What is the nature of the connection

between sounds and what they are taken

to represent?
Is it possible to think without language?
How does language extend, direct or
even limit thinking?
How does the capacity to communicate
personal experiences and thoughts
through language affect knowledge?
What different functions does language
perform?
In what ways does written language
differ from spoken language in its
relationship to knowledge?
What is the role of language in creating
and reinforcing social distinctions, such
as class ethnicity and gender?
If people speak more than one language,
is what they know different in each
language?
Language / Part 1

“Traditional English is
conceived and perpetrated by
privileged W.A.S.P Males is
inherently Capitalistic, Sexist,
Racist, Xenophobic (intolerant),
Homophobic, Elitist (and) it’s
Unfair!”
David Forest Wallace
Language and
Authority
Whose?
Fitting In
Prescriptive, How we
should (Speak) fit in.
Descriptive, How we
actually (Speak) to fit in.
Determines & Evaluates our Actions?!
Authority: how this happens.
Dis
m s ce c
Co ours
o r Com p li a n mm e
N uni
tie s
Agreed upon Acceptance
rules to direct
Groups who
what people
Communicate
do or ought
Within their
to do.
own kind.
 Norms
Interest and Purpose

Good or Bad
Compliance and Acceptance
Language and
Socio-Economic Grouping (Caste)
Faking it for acceptance and fitting in.
Speaking for acceptance / inclusion. $
We fall into a language as determined
by a (our) group in order to fit in
(comply) or fear /face rejection.

Vernacular is
our native
language
(mother tongue)
but we have
many dialects.
Inclusion Exclusion
Where does Learning take place?
What are the risks involved?

Disapproval Approval
Enemy Friend
Them Us
Us is a state
of mind with
an ideology +
a Language.
Community and Discourse
Community are the same.
It’s fearsome.
What is the nature of the connection between sounds and what they are taken to
represent?

Is it possible to think without language?

How does language extend, direct or even limit thinking?

How does the capacity to communicate personal experiences and thoughts through
language affect knowledge?

What different functions does language perform?

In what ways does written language differ from spoken language in its relationship
to knowledge?

What is the role of language in creating and reinforcing social distinctions, such as
class ethnicity and gender?

If people speak more than one language, is what they know different in each
language?