Me Talk Pretty One Day

That be common for I, also, but be more strong, you. In proper English it would be something like this: That is common for me too, but you need to be stronger. In this botched sentence the verb be is incorrectly used in the place where is should be. also the pronoun I is used where me should be. Since the language being attempted is French, they are likely to be mistakes in conjugation. For some reason there is a comma after too where I would not put one. The pronoun you should be placed between but and be. Then, finally more strong should be reduced to the one adjective stronger.



I am in the rigorous process of learning French. It is far different than English in that every word has grammatical gender instead of just natural. So before one can properly speak the Language, they have to learn the tricky rules revolving around gender. And if that isn't hard enough, it is necessary to memorize countless conjugations for each word. Each word takes on a different form depending on whether you are referring to you, them, us, you plural and so on. Plus, the sentence structure is different. If you use correct French words, but use them in an English structured sentence, it is often incorrect. Taking this class has openned my eyes to the vast world of phonetics. It makes learning French seem less significant in the grand scheme of things.

Reading Log for Chapter 9

Chapter nine is about the syntax of language. Syntax deals with the structure and ordering of comonents within a sentence. Within syntax is generative grammar, which makes explicit rules about constructing sentences. The structures of syntax includes deep and also more superficial sentences. In the sentence: Jimmy kicked the ball, the sentence is called active because it focuses on Jimmy. However if the sentence is changed to the ball was kicked by Jimmy, it puts the attention on what happens to the ball. This is called a passive sentence.

The part I found interesting was the part on structural abiguity. These are sentences with two interpretations. An example of this would be: Ginger burned the man with a bowl of soup. Did Ginger actually use a bowl of soup to burn the man, or did the man have a bowl of soup when Ginger burned him?

To make it easier to explain and understand the organizational structure of a sentence, a tree diagram can be used. This diagram seperates the adjectives from the pronouns from the verbs and so on and so forth. It also seperates the phrases within the sentence. There are two ways to set up the tree. The first way is to set it up by way of dissecting the entire sentence. The second way is by using phrase structure rules and cunstruct the sentence by phrase with these rules in mind.

Recursion is cool too. You can save yourself some space and avoid saying "and then" "and then". Recursion is putting sentences inside of each other. John knew Paul. George asked if John knew Paul. Ringo was curious whether or not George asked if John knew Paul. It seems to me like this could get a little messy. Could these kinds of sentences easily turn into run ons?

Reading Log for 6,7 and 8

Chapter 6 was about how the words we use are formed and the process that is undergone to form them. The chapter talked about how easy it is for us to adopt new words and names in to our language because there are almost always very similar and relatable links to other words we use in our language. Our language is highly complex, and therefore also very adaptive. The chapter used a specific example of product names; specifically hoover, which is now a household name. Every day we are presented with new names on tv, in ads, on the street, or in everyday conversation. We are constantly adapting our language along with culture. This all seems obvious because it is.

A key term in this chapter is etymology. Etymology is the study of the history and origin of a word. This is explained through a variety of methods such as coinage, which is the invention of a totally new term. And then there is an eponym. That is when a new word is based on the name of a person or place. There are basically just a bunch of vocabulary words that are related to etymology.

Chapter 7 is about how these words can be morphed and all the different elements of a given word. For example: the word talk can be morphed in to the words talks, talker, talked, and talking. There are also words called functional morphemes which stick around and are rarely joined by new comers i their category. They are called a closed class of words. The part of this chapter that I found most interesting was the part where they talked about the langauge in Ganda and how there is a different inflexional prefix for singular forms of words than there are for plural.

Chapter 8 is about grammar. It defines and explains all the aspects of language. These terms include nouns, articles, adjectives, verbs, prepositions and others. Since defining all of these would not make for a very interesting reading log, I will move on. Some languages use grammerical gender. This has nothing to do with sex, but instead categorizes words by gender. As a French student, I am dealing with this learning process and there is not always a good a logial rhyme and reason for the gender. Sometimes you just have to learn by repitition.

The part I found interesting in this chapter was Captain Kirk's infinitive which creatively describes how the Latin infinitives are single words which never split. English words often break the rules of Latin grammar by doing this. This shows me that even though the English language derives from Latin, it has truly evolved into it's own identity. The evolution of language is truly a deep and never ending possibility of exploration; just as deep and extensive as the study of history itself.