Endangered Language Podcast

Podcast: https://soundcloud.com/lukas-schroth/endangered-language-podcast

Most Meaningful Takeaway

"When I think of my tongue being no longer alive in the mouths of men a chill goes over me that is deeper than my own death, since it is the gathered death of all my kind. It is black night descending once and forever on all that world of forests, lakes, snow peaks, great birds' wings [...]"

This passage of the text The Only Speaker of His Tongue by David Malouf resonated with me due to its contents on language, identity and culture. If I were to think that my mother tongue would die out, I believe that I would have the same perspective on the matter as stated in the passage above, as it does not only mark the death of my language, but the death of all of my kind. Words unique to my mother tongue would be lost, traditions would vanish, it values would be forgotten.

In the passage, David Malouf describes the death of his tongue as "deeper than [his] own death", meaning that the death of a language has a greater effect than just on an individual as the language is "no longer alive in the mouths of men". The loss of a language marks the death of its culture, customs, inherited knowledge and its traditions "since it is the gathered death of all [its] kind." David Malouf describes the death of a culture as a "black night", empty and dark, without any light that would represent the life of a culture. With the culture's death, also die the culture's unique way of describing the world, such as its "forests, lakes, snow peaks, great birds' wings", as no two cultures are alike. Each culture, like its language, is unique.

What is the value of preserving indigenous languages?

Language is an important part of society as it enables us to communicate with each other and express ourselves. According to Back To Babel, when a language dies out, “it marks the loss of an entire culture”. I however disagree with this statement as I believe that a language is only a part of a culture, and not something that solely defines a culture. However on the contrary, I do believe that some of the knowledge and understanding of a culture is lost when its language is extinct. Even though most of the culture and some of its traditions can be preserved by writing or technology, certain things such as customs, inherited knowledge and oral traditions are lost, meaning that future generations lose a important part of the culture which is necessary in order to completely understand it. 

As not all aspects of a culture can be preserved after its language dies out, I believe that it is important to preserve indigenous languages. Each language is unique, no two are the same. When a language dies out, certain words which don't exist in other languages die out with it. For example, the word “Dadirri” from Aboriginal Australian, which is an ancient word that combines deep inner listening, contemplation, and quiet still awareness of creation and the creator. Furthermore, words such as these also gives us an insight into what was valued in the culture. If all of the indigenous languages were to die out, there wouldn't be such a great language and cultural diversity as certain aspects of these lost cultures are forgotten. Due to this, it is important to preserve all languages as they all give us a unique perspective on the world and their values in their culture.

The Pitch Reflection

Today we presented our pitches for our assigned advertisement. Suho, Ben and I were assigned to advertise a high sugar energy drink to the UAE together. At the start when we were first told what our task was, my group and I were confused about what exactly we had to do, however by the end I believe that we did a decent job. In my opinion, our presentation went well as everyone remembered their part of the presentation. Furthermore, we used specific persuasive techniques such as celebrities, association, humor, plain folks, charisma, and analogy in order to advertise the high sugar energy drink more effectively. We also used specific pictures in our presentation in order to reinforce our statements or to add a bit of humor. This presentation has helped me understand more about ethos, pathos, logos, the different persuasive techniques, as well as appeals. Overall I liked this activity as it gave us a opportunity to practice our speaking in front of others, and because this allows us to get feedback from our teacher on what areas we could improve on.

Rhetoric in Advertisements

Ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ULR68LTmbw

This is a advertisement directed at adults. This is seen by the language and terminology that is used within the ad, as well as the fact that teens or smaller children would not buy this product themselves. In this advertisement for Colgate toothpaste, ethos, pathos, and logos is used. Ethos is used by the dentist recommending the product himself. This makes the ad seem more credible and trustworthy due to the authority the dentist has. Furthermore, at the end of the ad, the toothpaste is "recommended by dental professionals", which also makes the ad more trustworthy. Pathos is also used in this ad, as the two people talk about their dental problems, which seem to have went away after they used that toothpaste. This appeals to the audiences' hope of getting rid of their dental problems. The benefits of the toothpaste are then also stated specifically, by the use of logos. The dentist uses specific numbers and indicates the specific problems this toothpaste can help. This proves to the audience that switching to this toothpaste is the logical thing to do due to its benefits.

