Monday, November 28, 2011

Research Topic & Sources

TOPIC: Brain Injuries and Language Ability

1.) Chapter 12: Language and the brain.
2.) http://www.biology-online.org/8/4_brain_damage.htm
3.) http://www.biau.org/what/what.html

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Blog Post #5

1.) Football
The word football comes from the phrase, in 1848 to, "to foot a bill", which means tallying the expenses and writing the figure at the bottom which is the "foot of the bill.
The use of the word ball in English in the sense of a globular body that is played with was in 1205, and it came from the Middle English word "bal."
 Foot-                 ball
(free-bound)   (free-bound)


2.)Icecream
The word fire comes from the meaning "actions of guns", and this was used in the 14th Century.
The word man comes from the early 12th Century meaning "to furnish with a company of men."
Fire-                            Man
(lexical-bound)        (lexical-bound)

3.)Breakdance
The word break comes from the local language of Normandy "un breque" which in English means break.
The word dance doesn't have a specific origin but in French influence and arts society has become the primary definition for the word dance in Russia and in Spain.
Break-                       dance
(functional-lexical)  (functional-lexical)

4.)Headphone
The origin of the word head comes from the word behead, or it was also used to say "head of the table".
The origin of the word phone originated from the word tele, which became telephone (something you can communicate on).

Head                           phones
(bound-inflectional)  (free-inflectional)

5.)Cellphone
The origin of the word cell comes from a man named Robert Hooke looking through a microscope at thinly cut piece of cork.
The word phone was also originated from the word telephone as I stated for the word headphone.
Cell                           phone
(free-bound)            (free-lexical)

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Blog Post #4

1.) How do you think the rise of social networking affects language use?
The rise of social networking affects languages because no one reads newspapers, magazines, or books everyone reads their news by some kind of technology, wheather it be through a computer, a phone, or a television. Many people chose to get their news through the web because then they don't have to pay for a magazine or a newspaper. Getting information and news from your technological device saves you money and it is always at your convenience. Pretty soon people talking face to face will become extinct everything will be computerized and no one will be able to actually speak to someone without communicating with them through technology. There are so many new sites out such as facebook, blogging, and twitter, and a few years back we had myspace.

2.) Does the spread of the Internet and other technologies create a larger need for English knowledge around the world, or reduce its necessity?

I think that the spread of Internet and other technologies reduce English knowledge around the world because with the internet today and the phone devices that we have you can do anything at the snap of a finger. There are so many websites you can go on to get the information that you need and our phones have so many different kind of apps to help us discover what we need.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Blog Post #1

Hello everyone my name is Nicole and I am Italian and Armenian. I was born in the United States and the first language I learned how to speak was English. My Dad can understand and speak Armenian fluently, and my Mom can understand Italian but doesn't speak it on a daily basis. I was never really taught by my parents how to speak both Italian and Armenian. When I was younger for four years I went to a sleep away camp up in Boston and it was an Armenian camp and while I was there I had learned to speak Armenian and write in Armenian. It was really fascinating to be able to learn another language other than English and to be able to write in another language as well. I learned Italian not so much from my family, but when I took Italian in high school. Since I didn't keep up with speaking both Italian and Armenian on a daily basis I have forgotten how to speak both languages. If I was to speak those languages as if I spoke English I wouldn't have a problem remembering.
I think different languages other than English are easy to pick up on if you speak that language everyday. If you really want to learn a new language and you are dedicated to learning it you will understand and pick up on it easily. What makes me really curious about language is how it was invented and how important it is to everyone until this day. Without language there would be nothing, no one would understand each other and no one would be able to really communicate other than using motions and hand gestures.