Exploring Language

by Goshgarian, Gary

• ISBN13: 9780321122216
• ISBN10: 0321122216
• Edition: 10th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-01-01
• Publisher: Longman

Summary

Now in its tenth edition, this marketleading language reader continues to feature thoughtprovoking readings that explore the various interconnections between language and American society. For over 25 years, this engaging reader has challenged individuals to critically examine how language affects and constructs culture and how culture constructs and affects language. This tenth edition maintains the integrity of past editions, while reflecting the new and fascinating language issues that exist in today's culture. Provocative selections are organized around nine major language areas, and then broken into stimulating sub-themes like political correctness, hate speech, language and the presidency, and censorship on campus, inviting readers to debate current social and cultural issues that are inseparable from language. Individuals interested in studying how language affects and constructs culture and how culture constructs and affects language.

Table of Contents

Preface	xxi
Introduction: Thinking and Reading Critically	1	(24)
What Is Critical Thinking?	1	(1)
Why Read Critically?	2	(1)
How to Read Critically	3	(3)
Critical Reading in Action-Sample Essay for Analysis	6	(13)
Logical Fallacies-What They Are and How to Avoid Them	19	(3)
Exploring the Language of Visuals	22	(3)
1 Breaking Silences	25	(88)
BEGINNINGS: MOVING FROM SILENCE INTO LANGUAGE	27	(29)
Language and Thought	27	(5)
Susanne K. Langer
"Language is the highest and most amazing achievement of the symbolistic human mind. The power it bestows is almost inestimable, for without it anything properly called 'thought' is impossible."
A Brief History of English	32	(10)
Paul Roberts
"In 1500 English was a minor language, spoken by a few people on a small island. Now it is perhaps the greatest language of the world...."
The Story of Writing	42	(10)
C.M. Millward
"Civilization as we know it depends on the written word."
Another Language for the Deaf	52	(9)
Margalit Fox
"Imagine a language that can't be written. Hundreds of people speak it, but they have no way to read a newspaper or study a schoolbook in the language they use all day long ... that is the situation of the quarter of a million or more deaf people in North America."
EXPLORING THE LANGUAGE OF VISUALS: SIGNWRITING	56	(5)
PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS: COMING INTO LANGUAGE	61	(9)
Homemade Education	61	(4)
Malcolm X
"In the street, I had been the most articulate hustler out there.... But now, trying to write simple English, I not only wasn't articulate, I wasn't even functional."
A Word for Everything	65	(5)
Helen Keller
"The beautiful truth burst upon my mind-I felt that there were invisible lines stretched between my spirit and the spirits of others."
EXPLORING THE LANGUAGE OF VISUALS: SIGN LANGUAGE	70	(16)
The Language of Silence	72	(5)
Maxine Hong Kingston
"When I went to kindergarten and had to speak English for the first time, I became silent. A dumbness-a shame-still cracks my voice in two
The Jellyfish	77	(2)
Susan Kinsolving
"A jellyfish was in my eyes!... "It bleeded and singed!" In a poem, Susan Kinsolving describes the innocence and discovery of her three-year-old daughter Caroline's journey into language.
Spanish Lessons	79	(7)
Christine Marin
"I learned the power of both the English and Spanish language on that [school] band trip."
SPEAKING OUT: LANGUAGE THAT INSPIRED CHANGE	86	(25)
Seneca Falls Declaration	86	(4)
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
"The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward women, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her."
"Letter from Birmingham Jail"	90	(10)
Martin Luther King, Jr.
"I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law."
Aren't I a Woman?	100	(2)
Sojourner Truth
"[T]hat little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as man, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman. Where did your Christ come from?"
The Struggle for Human Rights	102	(13)
Eleanor Roosevelt
"We must not be confused about what freedom is. Basic human rights are simple and easily understood."
EXPLORING THE LANGUAGE OF VISUALS: MARGARET SANGER	111	(2)
2 Writers Writing: Words in Contexts	113	(41)
THE WRITING PROCESS	115	(22)
Writing for an Audience	115	(4)
Linda Flower
"The goal of the writer is to create a momentary common ground between the reader and the writer."
The Maker's Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscripts	119	(4)
Donald M. Murray
"When students complete a first draft, they consider the job of writing done-and their teachers too often agree. When professional writers complete a first draft, they usually feel that they are at the start of the writing process."
