Genie

After your class has written the in-class essay, please read Chapters 1, 2, 4 and 5 of Genie. I apologize for the disturbing content, but the material is essential for our future discussion of Language. Once you have read these chapters, please answer the following questions and post them to your blog. The answers are due March 4.

1. What was Psamtik's experiment? What did he hope to learn? Did he?
2. Rymer claims on pg. 5 that "while his experiment was flawed in fulfilling its declared intention...it embodied both the theological questions and the practical quandaries that still bedevil the discipline." Where did Abel hint at this same concept?
3. Why do Linguistics and Astronomy "constitute an unlikely sisterhood"?
4. Why was the Social Worker concerned about the young girl that came to her Welfare Office with her mother?
5. Consider the history of Linguistics outlined in Chapter 5. Please explain how the study of language grew from the religious to the biological and finally to the psychological.

Through Deaf Eyes & Abel In Class Essay

In a 45 min. in-class essay, please answer the following question:

Using the Documentary Through Deaf Eyes and Abel's Chapter 7, please answer: "To what extent do the use of Oralism and Sign Language impact the Deaf view of reality?

If you base each paragraph around the following questions, and you specifically mention the documentary and Abel, you should be well on your way to addressing the question:

A) How does The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis apply to Deaf Culture?
B) How did Oralism and Signing facilitate, extend, direct or limit thinking?
C) If the Deaf use the Oral method or Signing, is what they KNOW different in each language? Does each "language" provide a different framework of reality?
D) What role does Abel's explanation of Sense and reference play in how the Deaf might use Oralism or Signing to view reality. Consider Abel's quote" "Though meanings require words, they are not identical to words.” (p. 68) and that we use ‘linguistic symbols to organize experience” (p. 69)?
E) What are the implications of your claims? What would be a counter-claim?

Add an Opening Paragraph and a Conclusion and you'll be all set. As in the past, it is Open Note, but please don't write the essay before class. I would like everyone to write the essay by hand - no laptops please.

The essay will be given the following days:
Block B: Thursday 2/26
Block F: Thursday 2/26
Block E: Friday 2/27
Block G: Monday 3/2

You will be graded based on the ToK Essay Rubric.

I would love to see outlines and to assist you in preparation for this essay. Please see me.

Eyak Language

Please Listen to the NPR stories entitled: Eyak Language & The Sound of Vanishing Languages. How far should we go to preserve a dying language? In your answer, please consider the following questions:
a) What are the arguments on both sides of the debate in promoting a single language?
b) How far should we go to save a dying language? What are the financial and cultural implications?
c) After reading: Every Teacher is a Language Teacher, what do think of the I.B. supporting International Mother Language Day?

This journal must be posted on February 14 to receive full credit.

Earth vs. Eyeth

Please read Radicalism in Deaf in the Culture under Language Articles on my blog. Then, answer the following questions.
a) What is the primary argument of the students representing Deaf Culture?
b) Why would the Deaf Culture students value a President of Gallaudet who spends more time in Eyeth over Earth? Shouldn't a President of a college represent all students?
c) What are the advantages and disadvantages of a Deaf person spending too much time in either Eyeth or Earth?
d) What is your opinion of the fight at Galludet? Should Jane K. Fernandes be President of Gallaudet?
This journal must be posted by February 7 to receive full credit.