During these two weeks we had a debate about eBooks. Then, we study the difference betwen jargon and slang. Slang is use in social groups, is very informal and can only be understand be people from the group. Jargon is used in specific jobs, and is more formal.
We also so a video of alex, he has the ability to talk fluently in 11 different languages.
Political correct language is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and
institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual
orientation, certain other religions, beliefs or ideologies, disability,
and age-related contexts, and, as purported by the term, doing so to an
excessive extent. (Wikipedia.com 24/06/12)
This week we talk about politically correct language, and communities. We found three definitions for communities, but the one I like the most was the definition of the Course Companion:
"A group of people that share the same customs, interests, laws or traditions, and language" Course Companion
We also watch a video of "Ebonics", a variation of language made from the African american people
This text refers to the variation of English, talking about Chinglish (Chinese variation), Arabizi (Arabic variation), and Canadian variation. It refers to this changes as a new English "spiced with flavours from foreign languages". This means that English has "Mixed with so many other cultures and has absorbed influence from all those cultures" making this language richer than any other language world wide. This happen because English is a "amazing tolerant language" and has incorporate words from other cultures, in fact English now has more than 700.000 words.
This changes in language are taken by the author as something positive because people of other nations feel more comfortable with this language, and post-colonial countries speakers reclaim English in their own way to create a new nationality.
This text could be compare to "Ebonics", also a variation of language studied in class. "Ebonics" is the change of English made by African american people, using words like "FOO" for meaning "you silly young man". Though this alteration of English is consider bad because it doesn't follow any grammatical rule.
As a more technical analysis I will identify some of the elements learn in class: The author's purpose is to inform of the subject of language variation (English), it uses a formal language, with a lot of jargon ("Chinglish, Arabizi"). The tone of this text is a positive one because it talks about the advantage of de diversity in English.
During weeks 12-13-14-15, we went to the New Zeland trip, It was a
wonderfull experiencia, because we get to know more about the New Zeland
culture. We start our journey at June the 24th and we arrive to
auckland two days later. We stay in auckland for one day and then hit
the road to Wellington. We stay at wellington for about 3 weeks, with
our host families. As a group, we visit many places and we had a lot of
fun. I had the oportunity of going to a rode trip to Roturou, where I
went to a maori village.
In this week we talk about jargon and argon, and the types of language. We define jargon as a specialized vocabulary particular to a job, and argon, as a specialized vocabulary particular to a class or group.
Then we talk about types of jargon and argon:
-Cientific Language: This refers to words used in medical fields, It uses very complex words. Example: AIDS.
-Legal Language: This is the language used in legal processes (lawyers), this type of language has to be precise and objective.
-Language in Sports: This languge has to be very explicative, because it has to explain every movement en the game.