Getting Started	123	(5)
Anne Lamott
"The very first thing I tell my new students on the first day of a workshop is that good writing is about telling the truth."
What My Students Have Taught Me About Writing	128	(6)
Pamela Childers
"I'm a writer, but I am a better writer than I was when I started writing because of my students."
How I Write	134	(3)
Evan Miller
"The first sentence is usually the toughest for me, because I know that it will shape the second, will shape the third ... I try to experiment with different openers ... but in some papers, [my first sentences] miss the purpose of the paper entirely and are, in the vernacular, crap."
FINDING THE RIGHT WORDS	137	(17)
The Case for Short Words	137	(2)
Richard Lederer
"When you speak and write, there is no law that says you have to use big words. Small words cast their clear light on big things-night and day, love and hate, war and peace, life and death."
Saying is Believing	139	(6)
Patricia T. O'Conner
"The truth is that the reader is always right. Chances are, if something you write doesn't get your point across, it's probably not the reader's fault-it's yours."
How to Write with Style	145	(4)
Kurt Vonnegut
Seven friendly tips on the process of writing from one of America's most popular writers.
Clichés, Anyone?	149	(2)
James Isaacs
How to make a commencement speech ... the old-fashioned way.
The Financial Media's 25 Worst Clichés	151	(5)
Jonathan Clements
3 Politically Speaking	154	(84)
POLITICAL WORD PLAY	156	(33)
How to Detect Propaganda	156	(7)
Institute for Propaganda Analysis
"Without appeal to our emotions-to our fears and to our courage, to our selfishness and unselfishness, to our loves and to our hates-propagandists would influence few opinions and few actions."
Politics and the English language	163	(11)
George Orwell
"In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible."
The Pep Talk: Patterns of Persuasion in Political Language	174	(10)
Hugh Rank
A respected political communications analyst dissects the patterns of persuasion used by politicians to organize and direct their audiences toward a particular collective action or idea.
Doubts About Doublespeak	184	(5)
William Lutz
"Politicians, bureaucrats and merchants all are guilty of confusing the issue with language designed not to communicate."
LANGUAGE AND THE PRESIDENCY	189	(27)
The Rhetorical Presidency	189	(9)
Robert E. Denton, Jr. and Dan F. Hahn
"Presidents are special beings. What makes each one special is that they lead us, define us, protect us, and embody us. And they do so, implicitly and explicitly, through communication."
Dubya and Me: We've Got No Idea	198	(4)
Ian Frazier
That clueless stare in George W.'s eyes? A whole generation of graying 'wise' guys know all about it. The author is one.
The Making of the Speech	202	(7)
D.T. Max
An etymology of the 2,988 words that changed a presidency.
Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People	209	(7)
George W. Bush
"Our nation-this generation-will lift a dark threat of violence from our people and our future. We will rally the world to this cause by our efforts, by our courage. We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail."
CASE STUDY: TERRORISM AND THE WAR OF WORDS	216	(22)
The Semantics of Murder	216	(2)
Amir Taheri
A True Jihad or a Sinful War Against Innocents?	218	(2)
Jim Guirard
Two editorials from the Wall Street Journal address the language used to describe and justify acts of terrorism, from the words used by the terrorists themselves. Is it murder, or a jihad?
Fighting Words; The War Over Language	220	(5)
Jon Hooten
"While we have haphazardly sprinkled our language with war's metaphors, is it possible that we have collectively forgotten how to think clearly about the literal phenomenon?"
A Lot to Learn	225	(4)
David Brudnoy
"Because we cannot bear to talk like adults about the task and the enemy, we cannot conceptualize what we should be doing."
Self Evident	229	(6)
Ani Difranco
A folksinger and songwriter's poem inspired by the tragic events of September 11.
Nameless Event	235	(5)
William Sage
"What label is applied to the horrific (more horrid than horrible, perhaps because of its less frequent use and similarity in emphasis to terrific) events of September 11, 2001?"
4 The Art of Conversation	238	(69)
HE SAYS, SHE SAYS: DIFFERENCES IN DISCOURSE	240	(29)
Women Talk Too Much	240	(6)
Janet Holmes
"Despite the widespread belief that women talk more than men, most of the available evidence suggests just the opposite. Why is the reality so different from the myth?"
No Detail Is Too Small for Girls Answering a Simple Question	246	(3)
Tony Kornheiser
"It is not that women lack the ability to prioritize informaiton, it is that they don't think life is as simple as men do."
