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Taylor and Alysa

04 September 20XX

Analytical Conversation 1:

1) What makes language human? And what role does language play (if any) in

making us human?

The shared cultural and physiological underpinnings for language across all

humans like combining sounds (phonemes) to form words, semantic structuring

of words in similar ways, recognition of tenses, and organizing words to form

sentences.

- Unlike other non-human species, we have the ability to utilize arbitrary

signs to represent specific concepts, objects, or ideas. This permits humans

to communicate about abstract concepts and things beyond their

immediate environment. The arbitrariness of these symbols is a universal

trait that spans across all human language.

- Human language involves more complex cognitive processes, such as

recursion ( the ability to embed phrases within each other) and

displacement ( discussing things not present in the immediate

environment). These aspects permit abstract thinking and complex

reasoning.
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- It is more creative, giving humans the ability to generate an infinite ability

of novel utterances. This promotes constant innovation and adaptation

within our communication.

2) Discuss this quote: “Language has always been the perfect instrument of

Empire”. How does it connect to concepts and ideas we’ve learned so far?

Have we learned anything that could challenge this notion of language as an

element of Empire?

- It connects to the concepts we learned thus far because it expands on how language is not

just a neutral tool for communication, but a strong means in molding thought, culture,

and social structures. The quote highlights this by connecting language directly to

imperial power.

- Dives into how languages, especially English, have been used to exert cultural and

economic influence globally. This often resulted in: “The creation of linguistic

hierarchies”, “control over access to power and resources” and “Shaping of global

discourse and knowledge production.”

Challenge the notion:

- Colonized populations often adapted imposed languages for their own purpose, forming

new dialects or creoles. This demonstrates that language can also be a tool of resistance.
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- More modern linguists emphasize the importance of “linguistic diversity”, countering

past imperial outlooks that viewed some languages as superior compared to others.

3) Explain what you know about how and why languages evolve, giving

examples where appropriate. Does any aspect of language evolution and

change connect with your major or minor? How?

The aspect of language evolution that connects with my major of Media and

Communications would be:

Alot of things like:

- The digital transformation/conversion of language: The emergence of digital media

and online communication platforms has significantly impacted how language

evolves.

- Social media language: Usage of emojis, abbreviations, and communication styles

specific to platforms like Instagram, and Twitter)

- Understanding how globalization affects language like a shift towards more concise

communication, an increased usage of of multimedia communication, and changes

in formality levels in different communication contexts.

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4) What is Lingua Franca and how does this concept connect with the

relationship between languages and power? Does understanding this

relationship give us any insight on what the future of language will be?

“Lingua Franca” is a language that is adopted by a common language between speakers

whose native languages are different.

This concept connects with the relationship between languages and power:

- Historically, “lingua francas” have often been languages to dominant powers such

as: Latin ( during the Roman Empire), Arabic (in the Islamic World), French ( in

European Diplomacy), and English within the modern globalized world.

- The language among the most economically and politically strong nations tendon to

become a lingua franca such as: English became widespread from British

Colonialism, and then later American economic dominance.

Understanding this gives us insight into what future languages will be because:

- Increased global connectivity could result in the formation of new hybrid languages,

and as global power dynamics shift we might see

5) What did you learn from Dr.Cousens guest lecture?

I learned:

● How the architecture of human language is different from the architecture of the

“Artificial Neural Network” , through neurons and connections.

● That humans have more “cortex” and the “cortex” is where language is occurring.

So we have more cortex, and the connections between the different brain regions are
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what support the complex linguistic processes that we are able to have “as humans”

, but your pets (such as your dog or cat) do not possess or are able to possess. For

example, “You are able to communicate with your pet “dog”, but your “dog” is not

understanding language in the same way you and your friend are understanding

language.

● That we can attribute different linguistic or other processes to those different brain

regions known as “Localization of Function.” Localization of function is the idea

that there are maybe one or two language centers in the brain where the neurons are

located that contribute to a human's ability to speak.

● An approach to see where language in the brain occurs is performing MRI’s on

people ( Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and by reviewing MRI’s, we are looking at

oxygen in the brain ( not the actual nerve cells), but language. Some other

approaches he mentioned were “Electrophysiology” and “EEG Head Caps” people

wear to get their brain waves examined, and another technique called ERP which

allows us to measure the the electrical activity of nerve cells in a non-invasive way

because it does not involve surgery, just wearing a head cap.

● How physicians Paul Broca and Wernicke looked at people who had speech

disturbances of various types, and tried to catalog those speech disturbances, and

found that there were different types of disturbances that there patients would have,

and once those people passed away, they took out their brains to look at and tried to

find the damage that might have attributed to this particular kind of disturbance.
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● The different types of Aphasia: Broca’s Aphasia, Wernicke’s Aphasia, Conduction

Aphasia, Global Aphasia, Transcortical SensoryAphasia, and Transcortical Motor

Aphasia

● Wernicke’s Area has to do with comprehension and Broca’s Area has to do with

speech production. Patients with Wernicke’s Aphasia speak fluently but their

language does not really mean much and you can’t really understand what they are

saying. On the other hand, people with Broca’s Aphasia have speech but broken

speech. You can try to extract some meaning from that and you can understand. It

is kind of like a serve impediment.

6) What is the Bilingual Turn and why is it important to our current knowledge

of bilingualism and Second Language Acquisition?

The “Bilingual Turn” is a representation of a shift on how researchers and educators

perceive bilingualism and second language acquisition.

It is important to our current knowledge of bilingualism and second language acquisition

because:

- It acknowledges the reality ( or commonness) of multilingual societies and

classrooms, transitioning away from the idea of homogenous language communities.

- It acknowledges the unique competencies of multilinguals, rather than aiming for

only the “native-like” proficiency within each language.

- The Bilingual Turn promotes translanguaging and other pedagogical approaches

that utilize learners' full linguistic repertoires.

- Consider the social and cultural aspects within language learning.

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- Acknowledges the prior linguistic knowledge of acquiring a new language.

7) What has been your favorite topic so far this semester? Why?

My favorite topic this semester so far has been the Neurolinguistics content covered

because I found it really interesting and informative learning about how the brain

processes and forms language, showing the intricate relationship between neural structures

and linguistic processes. Especially how it explained the multifunctionality of language

networks explaining how language networks in the brain are not strictly domain specific

but are also involved in other cognitive functions.

- I also found it interesting learning about the different types of Aphasia and Broca

and Wernicke’s influence on this area of study.