Aim: How does language construct and impact thought?
Do Now:
We started off by having to construct 2 Shakespearean insults. After forming them, then we had to figure out the meaning based on personal knowledge alone, and without the help of the internet, etc.
Most of us couldn’t understand the meaning of the words on the sheet, which was why it was difficult to figure out the meaning. You can form it easily by just putting words together. However, it will be difficult to convey a certain message onto your audience if you yourself don’t understand what you are saying. We don’t understand the language, and if we don’t understand that, then there’s no point in even trying to convey a certain message without failing.
We tied this information to the novel 1984. Newspeak was the language in London under the dictatorship of Big Brother. Newspeak was used to limit society’s thoughts due to its lack of words. It eliminates complex vocabulary, such as that of the word warm, for example. Instead of saying warm, you would say uncold; if you wanted to say really cold, you would say doublecold, sometimes adding a plus for extra emphasis.
We then watched a TED talk by Lera Boroditsky about how language alters the way we think. Different people who speak different languages will see the world differently just because of the structure of the language. For example, the word bridge is feminine in Spanish and masculine in German. So when people of both nationalities were asked to describe a bridge, the Spanish usually said words like beautiful and elegant, which are stereotypically feminine words, while the Germans usually said words like strong, solid, etc, which are stereotypically masculine words.
After this, we played taboo-twisted, in which we had to come up with 3-5 words to describe the word iPad, and then 5 words to describe a word from the list given: Belief, Equality, Freedom, Integrity, Pride.
What we learned from this was that the iPad is an object that we can physically touch and sense, making it easier to describe. However, the five words in part 2 of the taboo-twist are concepts, meaning that they have a lot of associations with them. This felt restricting to a lot of people in two ways. The first is that there could be so many ways to describe anything that it’s restricting to just pick 5. The other way is that a person’s language limits them to a certain vocabulary, making it harder to pick words for description.
Takeaways
Different people have different languages that impact the way they think and can restrict them in the way they look at certain things, but at the same time it can broaden the effect.
What is it like working from home?
It’s difficult working from home because it feels like a lot of teachers are giving double the workload, which just adds to the AP exams coming up. Students always looked at school in such a negative way, but now when we look at it, it feels more like a break, because we got to spend time with friends and joke around. Also,the work in class wasn’t as difficult because you had others to help. It just felt less intense than now when we have to try to get adjusted to this way of teaching.
What are the updates around the world/community regarding the virus?
There’s a new virus now called PMIS (Pediatric Multi-System Inflammatory Syndrome), which is starting to appear in NYC and other places. It was said that it was rare and not contagious, however, there are 102 cases (updated 5/14/20) in NYC so far. I really doubt that it’s going to be “rare and not contagious” for long. It's a life-threatening disease related to Covid-19. Kids over the age of 2 have to start wearing masks, which is going to be almost impossible to do. How is a 3-year old going to tolerate a mask? It just leaves no other choice but extra confinement in homes.
What are you learning about your world/community based on the reactions?
I’m learning that a lot of people now are starting to ride bikes, like great numbers. Everytime I look outside the windows, I see families riding bikes. I guess people are using them as a new mode of transportation instead of buses as to avoid people and practice social distancing. It feels very different walking in the streets as well; everyone is just avoiding each other. People sometimes would literally cross the street once they saw me in their path, which I completely understand, but it just feels too weird. I live in Brooklyn, which is usually crowded, but now it just feels very empty.
Reflection
I learned how language can impact people’s lives in the way they look at things at a certain perspective of different things. I learned this because it related to the novel 1984. Language can broaden our vocabulary, but it can also restrict it in that it only provides us with the vocabulary in that language, which will allow people to look at things in a way that has a basis on their language structure. For example, if people were asked to put look at certain images in from of them, people speaking the English language will more likely look at it from left to right, while Arabic speakers will look at it from right to left, which might not seem like a big deal, but it could alter a whole mindset, and this is just one aspect of a language. In the novel 1984, people speak Newspeak, which is an altered form of English with less words. The reason for this is when people have a limited amount of words, they have a limited view on different things and restricted thoughts. I can use what I learned about language to try to look at things from different perspectives. People who are bilingual have that quality in that they’re able to look at things in different ways because of the fact that they’re able to speak more than one language, meaning broader thought and view.
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