Sex Differences	249	(6)
Ronald Macaulay
"More nonsense has been produced on the subject of sex differences than on any linguistic topic, with the possible exception of spelling."
"I'll Explain It to You"; Lecturing and Listening	255	(14)
Deborah Tannen
"One situation that frustrates many women is a conversation that has mysteriously turned into a lecture, with the man delivering the lecture to the woman, who has become an appreciative audience."
EXPLORING THE LANGUAGE of VISUALS: MEN ARE FROM BELGIUM, WOMEN ARE FROM NEW BRUNSWICK	269	(6)
Nonverbal Behavior: Culture, Gender, and the Media	271	(4)
Teni Kwal Gamble and Michael W. Gamble
"Men and women commonly use nonverbal communication in ways that reflect societal expectations."
LET'S TALK ABOUT IT: CONVERSATION IN ACTION	275	(32)
The Social Basis of Talk	275	(10)
Ronald Wardhaugh
"Because conversation necessarily has a social basis, we must try to meet each other on common ground."
Some Friends and I Started Talking: Conversation and Social Change	285	(6)
Margaret J. Wheatley
"True conversation is a timeless and reliable way for humans to think together. When we don't talk to one another in a meaningful way, we become passive and allow others to tell us what to do."
Like, Uptalk?	291	(3)
James Gorman
"I used to speak in a regular voice. I was able to assert, demand, question. Then I started teaching. At a university? And my students had this rising intonation thing?"
The Other Side of E-Mail	294	(3)
Robert Kuttner
"E-mail brings a kind of pseudo-urgency that demands instant response. It also creates false intimacies."
Come in CQ: The Body on the Wire	297	(12)
Ellen Ullman
Does the Internet allow us more freedom to say things that we wouldn't normally say? What happens when we make the jump from virtual relationships to "F2F" ones?
5 The Language of Humor: What Makes Us Laugh	307	(53)
WHAT'S SO FUNNY?	309	(23)
Outsiders/Insiders	309	(10)
Joseph Boskin
"Just as it has been utilized as a weapon of insult and persecution, so, too, has humor been implemented as a device of subversion and protest."
Excerpt from the LA LA Awards	319	(7)
Latins Anonymous
Nothing is sacred in this satirical slam on the rejection of one's cultural heritage by comedy troupe Latins Anonymous.
In Answer to the Question: Have You Ever Considered Suicide?	326	(2)
Kate Rushin
A humorous poem by an award-winning African-American poet.
Mr. Language Person Takes a Hammer to Grammar	328	(4)
Dave Barry
America's king of comedic writing presents his version of a language column.
CASE STUDY: POLTICAL AND EDITORIAL CARTOONS	332	(16)
What Is a Cartoon?	333	(4)
Mort Gerbere
"Cartoons are the most powerful, the pithiest form of human communication, used everywhere and in many forms."
Editorial Cartoonists-An Endangered Species?	337	(4)
Doug Mariette
"Could it be that no one needs satirists in a tabloid age when real life becomes a parody and sleaze dominates the headlines ... ?"
Defiantly Incorrect: The Humor of John Callahan	341	(7)
Timothy Egan
"Anorexia, blindness, dysfunctional families and the death penalty-in a good week, all of those topics can find their way into the cartoons of John Callahan."
EXPLORING THE LANGUAGE OF VISUALS: CALLAHAN CARTOON (WHEELCHAIR POSSE)	348	(5)
When Cartoonists Were at Their Wits' End	350	(12)
James Ricci
"Think back to that day [September 11] and your own loss for words.... Now imagine having to sit down and draw a simple, understandable picture that might have relevance to thousands of other dumbstruck and grief-ridden people."
EXPLORING THE LANGUAGE OF VISUALS: EDITORIAL CARTOONS FROM SEPTEMBER 11 AND ITS AFTERMATH	353	(7)
6 The Language of the Mass Media and Advertising	360	(83)
AS SEEN ON TV	362	(31)
TV News: All the World in Pictures	362	(7)
Neil Postman and Steve Powers
"The fact that television news is principally made up of moving pictures prevents it from offering lengthy, coherent explanations of events."
Oh, the Profanity!	369	(4)
Paul Farhi
TV networks are fashioning shows from pretty raw material these days. Very raw material. What the *&!%# is going on?
