films

[Kenneth Allen Hyde]

On Thu, 5 Sep 2002, Dale, Philip S. wrote:

> My request this time is for film which has language as a focus. The two
> which come mind immediately are My Fair Lady, and Nell. Are there any
> others? I have a hazy memory of some bits in Monty Python movies, for
> example. The treatment of language can be done well or badly; I'm
> interested in film as a discussion starter.

Hmmmm.  Language as a focus?  Honestly, I wouldn't include "Nell" or "My
Fair Lady" in that list; they had language as a major theme, but it wasn't
really the focus of the film.  Assuming that you mean films that have
language as a major theme, there is "Congo" (one of the characters is a
gorilla that talks via a voice synth translator from sign language).  A
film that I use in my Intro and SLA classes is "The 13th Warrior."  We
don't watch the whole file, of course, since most of it isn't relevant,
but there is an excellent discussion-starter scene in which the Arab
character "learns" Norse by listening to the campfire talk.  It's a great
jumping off place for discussion about what is and is not realistic in the
scene.  Another film that I've used in sociolinguistic discussions is
"Miss Congeniality."  It's an excellent example of how language
(specifically dialect choice) affects our self-presentation since it
includes specific overt references to this phenomenon.

Ken

Kenneth Allen Hyde     |  No matter how subtle the wizard, a knife
Univ. of Delaware      |  between the shoulder blades will seriously
Dept. of Linguistics   |  cramp his style  -- Old Jhereg proverb
kenny at Udel.Edu         |  A mind is a terrible toy to waste! -- Me

//www.ling.udel.edu/hyde/prof/