Music related to Linguistics & Lx-Anthro?

[Linda Lanz]

Good evening,

I don't know if it's what you're looking for or not, but how about  
"Throw the R Away" by the Scottish duo The Proclaimers? It's a  
defiant song about Scottish dialect(s). It's elicited comments from  
everyone I've ever played it for, from humor to confusion to serious  
discussion about social roles of dialects and accents. There's a clip  
of it on YouTube if you've never heard it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=066oSmDRKPA

Best,
Linda Lanz


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Linda Lanz
lanz at rice.edu
Rice University
Department of Linguistics


On Feb 3, 2010, at 2:50 AM, Richard J Senghas wrote:

> Hey LingAnthers,
>
> I am looking for music (popular, obscure, whatever) that plays with  
> linguistic (& especially anthropological) topics.
>
> I am now teaching a somewhat large (~70 students) undergraduate,  
> lower division Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology course.  It  
> hits us at that just-before-and-going-into dinner hour, when  
> students, even those interested in the topics, begin to fade as  
> their blood sugar-levels drop, and the daylight begins to fade  
> (especially now).  When I taught my Intro to Cultural Anthro  
> course, I found that playing relevant, especially upbeat, music  
> just before class started helped up the energy for the class  
> session, and I would like to use this trick again in this course.   
> I also found that many of the students started to pick up on the  
> anthropological themes I planted in these selections.  By the end  
> of the semester, students started asking me for my sources, often  
> asking me if they had indeed figured out the thematic connections.   
> (In a very real sense, this became a not-grade-related extra credit  
> opportunity.)
>
> I plan to start with some more obvious choices (e.g., Laurie  
> Anderson's "Language is a Virus" from her "Home of the Brave"  
> album), but I'm looking for other pieces for later this semester.   
> Do you have any tracks you'd recommend?  If the topic is obscure, I  
> wouldn't mind being given hints at the reason for your choices,  
> though we could make it a game for this list if you choose to  
> respond on-list.  And energetic music is preferred; we're looking  
> to juice them up!
>
> Best regards,
>
> -RJS
> ======================================================================
> Richard J. Senghas, Professor            | Sonoma State University
> Department of Anthropology               | 1801 East Cotati Avenue
> Human Development Program                | Rohnert Park, CA 94928-3609
> Richard.Senghas[at]sonoma.edu            | 707-664-3920 (fax)
>