Is Bad Language Unacceptable on TV?	373	(4)
BBC Online "Talking Point" forum
"There's a simple answer to all those complaining. If you don't like it, then don't watch it."
Taking TV's "War of Words" Too Literally	377	(5)
Deborah Tannen
"Everywhere we turn, there is evidence that, in public discourse, we prize contentiousness and aggression more than cooperation and conciliation ... everything is posed in terms of battles and duels, winners and losers, conflicts and disputes."
The Entertained Culture	382	(9)
Tom Shachtman
"We have become a country of mass audiences.... A trend toward the convergence of the entertainment and news/information industries has made certain that the language of one sector largely reproduces the practices of the other, and both aim lower, with dire consequences for articulateness."
Two-Headed Monsters	391	(2)
THE LANGUAGE OF ADVERTISING	393	(44)
With These Words, I Can Sell You Anything	393	(14)
William Lutz
"Advertisers use weasel words to appear to be making a claim for a product when in fact they are making no claim at all."
The Language of Advertising	407	(10)
Charles A. O'Neill
"The language of advertising is a language of finely engineered, ruthlessly purposeful messages."
Language Abuse	417	(9)
Herschell Gordon Lewis
"Today's marketers throw terms the way they'd throw confetti ... and with just about as much impact."
Selling America	426	(9)
Sandra Silberstein
An examination of the Ad Council's campaign against hate and intolerance in the aftermath of September 11.
Americans Stand United, AAI advertisement	435	(2)
EXPLORING THE LANGUAGE OF VISUALS: TWO SAMPLE ADS FOR SUVs	437	(6)
7 Censorship and Free Speech	443	(53)
CENSORSHIP AND BOOKS	445	(12)
The Freedom to Read	445	(4)
The American Library Association
Private groups and public authorities are working to remove books from sale, to censor textbooks, to label "controversial" views, to distribute lists of "objectionable" books or authors, and to purge libraries.
The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2000	449	(3)
Book-Banning, Real and Imaginary	452	(2)
Jeff Jacoby
"Your freedom to read isn't under attack. No censors are stalking you, no library is being stripped. On the contrary never have more books ... been more readily available to more people."
Is Harry Potter Evil?	454	(3)
Judy Blume
"The protests against Harry Potter follow a tradition that has been growing since the early 1980's and often leaves school principles trembling with fear."
EXPLORING THE LANGUAGE OF VISUALS: HUCKLEBERRY FINN BANNED!	457	(7)
Author's Afterword from Fahrenheit 451	460	(4)
Ray Bradbury
"For it is a mad world and it wi11 get madder if we allow the minorities, be they dwarf or giant, orangutan or dolphin, nuclear-head or water-conservationalist, procomputerologist or Neo-Luddite, simpleton or sage, to interfere with aesthetics."
CASE STUDY: CENSORSHIP AND FREE SPEECH ON CAMPUS	464	(26)
The Betrayal of Liberty on America's Campuses	464	(7)
Alan C. Kors
"It is ... almost inconceivable that anyone ... could live on a college campus unaware of the repression, legal inequality, intrusions into private conscience, and malignant double standards that hold sway there."
Regulating Racist Speech on Campus	471	(4)
Charles R. Lawrence III
Defending racist language in the name of liberty of free speech "has placed the bigot on the moral high ground and fanned the rising flames of racism."
There's No Such Thing as Free Speech, and It's a Good Thing, Too	475	(12)
Stanley Fish
"Free speech ... is not an independent value but a political prize, and if that prize has been captured by a politics opposed to yours, it can no longer be invoked in ways that further your purposes, for it is now an obstacle to those purposes."
Muzzling Free Speech	487	(3)
Harvey A. Silverglate
The speech-zone movement presents a major threat to the ideals of free thought and free inquiry to which colleges and universities should be devoted.
SPEECH CODES AT HARVARD LAW SCHOOL?	490	(6)
Difficult Conversations	490	(2)
Dorothy Rabinowitz
"At Harvard Law today, skill in hard combative argument is no longer prized, nor even considered quite respectable."
Censor This?	492	(6)
Austin Bramwell
"Like many, I am concerned that a speech code [at Harvard Law School] would chill valuable speech on campus."