Letter to the editor - Twtr? It's majorly bad!

In this article, Laura Clark inaccurately explains the effects of texting towards one’s language abilities. The author, Laura Clark, blames technology for “eroding hard-learned skills” in areas such as spelling and grammar. She believes that text speak “erodes pupils language skills”, which I disagree with. Technology is a great learning tool for students to use as it improves the student’s language due to dictionaries, auto-correct, and the whole internet, which are available to a student in just a couple of seconds or are a few clicks away. Laura Clark goes on to say that many youngsters are not “reading in the same way”, and spend their time on social media, making her wonder how much new vocabulary youngsters are exposed to. I fully disagree that social media hinders kids of being exposed to new vocabulary. With social media, kids are able to take in more information and vocabulary when compared to reading a book as there is a large variety of posts and comments, which only betters ones language ability. Schools should not see technology and Social Media as a hindrance to the language skills of an individual, but as a helpful and effective tool when trying to expand a student’s vocabulary as well as their grammatical skill. Coming back to my initial statement, text speak does not “erode pupils language skills”, and much rather expands pupils language skills. Texting is an expansion of an individuals language skills, and should not be seen as a damaging influence on one’s language Ability. Learning the different vocabulary in text speak, such as gr8, m8 and innit, should be seen as learning a different dialect or even a new language when compared to the language used in school. I believe that saying text speak is bad, is like saying that being bilingual and knowing a different language is bad. Being bilingual has been proven to have a positive effect on a person’s cognitive skills, thus improve your language skills. Due to this, I believe that this article inaccurately represents the effects of texting and technology on a person’s language abilities as it does not erode language skills which were previously acquired. 

Eminem Cultural Memoir

When I started out Rapping I had a really tough time. In a community dominated by Blacks, gaining authenticity and being recognised by other rappers as well as by my audience was a real challenge. In this community, artists have to stand by what you represents and who you are. Self expression and individuality is key to be recognised and have an impact on the community and my audience. I was far from all of this, and even today, my authenticity is still often questioned. When I started out rapping, over 75% of my work was sold to white people. Of course they questioned my place in the predominantly African American community, where most rappers sell all of their works to other African American people. 

Even though at the start I was often not accepted, this soon changed as the hip-hop community and other artists realised that I was not the typical white rapper. My lyrics was different, my stories were different. I was brought up in a low class, poverty stricken white household with only my mother, who used to be a welfare recipient. I never knew my Father. Due to the hardship and violence that i had to go through when I was smaller, I was acknowledged more by the hip-hop community. They seemed to understand what I went through. I used to use my songs to express my socio-economic status to my audience. Even though my hardship, which I faced in the early years in my life, brought me closer to being accepted by the community and having an impact, I was still not fully integrated into the community. 

This however changed when I teamed up with Dr. Dre, who himself is a established and recognised rapper in the community. By having him by my side, on the same team, I finally made an impact on the hip-hop community. People started to listen and liked what I had to say. Dr. Dre had a big impact on my life. Due to him already being a prime figure in the field, I had it easier. With now people actually wanting to listen to what I had to rap about, they liked my music more. They understood my hardship, they acknowledged me as one of them. Once i was fully accepted into this community, my impact on both the community and audience grew larger daily. In incorporated more violence into my songs, as this seemed to be the topic most people in the community wanted to hear about the most. Due to the increased attention towards me from the community, the press and media also started to want to have interviews with me, which again boosted my impact on the community as most of them were broadcasted on TV or Radio, which many people have access to. I believe that marketing myself in the correct way had the biggest impact as I became more well known and thus have had a greater impact on the Hip-Hop community, as well as on my audience.