Different Languages, different personalities?

I was a little bit reluctant to start a post with a title like this. However, this is a topic that people ARE usually interested in. After the whole dated Sapir-Whorf discussion as to how (and if) language shapes thought, here's an interesting way to look at the issue: maybe the syntax of the languages involved gives you the impression that the person is more assertive, more elusive, less tactful, etc. It is definitely worth reading it. Do different languages confer different personalities?

Neurosciência e Aprendizagem: menos crendices e mais sinapses

Essa matéria sobre neurociência traz muita luz à concepção de aprendizagem (até recentemente quase baseada em 'pensamento positivo' e programação neurolinguística - esta última, a meu ver, uma versão "chique" de lavagem cerebral que usurpa o nome da real NEUROlinguística). Não acredito em aprendizagem como uma entidade metafísica, divina, mágica, com cara de autoajuda. Aprendizagem é uma questão de sinapses. Graças à neurociência, hoje podemos desmistificar tantas inverdades e incorreções ditas há décadas por estudiosos da área de aprendizagem, que hoje estão indiscutivelmente ultrapassados, mas que ainda continuam a assombrar as teorias de aprendizagem, por conta de seus seguidores extremistas e desinformados. Sim, já fui chamado de positivista, e isso não me incomoda. Positivista ou não, há questões reais tratadas e abordadas pela ciência, e que deixam o subjetivismo em segundo plano. Essa matéria sem dúvida é uma porta de entrada para o assunto, ao tratar de questões de memória, sinapses, desenvolvimento e até mesmo a "subjetiva" noção de confiança. Recomendo. Neurociência e aprendizagem

Hints for parents raising a child bilingually

This is an interesting site I found on a friend's page. The tips the mothers came up with are nice and empirical. Definitely worth reading it.

Filhos bilíngues

Do bilingual children NECESSARILY start speaking later?

Recently I have been to congresses and conferences in which the well-established view that bilingual children ALWAYS start speaking late might constitute a fallacy. No one has presented a paper on it, but I came across this article by a researcher interested in the matter. I highly recommend reading it. I also found out through observation of bilingual children that there are SOME (yes, some!) processes of language development. Some kids will start babbling, producing sounds, syllables and then words, others will start humming and will bring in words later.The process is not so cut-and-dry... Click on the link to the article:

bilingualism and language delay

I also recommend reading this Q-A between a specialist in bilingualism and a concerned teacher. The context is that the language delay might be connected to bilingualism and the concern seems to be: "is it language delay or autism?"
Before reading the article, it is important to make it clear to all: there is NO EVIDENCE whatsoever that bilingualism or multilingualism CAUSE language disorders such as autism (which is genetically driven). I have not yet come across any studies which show such evidence. Any "opinions" by professionals connecting language disorders to bilingualism results from sheer lack of information. ALWAYS look for a second opinion, preferably from a professional who understands the context of bilingualism/multilingualism.

Bilingualism and language disorders

Pesquisas em Bilinguismo e Aquisição de L2 - UNIFESP

Aos alunos e interessados que escreveram no blog perguntando sobre cursos e grupos de estudo, informo que iniciarei um grupo de estudos "Pesquisas em Bilinguismo e Aquisição de Língua Dois" (PeBALD) na Universidade Federal de São Paulo em 01 de março de 2013. Os encontros devem ocorrer sempre na 1a sexta de todo mês às 18h. Os interessados em participar, por favor escrevam para mim no email marcello.unifesp@gmail.com

Phonemic Sounds

Here is a nice site to listen to the sounds of both British and American English. The symbols used are those of the IPA.

http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-soundsipa.htm

Changing a First Language Permanently

Is it possible to change one's first language? What are the implications? In order to approach such a question, one needs to have a clear definition of mother tongue, first language, second language, stronger language, dominant language, etc. If you feel interested, see what Grosjean has to say about it.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/life-bilingual/201210/changing-first-language-permanently