8 Political Correctness and Hate Speech	496	(57)
CASE STUDY: POLITICAL CORRECTNESS	498	(28)
Hate Speech	498	(7)
Robin Tomach Lakoff
"Language is the problem. We don't know how to legislate hate speech, because we don't really know how to classify any kind of speech, which we would have to do before we could safely legislate against it."
Bias-Free Language: Some Guidelines	505	(11)
Rosalie Maggio
"When we use stereotypes to talk about people ('isn't that just like a welfare mother/Indian/girl/old man'), our speech and writing will be inaccurate and unrealistic most of the time."
The Word Police	516	(5)
Michiko Kakutani
Ms. Maggio's book supplies guidelines and alternatives to readers intent on using kinder, gentler language. But should All the King's Men be retitled All the Ruler's People?
Beware the Advozealots: Mindless Good Intentions Injure the Handicapped	521	(5)
Bernard Rimland
"I have coined the word 'advozealot' to characterize the people who purport to be advocates for the handicapped but are in fact zealous advocates of their own Alice in Wonderland ideology."
CASE STUDY: WORDS THAT HURT	526	(27)
"Nigger": The Meaning of a Word	526	(4)
Gloria Naylor
"I was later to go home and ask the inevitable question that every black parent must face-'Mommy, what does "nigger" mean?"
The Etymology of the International Insult	530	(3)
Charles F. Berlitz
"Will man ever be able to rise above using the insult as a weapon?"
The "R" Word: How Do You Avoid Saying "Retarded"?	533	(3)
John Cook
The American Association on Mental Retardation has voted to change its name. No one can agree on a replacement, but the group has pledged to change it to something better-something less reflective of schoolyard taunts.
Crimes Against Humanity	536	(7)
Ward Churchill
"Understand that the treatment of Indians in American popular culture is not "cute" or "amusing" or just "good, clean fun." Know that it causes real pain and real suffering to real people."
Queer	543	(4)
Lillian Faderman
"Many gays and lesbians have embraced the term 'queer' in self-description that not only valorizes it but also says to straights who might still want to use that word derogatorily, 'In your face!"
Discrimination at Large	547	(2)
Jennifer A. Coleman
"The jokes and attitudes [regarding obese people] are as wrong and damaging as any racial slur."
Where Heaven and Earth Touch: A National "Speak No Evil Day"	549	(6)
Joseph Telushkin
"Speak No Evil Day" would have both short- and long-term goals: to eliminate all vicious and unfair talk for twenty-four hours, and thus plant the seed of a more permanent shift in our consciousness.
9 Language in the USA	553	(48)
WHAT IS "STANDARD" ENGLISH?	555	(27)
Why Good English Is Good for You	555	(9)
John Simon
"The person who does not respect words and their proper relationships cannot have much respect for ideas-very possibly cannot have ideas at all."
Everyone Has an Accent but Me	564	(6)
John Esling
"The fact is that everyone has an accent. Accent defines and communicates who we are ... [it is] the map that listeners perceive through their ears rather than their eyes ..."
Label Babel	570	(2)
Richard Liebmann-Smith
Why are people from England called "English," but people from New England referred to as "New Englanders"? As this writer explains, when it comes to labeling other nationalities, we seem to make up the rules as we go along.
Good English and Bad	572	(10)
Bill Bryson
"Considerations of what makes for good English or bad English are to an uncomfortably large extent matters of prejudice and conditioning."
CASE STUDY: ENGLISH ONLY OR BILINGUALISM?	582	(6)
Bilingualism in America: English Should Be the Only Language	582	(6)
S.I. Hayakawa
"Rather than insisting that it is the immigrant's duty to learn the language of this country, the government has acted instead as if it has a duty to accommodate an immigrant in his native language."
EXPLORING THE LANGUAGE Of VISUALS: "PLEASE DO NOT FEED PIGEONS"	588	(13)
Let's Not Say Adiós to Bilingual Education	590	(4)
Lourdes Rovira
"Bilingualism not only prepares students for today's increasingly global economy and promotes cognitive development and creative thinking, it also instills pride."
A Nation Divided by One language	594	(3)
James Crawford
"Rejecting bilingual education [is] a way to 'send a message' that, in the United States, English and only English is appropriate for use in the public square."
My Spanish Standoff	597	(4)
Gabriella Kuntz
"... [T]he prejudice I experienced ... prompted my husband and me to decide that English, and English only, would be spoken in our house."
Credits	601	(8)
Index of Authors and Titles	609