Linguistics Help

[wired]

I know Katya (peace be upon the patron saint) is the linguistics queen. I think another linguistics major/grad student is around here too. I thought I'd come here to ask.

Are any of you familiar with good academic works on how social background changes linguistic interpretation or construction? For example, I would imagine that a Math PhD would interpret words differently than a law student. And this aside from lingo specific to math or law. Are you familiar with any work on that?

[Tally M.]

I'm not yet familiar with any work on it yet. Not really, anyways. But that sounds really interesting. I'll keep my eye out for something!

[Katya]

Are any of you familiar with good academic works on how social background changes linguistic interpretation or construction? For example, I would imagine that a Math PhD would interpret words differently than a law student. And this aside from lingo specific to math or law. Are you familiar with any work on that?

Hmm. I'm not familiar with any work on that. I'd suggest browsing article on Language Log to see if you can find anything similar to what you're looking for. (The tricky thing, in situations like this, is always finding the exact terminology for what you're looking for. If you know the terminology, it's easy to find articles on the subject. If you don't, you may end up muddling around for ages never finding quite what you want on the subject.)

[wired]

Hm. Maybe I'll be a little less ambition. Any suggestions on a good general treatment of regional interpretation or variation in semantic meaning?

[Katya]

Hm. Maybe I'll be a little less ambition. Any suggestions on a good general treatment of regional interpretation or variation in semantic meaning?

Well . . . I'm a little stuck in trying to figure out what sort of variation you're looking for. If the variation is significant and standardized, then it would just be considered a separate dialect. (I.e., American vs. British interpretation of "biscuit.") And I suppose that you could argue that we all use language a little differently, so we each have our own idiolect. But the point of speaking a common language is that we're supposed to use the same words to mean the same thing, so I'm honestly not convinced that the sort of variation you're talking about exists. Maybe if you could give me an example, that would help.

[mic0]

But the point of speaking a common language is that we're supposed to use the same words to mean the same thing, so I'm honestly not convinced that the sort of variation you're talking about exists. Maybe if you could give me an example, that would help.

I basically agree with this. Yes, people will interpret things differently on context; a law student knows that in some context a word means something more specific than in everyday language, or a math student might giggle when they hear something math-y in everyday language. But 9.999/10 times they won't interpret it incorrectly. I feel like what you are thinking of is a very specific type of register used in some academic settings with jargon that cannot be generalized to the rest of (say) English.

Anyway, I too would love to hear an example of what you mean.

[wired]

To be honest, I didn't have any concrete examples coming in. I just assumed that this would come through with words that have built in ambiguity. An example that I might think of is that a mathy-sciency person might think conceptualize "few" differently than someone with an arts background. But that's a stretch. And really, you guys are the pros so I'll trust what you say.

Any recommendations on a good primer or overview of linguistics? I prefer something in book (rather than textbook) format, but I understand it might not exist.

[Tally M.]

The books that got me interested in linguistics were "The Mother Tongue: English and how it got that way" by Bill Bryson (full of inconsistencies--be warned) and "You are what you speak" by Robert Lane Greene. They might not be exactly what you're looking for, but they might provide some help anyways.

[mic0]

An example that I might think of is that a mathy-sciency person might think conceptualize "few" differently than someone with an arts background.

So maybe they have a more precise definition? It would be interesting to look at. One girl in my senior thesis class did her final paper on how people perceive the terms "nerd/geek/dork." Half of her participants were in the sci-fi/fantasy club and half were random. I'm not sure what her results were, unfortunately. The original post is still on Quark's site, if you are a member you can read it (otherwise, not sure). But anyway, I think there *were* differences in how people perceived these terms and how they would describe themselves. Not sure if it's relevant.

As for linguistics-y books... not sure. Haha. I enjoyed "Language, Frogs And Savants: More Linguistic Problems, Puzzles and Polemics" (I didn't read the first one, but they are both essays on linguistics), and "In the Land of Invented Languages." Mostly I just read textbooks for classes, and Language Log (which was mentioned!). :\

[Tally M.]

Also check out "The Miracle of Language" by Charlton Laird

[Laser Jock]

The book that decisively converted me to descriptivism was David Crystal's "The Fight for English: How Language Pundits Ate, Shot, and Left" (originally recommended to me by Katya). It's a funny, informative book.

[Katya]

The book that decisively converted me to descriptivism was David Crystal's "The Fight for English: How Language Pundits Ate, Shot, and Left" (originally recommended to me by Katya). It's a funny, informative book.

Any recommendations on a good primer or overview of linguistics? I prefer something in book (rather than textbook) format, but I understand it might not exist.

Most of the book-format works I'm familiar with are looking at some specific aspect or subfield of linguistics. I do remember liking The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker, although I've since read enough that I now disagree with his main thesis in that book, but I do remember it giving a good overview of linguistics. David Crystal also has a book called How Language Works which sounds promising. (I haven't read it, but I've really enjoyed other books by him.)

And if you want recommendations in more specific areas of linguistics, I've got a bunch:

General Special
Far from the Madding Gerund and Other Dispatches from Language Log by Mark Liberman, et al. (This is basically a compilation of the best blog posts from Language Log. Be warned, though, that this book is very dense, but I think it's still accessible to a dedicated layperson.)
Language Myths by Laurie Bauer (These are short essays that treat a number of common misconceptions about language.)

Artificial Languages
In the Land of Invented Languages by Arika Okrent (She also writes really great columns for Mental Floss and some other venues.)

Historical Linguistics
The Decipherment of Linear B by John Chadwick
The Fight for English: How Language Pundits Ate, Shot and Left by David Crystal (As mentioned above, this is a really great book about the history of prescriptivism in English. And, as the title suggests, it was written in response (in a very friendly way) to Eats, Shoots & Leaves.)
Lost Languages: The Enigma of the World's Undeciphered Scripts by Andrew Robinson
The Stories of English by David Crystal

Lexicography
The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester (although I'm told you should take some of the historical "facts" in this book with a grain of salt)
The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary by Peter Gilliver (A history of Tolkien's involvement with the OED, plus how it influenced his own worldbuilding.)

Foreign Language
Seeing Voices by Oliver Sacks (This is a book about ASL, signed languages, and Deaf culture.)
Speaking of Chinese by Raymond Chang (This is a basic introduction to Chinese linguistics. Have you read this book, Gio? I think you'd like it.)

Sociolinguistics
You Just Don't Understand by Deborah Tannen (This is also a great book for people interested in feminism or gender dynamics.)

Translation Theory
Le Ton Beau de Marot: In Praise of the Music of Language by Douglas Hofstadter

[wired]

Thanks to everyone. I am going to look into reading one of these. I've started to become much more interested in linguistic theory. I blame law school.