The Psycholinguistics of Bilingualism

Here's the link to an excellent blog with very relevant issues on bilinguals and language acquisition from a psycholinguistic point of view. François Grosjean, a most renowned researcher in the area, addresses questions that we all have asked ourselves, as either bilinguals or researchers.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/life-bilingual/201210/the-psycholinguistics-bilingualism

Bilingualism and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)

Para quem se interessa por questões de aquisição bilíngue e disturbios da fala:

"Parents also reported concerns around choosing bilingualism for their children with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorders), such as lack of services and supports and concerns about whether their children would be able to learn two languages. Children with ASD exposed to two languages were often reported to be acquiring their languages of exposure, albeit to varying degrees."

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1460-6984.2011.00071.x/pdf

Lingua Inglesa II - UNIFESP

For my Lingua Inglesa II students: here are some interesting sites to help you with the learning of phonetics and phonology.
1) How to do a Cockney accent
2) Comparing sounds
3) Listen to different accents

Bilingual children and literacy

"O estudo, publicado na revista Child Development, comparou o desenvolvimento cognitivo verbal e não-verbal de 100 crianças de seis anos, monolíngues em inglês e bilíngues em Inglês-Chinês, Francês-Inglês e Espanhol-Inglês. [...] não importa qual a outra língua escolhida - todas as crianças bilíngues têm vantagem sobre as monolíngues em termos de controle cognitivo não-verbal." O link com a matéria completa publicada na revista Child Development é o http://news.yorku.ca/2012/02/​08/​bilingual-children-gain-better-​focus-literacy-skills-york-u-s​tudy/  e  http://www.ensinobilingue.com.br/2012/06/criancas-bilingues-se-alfabetizam-mais.html

Book recommendations for undergraduate students:
Book 1
Book 2
Book 3

Why Bilinguals are smarter - NYTimes

An interesting article about the advantages of bilingualism, quite comprehensive, correct and down-to-earth, considering how small it is. I highly reacommend reading it.

bilinguals are smarter

The Bilingual Advantage NYTimes

Here's an interesting interview with a rewnowned researcher in the area. Worth reading if you are into bilingualism.

Interview

Bilingualism and Language Acquisition

Getting acquainted with bilingualism and language acquisition

1) Book recommendation: The language instinct: how the mind creates language by Steven Pinker. There's a site about the book.

2) Article: Bilinguismo no Brasil: significado e expectativas by Marcello Marcelino.

the -ED ending strikes back

When the –ed breaks the rules

Some adjectives end in –ed and are pronounced as having an extra syllable. In other words, they do not follow the general rule for pronouncing the –ed ending.
Below are some adjectives that are derived from verbs and whose –ed endings are pronounced as an extra syllable:

accursed (sometimes)
blessed
beloved
learned
dogged (a dogged persistence)
legged (one-legged; three-legged)
Sometimes, only the context can help you determine which one should be used, compare :

a) He blessed /t/ the kid vs. The blessed /id/ virgin.
b) This is learned /d/ behavior vs. He is a learned /id/ man.

The following list is a more extensive one and is meant to help you remember which words are pronounced with the extra /id/ syllable:

naked, wicked, wretched (a wretched beggar), rugged (a rugged country), crooked, sacred, aged (an aged person), jagged, ragged (a ragged beggar),

The same happens when –ed is used in the formation of adverbs:

Allegedly, arruredly, supposedly, resignedly, resolvedly.

livro didático "condenado": Por Uma Vida melhor - entrevista com Ataliba Castilho

Entrevista com Ataliba Castilho

vale a pena assistir à entrevista.

O jornalista parece meio tímido em suas colocações... Está tão evidente o alarde negativo equivocado e VERGONHOSO feito pela mídia a respeito do tal livro didático. Uma coisa que não está faltando ao livro agora é publicidade gratuita. No final, acredito que o resultado será positivo. Espero que a ignorância e preconceito linguístico que imperam nos meios de comunicação e contribuem com a "lavagem cerebral" dos leigos seja finalmente enfraquecida.

