NPR's All Things Considered: Today's Episode in the Series, "The Human Edge"

[William Leap]

This isnt really about Allison Brooks. We  should be asking ourselves why 
NPR asks someone not trained in  anthropological linguistics to talk about 
language, in a situation like this. 
There is a serious public relations issue here , and we come up short 
every time that issue arises.

 Anciently the AAA's press people would have steered NPR toward the 
Linguistic Anthropologists for such a topic , assuming NPR contacted the 
AAA in the first place for such a task. Anciently, AAA had good relations 
with NPR to anticipate such purposes.  Today, who knows. 

Has SLA seriously done any media outreach work in recent years ?  Or is 
this too neoliberal for people's tastes. Here's my point. The <<pr >> in 
NPR doesnt stand for <<public radio>>  any more and if anthro linguists 
want to talk public impact,  we need to be thinking accordingly. 

wlm leap 
 
 





Re: NPR's All Things Considered: Today's Episode in the Series, "The Human 
Edge"

Janina Fenigsen 
to:
LINGANTH
08/10/2010 08:30 AM


Sent by:
Linguistic Anthropology Discussion Group 
<LINGANTH at listserv.linguistlist.org>
Please respond to Janina Fenigsen






"paleo"seems like a generous way of putting it :)

janina

On 8/9/10, Alexandre Enkerli <enkerli at gmail.com> wrote:
> Maybe we could engage Brooks in a conversation about language. She
> seems to be mostly paleo.
> http://www.gwu.edu/~anth/who/brooks.cfm
>
>
> On Mon, Aug 9, 2010 at 22:55, Jim Wilce <jim.wilce at nau.edu> wrote:
>> Dear colleagues,
>>
>> It is always sad when the media turn to anyone on the planet except us
>> when
>> they do a story about human language. Today's example is especially 
sad.
>> It
>> certainly invites letters. You can read Alix Spiegel's story "When Did 
We
>> Become Mentally Modern?" at
>> http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129082962.
>>
>> Here's the NPR page for sending comments—
>> http://help.npr.org/npr/includes/customer/npr/custforms/contactus.aspx
>>
>> Now some nuggets from the story:
>>
>> NPR turned to Alison Brooks (GWU) as their expert on cognitive 
evolution
>> and
>> language. " 'Language,' says anthropologist Brooks, 'is entirely 
composed
>> of
>> these arbitrary symbols. Every sound that comes out of my mouth has 
some
>> kind of arbitrary meaning assigned to it,' she says. 'I could just as 
well
>> be talking to you in another language and making totally different 
sounds
>> and saying the same thing.'"
>>
>> Here's the story's sophisticated model of communication:
>>
>> "For example, if I say the word "bead" you immediately have a picture 
in
>> your mind of what I'm talking about. If I said beads, you'd generate a
>> slightly different picture in your mind, that I have made your mind 
form.
>> If
>> I said glass beads — using an adjective to modify the concept — you'd
>> immediately see something different than if I said gold beads. In this
>> way,
>> I make you think in your mind of a thing that I have in my mind."
>>
>>
>> Yours truly,
>>
>> Jim
>>
>