Deixis
“My Mom’s Name is Jean?”: Discussion of deixis- Suriya’s Aircel Ads (first two only): silly lead-in to deixis-
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March 2012
Why do I need subtitles?
“Why do I need subtitles”: Politics of translation- This comic sketch comments on how people judge linguistic comprehensibility based on the appearance of the person speaking.
Markedness and racism
Kumail Nanjiani – “Racists”: Discussion of markedness-
Hello in Indian
Russell Peters sketch “Hello in Indian”: Applies to pragmatics/ translation- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQqzROAZZQ0&feature=BFa&list=PLC41A1610BAFF90CE&lf=mh_lolz [Video no longer available due to copyright]
English Only movement in the United States
Here is a youtube playlist that features clips concerning the English-Only movement here in the United States: Included are some of the more noteworthy commercials,… Read More »English Only movement in the United States
Calls for papers at LINGANTH
With abstracts for the 2012 American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting coming due soon, various SLA members have sent out calls for papers. Here is a list of recent calls sent out via LINGANTH.
Wikipedia and the Academy
Barbara Johnstone (2011) “Making Pittsburghese” and Timothy Messer-Kruse (2012) “The ‘undue weight’ of truth on Wikipedia” present very different views of scholar’s experiences with Wikipedia. Johnstone’s evaluation is mostly positive, while Messer-Kruse’s is quite negative.
Yellow Peril Political Ads: China as a threat to the US
This political ad features an imagined lecture, in Beijing in 2030 in Mandarin (e.g. after the Chinese have trounced the US) complete with evil ha… Read More »Yellow Peril Political Ads: China as a threat to the US
Yellow Peril Political Ads: Jon Hunstman
There was an ad from New Hampshire which featured shots of Jon Huntsman speaking Mandarin, while a commentator asked questions like “the Manchurian candidate. What’s… Read More »Yellow Peril Political Ads: Jon Hunstman
Yellow Peril Political Ads: Peter Hoekstra
Republican Peter Hoekstra, candidate for US Senate, made a campaign video/mock website with an Asian American doing some Mock Asian (“Your economy get very weak,ours get… Read More »Yellow Peril Political Ads: Peter Hoekstra
Reference and Relativity
Sketch from “A Bit of Frye and Laurie” useful for discussing reference and as a lead-in to linguistic relativity,
SLA Call for Application/Registration Waivers
The SLA is calling for applications for registration waivers for participants in next year’s Annual Meetings in San Francisco. The SLA will have one waiver… Read More »SLA Call for Application/Registration Waivers