"attenuation"

[Randy Alexander]

I know this word through recording music.  You can attenuate a signal
that is too strong.

I'm not sure what is meant in "The possibility of creole-specific
learning or attenuation to second language contrasts is also
addressed."  It's a very poorly written sentence.

Randy

On Fri, Apr 23, 2010 at 2:19 PM, Eric Nielsen <ericbarnak at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Â  Â  Â  Eric Nielsen <ericbarnak at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: "attenuation"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Yes, this usage seems odd to me, too. While both words (attenuate and
> attention) may be cognate and have to do with a narrowing or thinning out,
> attention (in my experience) refers to a narrowing of mental or physical
> focus to strengthen one's understanding or perform an activity with superior
> results.
> Attenuation (as I have heard it used) refers to a thinning out that results
> in weakening such as attenuation of a radio signal or light waves
> propagating in an optic fiber, or  the attenuation of a bacterium or virus
> which results in a less virulent form.
>
> Eric
>
>
> .
> On Thu, Apr 22, 2010 at 2:03 PM, Charles Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:
>
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>> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster: Â  Â  Â  Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
>> Subject: Â  Â  Â "attenuation"
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> A few days ago I came off the bench hurriedly to join a doctoral committee;
>> a semi-final draft of the dissertation was already completed. The
>> candidate's field is second-language acquisition (or, more specifically, her
>> interesting study was of native-speaking students' ability, acquired skill,
>> or willingness to comprehend the speech of "foreign" teaching
>> assistants)--certainly not one of my fields of (pretended) expertise.
>>
>> In the dissertation, the student used the word "attenuation" is a way that
>> was quite unfamiliar to me; I assumed it was simply a mistake, so I circled
>> the word and inscribed a large question mark in the margin. Then, in the
>> oral defense of the dissertation she used the word again, presumably in the
>> same way (I can't remember whether the word used was "attenuate" or
>> "attenuation"; I had already given her back my edited copy of the
>> dissertation). So I asked her about the word. Both she and the other
>> committee members concurred in informing me that the word has a special
>> sense in ESOL discussions, having to do (as best I could understand the
>> explanation) with "paying attention" to something--almost as if the word
>> "attenuation" derives from "attention."
>>
>> Of course, "attenuation" and "attention" are cognate (in a Latinish way).
>> Still, the specialized use of "attenuation" looks to me a little like a
>> folk-etymologizing.
>>
>> Anyhow, I resolved to ask "my" linguists about the usage! Â It certainly
>> doesn't correspond to anything recorded in the OED. I suppose it's the use
>> illustrated in the following sentence (hastily found on the internet):
>>
>> "The possibility of creole-specific learning or attenuation to second
>> language contrasts is also addressed." Â Eric Russell Webb, "An Optimal
>> Theoretic Account" (abstract), _Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages_ 23
>> (2008).
>>
>> I'll appreciate any information.
>>
>> Charlie
>>
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--
Randy Alexander
Jilin City, China
Blogs:
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Language in China (group blog): http://www.sinoglot.com/blog

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