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Sophmoric application of readability tests

NPR’s Morning Edition and the Sunlight Foundation suggest that congressional speech-making is becoming less sophisticated. The presentation appears to validate conventional wisdom that American politics has taken an anti-intellectual turn of late, but the story shows flawed methods coupled with confirmation bias.

Steve Harvey’s white voice

Black Comedian Steve Harvey compares white and black communication styles. He imitates a white man’s voice at 2:35-4:13. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICsHscXzXw0 (2:35-4:13) [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICsHscXzXw0[/youtube]

Holllywood Injun English in MacGuyver

See 8:27-9:38 in this episode of MacGuyver for a Hollywood portrayal of Injun English http://www.cbs.com/classics/macgyver/video/?pid=oBrc4c2saVHcDEu5v_LJhILTs6IMa4mX&vs=&play=true (8:27-9:38)

Mock Asian in Margaret Cho and Long Duk Dong

Examples of Mock Asian Margaret Cho http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAmcPS6xoZA&feature=related (8:32-end) [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAmcPS6xoZA&feature=related[/youtube] Gedde Watanabe (Long Duk Dong) on NPR http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88591800

Gendered interactional styles in Friends

This clip from the TV show Friends demonstrates a media representation of male and female interactional styles. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGoC8FTLKSI&feature=related [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGoC8FTLKSI&feature=related[/youtube]

“Ordinary” language use

In “Lesbian bar talk in Shinjuku, Tokyo” Hideko Abe shows how identity positions are constructed and claimed through language use. One passage, which shows how use of the word futsuu (ordinary) includes homosexual and heterosexual subjects in the same category, bears additional analysis.