Outsiders' views of the value of linguistics

[john at research.haifa.ac.il]

Exactly my point. Where language teaching is taken seriously, the need for
linguistics is self-evident. In the United States, it's much harder.
John



Quoting "Danielle E. Cyr" <dcyr at yorku.ca>:

> Canada's official bilingualism makes the teaching of linguistics very
> important
> both in English departments, French Studies and general linguistics. In my
> French Studies department, for example, students enter with the mere
> intention
> to learn and teach French. All of them have to take an introductory course to
> linguistics and 18 more credits in more advanced courses in linguistics. At
> the
> introductory course level I make sure that, for every aspect of internal and
> external linguistics, I make my students aware of the jobs attached to that
> chunk of knowledge:
>
> INTERNAL LINGUISTICS:
> - for phonetics/phonology :speech re-education, voice recognition, cochlear
> implants, digital song editing, and even linguistic spying;
> - for morphology : speech therapy, language teaching and language teaching
> materials, lexicography, artificial intelligence, among others;
> - for syntax : language teaching, artificial intelligence, language
> re-education;
>  - for semantics : lexicography, literature; philosophy, psychology, history,
> intercultural studies, political studies, law, commerce, diplomacy;
> EXTERNAL LINGUISTICS:
> - for socio- and psycholinguistics: a better access to individual and social
> understanding, among others workplace relationships, psychology, ethics,
> intercultural studies, etc.
> - for historical linguistics: the history of social change, the history of
> international contacts through time and space, the history of ideas, etc.
> - for political linguistics (history of language laws in Canada): a better
> understanding of Canada's history, ofCanada's populations's history, of the
> making of ideas and identities, of the role of languages in the building of
> nationhoods, etc.
>
> They also say that linguistics helps them in their acquisition of French and,
> for those who are in a concurrent program in Education, that it helps them in
> their teaching practicum. Most of them reckon that linguistics helps them in
> all areas of their college courses and contribute their linguistic knowledge
> in
> their other class discussions.
>
> In the end many of my students are convinced that studying linguistics makes
> them more enlightened human beings and citizens. They are also aware that
> their
> studies in linguistics can make them better teachers, lawyers, jurists,
> diplomats, psychologists, writers, physicians, journalists, translators,
> merchants, parents, caregivers, etc. etc. etc.
>
> Not bad after all. And, when after twenty years in the profession of
> linguist, I
> count that I have help producing at least 2,000 such citizens, I have no
> problem
> explaining to the general population that linguistics is really useful and
> also
> a source of pleasure and happiness :)
>
> Danielle
>
> P.S. By the way, some years ago I picked the following quotation somewhere. I
> liked it so much that I use it in my signature. However, I don't know who the
> author i and it makes me feel bad that I am using someone's wisdom without
> acknowledging him/her. Would any of you recognize its source?
>
> "The only hope we have as human beings is to learn each other's languages.
> Only
> then can we truly hope to understand one another."
> Quoting john at research.haifa.ac.il:
>
> > It isn't just grammar teaching, it's also foreign language teaching in
> > general.
> > English speakers tend not even to think of this since in English-speaking
> > countries there is no serious expectation that foreign language classes
> will
> > produce students who can actually practically use the language that they're
> > supposedly learning. But in countries in which foreign language teaching is
> > taken seriously, people naturally recognize the connection to linguistics.
> > When people in Israel ask me what being a linguist entails, my first stock
> > answer is 'we train people to be English teachers.'
> > John
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Quoting Richard Hudson <dick at ling.ucl.ac.uk>:
> >
> > > Dear Fritz,
> > > I agree entirely with Olga. The discussion has a very anglo-phone bias
> > > away from education - the UK, USA etc all have a tradition in which
> > > school teachers aren't expected to have learned anything about language
> > > at university, so academic research on language isn't relevant to
> > > education. We're very different from many parts of Europe, where grammar
> > > teaching is an important part of the school curriculum and trainee
> > > teachers update their understanding at university. I'm sure in a country
