatak" and go through my morning routine I repeat the words I come across and try to make sentences.Vocabulary is also important for the reason I just mentioned: it allows you to make sentences and thereby reinforces the material because you can use it in context. The more vocabulary you know, the more variety you can have in your simple sentences.The reading was very interesting. It seems appropriate that we learn how children learn to develop speaking capabilities. It becomes very difficult for me at times to differentiate between particular vowel sounds in Turkish but it does help to, as Crystal mentioned, remember that language aims to have a set of rules about it. For example, when I am having trouble remembering the exact word for something (perhaps the word for clothes, elbise) I can just recall that in Turkish, vowels in words generally align as either back or front vowels. "Elbise" is constituted of all front vowels. I can use this effectively for learning vocabulary in the future.

Learning Journal #5

Posted by Nicolas Dacey on September 28, 2010 at 10:29am

This week I have been working on building my vocabulary and becoming more familiar with the Hebrew alphabet. I started with writing down each of the letters as best as I could, with their pronunciation next to them and what they are called. I wanted to also include basic Hebrew words that start with those letters, but it turns out to be harder to put together than I thought. I think I need to find a resource that has already done this. Next I went online and found this awesome video (clearly for kids) that has a song and lots of images for each letter. Here is a link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT4btENpqOE&feature=related
If I can start finding videos for word groups such as animals and foods, I think that would be the best way to build my vocabulary.
After that, I began writing down some of the terms I think I will actually use. I already had greetings done, so I expanded to things like please, do you have, how much, i am a student, i want, etc... then I started adding words to go with them like water, money, waiter, coffee, in order to put these statements into complete sentences. Speaking them aloud as I write them has been the most effective way to learn so far, so now I always study alone, usually in my house off campus so that I don't bother anyone.
The Rosetta stone is another interesting tool. I made it through the first lesson, and I can see why people think it is effective, and how it is supposed to work. Unfortunately for me, I think I also need to write down the words as I speak them so that I can see them. I also don't like the fact that I am alone. I want to be able to talk about this vocabulary with other people, and Rosetta stone does not embrace that technique.

The reading was once again interesting, but not very useful for my learning. I liked the chapter on how we use tone of voice. I think it would be a great cultural post to hear some different ways for Israelis to say the same thing, but to have totally different meanings by changing their tone of voice. It will be interesting to discover the similarities and differences in tone of voice between the Hebrew language and English. Besides that, the other sections on how babies learn vowels and how we make sounds and organize them are interesting, but cannot be applied to my Hebrew practice.

Vocabulary

Posted by Kristen Harrison on September 27, 2010 at 12:26pm

The David Crystal reading dealt mainly with the issues of pronunciationand formative speech, identifying tones of voice, the physicalconstruction of vowels and consonants, and the early patterns of speechdevelopment in children. The information was well-researched andinteresting from an academic or technical perspective, though I don'tknow to what extent it could help me individually in my quest to learnTurkish. Theoretically, if I had a template of the phoneticpronunciations of words in Turkish, by the International PhoneticAlphabet or something similar, I could better understand how topronounce words. This should be available in dictionaries, so I think itmay be worth learning the IPA, so that I can see a word written outwith its pronunciation and know immediately how it should be pronounced.Beyond this, though, I find the topics addressed interesting, but Idon't think it's relevant for my current studies to know the differencebetween Alveolar and Retroflex intonation, or the progression oflanguage development in toddlers. At the point, I'm working on learning abase of vocabulary, and the beginnings of basic grammar so that I canform it into sentences. I'm learning numbers, days of the week,pronouns, everyday words like "yes" and "left" and some basic versatileschool-related vocabulary. For grammar I'm beginning to learn some basicverbs, the nominative and accusative tense, and some prepositionalforms like "to ---" and "from -- " and "in --",. The noun takes onsuffixes when it is the object of these prepositions so I'm learning torecognize the different forms. I'm going to continue to try to work onthe grammar forms, and aim for 15 - 20 new words a week.

Learning Journal 4

Posted by Rebekah Yowell on September 27, 2010 at 9:30am

While listening to Israeli television and continuing to study vocabulary, one of the things I have noticed is the distinct rhythm of the Hebrew language. The rising and falling of tones makes me realize the importance of learning the correct way to pronounce each word, and knowing where to place the stress. Also, the length of the stress on a particular sound matters. For instance there are two vowel sounds, the shegol and the sheva, that both make the "ah" sound, but the sheva is just slightly shorter. Also, the difference between the sound made by the letter Hay and the letter Chet is interesting to note; the both make a "h" sound but the Chet is pronounced gutturally, in the back of the throat.

The reading mentions the importance of intonation in the organization of grammar. I thought back to watching Israeli TV, and this immediately made sense to me. Because I know so few words, in order to gain some idea of what was being said I was paying close attention to the rhythm and inflection of the sentences. For instance, in an interview I could make out who was the interviewer and who was responding by the heightening of tone at the end of a phrase that signaled a question.

In studying vocabulary, I have noticed that Hebrew is often arranged very logically. For instance, the word for "uncle" is "dod", and the word for "aunt" is "doda". Similarly, the word for "son" is "ben", and the word for "daughter" is "bat." Both pairs of words have obvious similarities, but also clear differences that signal gender change. Further, I thought it was interesting that the term for "male cousin" is "ben dod", literally "son of my uncle", and the word for "female cousin" is "bat doda", literally "daughter of my aunt". Patterns such as this make it easy to learn new terms once you have mastered the base words, because all you have to do is combine the words. I am hopeful that I will see a continuance of this pattern as I continue to build my vocabulary.

Learning Journal #5 - learning new words

Posted by Haley Harris on September 26, 2010 at 11:00pm

This week I focused on learning colors and family relationships, roughly 15 words. Unlike English, there are different words for a maternal and paternal aunt/uncle which makes memorizing a little bit harder. I also worked on pronunciation and writing. I ran into some problems with the writing (I wouldn't call its spelling really) of the colors because different sites write the form of a letter different. I suppose it's all the same because it's the same letter but it's confusing because it can look so different.

David Crystal discussed how it is important to pay attention to the phonetic variations that can occur, to ensure that we make the right decisions about which sounds are phonemes and which are allophones. He also talked about how we focus on the way sounds combine in a language to produce typical sequences. When I was studying the pronunciation of Farsi, I was faced with brick wall, if you will. In most cases, vowels are not written. Instead the letter is pronounced with either an "ah," "eh," or "oh" sound. Wow! This is so different from English. My language partner was trying to teach me and she said that you practically have to guess. But wait, there is a right answer. So, is it really "guessing" and how do you know if you are right? There are indicators that CAN be placed either above or below the letter but they are never written. So again, how are you supposed to know you are right?

The text also discussed that sequences can be divided into rhythmical chunks. Crystal used the example of memorizing a string of number. This example didn't help me directly but it made me reflect back on learning the pronunciation. My language partner kept telling me to look at two letters, "n" and "r" for instance, and think of the most logical way to connect the letters. So, even though Crystal's discussion of prosody didn't directly relate to my language learning it did trigger a learning technique for pronunciation.

Thinking ahead, I want to set a realistic vocabulary goal for myself. Right now I am still focusing on pronouncing words so it is going to be harder to learn new words now compared to the end of the semester. This week I want to learn 15 new words with a focus on apparel and accessories. Hopefully, and more than likely, this number will increase each week.

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