> > > like that, linguistics would be justified in part by its contribution to
> > > education. I don't know of any bibliographical source for this - if
> > > anyone does, I'd love to see it. I've written quite a bit about the
> > > value of linguistics for education (see
> > > www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/papers.htm) but haven't been able to do
> > > much on that line except pick up odds and ends from gossip. (I do have
> > > evidence that school kids know a great deal more grammar in countries
> > > such as Spain - see
> > > http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/ec/ba-kal/ba-kal.htm.)
> > >
> > > Dick (Hudson)
> > >
> > > Richard Hudson www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/home.htm
> > >
> > > On 20/10/2010 18:43, Yokoyama, Olga wrote:
> > > > Fritz,
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > I take it that your article is about the academic community's attitudes
> > > towards linguistics. Although not part of your topic but still very
> > important
> > > for the status of linguistics and the budgetary decisions made especially
> > in
> > > public institutions are attitudes towards linguistics in the lay society.
> > We
> > > all have experienced the routine questioning along the lines of "Oh,
> you're
> > a
> > > linguist? So how many languages do you know?". Misunderstandings out
> there
> > > are vast and we linguists need to address them. One way my department did
> > it
> > > this summer was by addressing the Arizona ruling on teachers with
> accented
> > > English in a public conference, which combined international scholars and
> > > practitioners in one room
> > > (http://sites.google.com/site/uclalinguisticdiversconf2010/). U. Oregon's
> > > Olympiad for secondary school students is another step in the right
> > > direction. Linguists need to start talking to the public at large and
> make
> > > sure that the future generations don’t vote for closing linguistics and
> > > language departments (cf. the latest SUNY Albany case) based on budget
> > > considerations combined with glaring ignorance about what language
> studies
> > > are.
> > > >
> > > > Olga
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Olga T. Yokoyama
> > > >
> > > > Professor and Chair
> > > >
> > > > Department of Applied Linguistics and TESL
> > > >
> > > > University of California, Los Angeles
> > > >
> > > > Tel. (310) 825-4631
> > > >
> > > > Fax (310) 206-4118
> > > >
> > > > http://www.appling.ucla.edu
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu
> > > [mailto:funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu] On Behalf Of Frederick J
> Newmeyer
> > > > Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 2010 10:13 AM
> > > > To: Funknet
> > > > Subject: [FUNKNET] Outsiders' views of the value of linguistics
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Hello,
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > For a survey article that I'm writing, I plan to assemble quotes from
> > > people outside the field of linguistics on what they see as the value, or
> > > lack of value, of work done in linguistics. So I would like to cite
> > published
> > > quotes from psychologists, anthropologists, literary specialists, etc. on
> > > their views about the value/relevance of linguistics for their particular
> > > concerns and its value/relevance in general. Can anybody help me out by
> > > pointing me to relevant quotes?
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Let me give one example of the sort of thing that I am looking for. The
> > > late computational linguist Fred Jelinek reportedly wrote: 'Whenever I
> > fire
> > > a linguist our system performance improves'.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Thanks. I'll summarize.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Best wishes,
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > --fritz
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > fjn at u.washington.edu
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Frederick J. Newmeyer
> > > >
> > > > Professor Emeritus, University of Washington
> > > >
> > > > Adjunct Professor, University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser
> > > University
> > > >
> > > > [for my postal address, please contact me by e-mail]
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > This message was sent using IMP, the Webmail Program of Haifa University
> >
>
>
> "The only hope we have as human beings is to learn each other's languages.
> Only
> then can we truly hope to understand one another."
>
> Professor Danielle E. Cyr
> Department of French Studies
> York University
> Toronto, ON, Canada, M3J 1P3
> Tel. 1.416.736.2100 #310180
> FAX. 1.416.736.5924
> dcyr at yorku.ca
>




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