Preconceito Gramatical

Aos defensores do "conjunto de regras de etiqueta opressor" e aos entendedores do papel das diferentes variedades linguisticas: o pronunciamento oficial da ABRALIN sobre a polêmica dos livros didáticos. Deixemos quem entende de linguagem falar sobre linguagem.

http://www.alab.org.br/noticias/outras-noticias/83-leia-tambem-posionamento-da-abralin-em-relacao-a-polemica-do-livro-didatico

Ensino de inglês para crianças

Segue o link para uma matéria comigo feita pela Pais e Filhos sobre desenvolvimento de linguagem na infância.


Ensino de inglês para crianças

Language tips 3: Language Input in Bilingual Education

I am often asked about the type of input kids receive at a bilingual school. I understand that the type of input they receive is extremely important and how we model the language is crucial when it comes to the little ones building their grammar. More often than not, teachers and school programs are focused on the pedagogy of doing things while the language part is neglected or erroneously believed to develop on its own. I am a firm believer that our Brazilian teachers are amazing teachers and they do not have to be native speakers to model the language for our children; nevertheless, they should receive guidance from the school coordinator as to how their input can be profitably enhanced during classroom time and interaction.

Next, we will see what we can do to make this environment even more effective and real.

When a community (such as ourselves – we are an English speaking community at the school) comes together, they are bound to create language references and jokes that are “internal” to the community, in the sense that only the people involved fully understand what is going on. When this happens, the main body of the language at hand is open to adjustments or expressions that come up as a result of the interaction of the participants in a given context/situation. In linguistics we may explain that in terms of an idiolect, as defined below:

Idiolect – a term used in linguistics to refer to the linguistic system of an individual speaker – one’s personal dialect. A dialect can be seen as an abstraction deriving from the analysis of a large number of idiolects. Some linguists give the term a more restricted definition, referring to the speech habits of a person as displayed in a particular variety at a given time.
(Crystal, D. (1997) A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. Blackwell. p. 189)

Applied to our reality: the individual characteristics that everybody brings to the English we speak at the school can significantly affect the general characteristics of the English language AS it is used at the school, and by extension, the type of English we expose our kids to.

To set up an example, I bring into focus a few discourse markers that I have constantly seen teachers using:

Ai ai ai
(sentence), né?
Ó, (sentence)
Vixe...
Nossa, nossa...
Então...

I understand that this use of L1 at school is kept to a minimum. Nonetheless, I invite you to consider the acquisitional impact this may have on your kids developing English as an L2. The language above qualifies as language markers, which are linguistic units used to keep the conversation going and demarcate sentences and their relations to one another or interjections, which are meant to be “natural” reactions to something that happens or is said to us, and are thus emotive.

The use of these devices in your everyday production is increasing and ends up spreading to some teachers who didn’t use it before. It is only a matter of time until our kids start producing these (some may even be at the brink of sprouting).

I urge you to understand that by using this language consistently you are sending our kids the incorrect message that this is part of the English language. They are learning it and there is no way for them to know whether this is appropriate language use or not. It is up to us to make that clear by using the appropriate English equivalent.

The negative effects that this may have on their language development in the long run are beyond present analysis. It is not common knowledge to you what language data you are depriving your students of by not using the English equivalent. For instance, by constantly using “né?” you are most certainly depriving them of the exposure to question tags and what this represents in terms of structure.

“Né?” in English, in the form of a tag comprehends the manifestation of grammatical elements that are expressed in Portuguese in a completely different fashion. In English, the verb combines with the past morpheme “-ed” to form the past. If you wish to make a question in English you have to disconnect the “-ed” from the verb and move it to the beginning of the sentence, landing before the subject. In Portuguese, you simply change the intonation. So the question for “você andou” is “você andou?”. We do not move the disconnected “-ou” to the beginning of the sentence, producing the incorrect Portuguese question form “-ou você and-?”

Notice that this is exactly what we do in English:

“You walked”
( you walk -ed + move “-ed” to the beginning of the sentence to make a question)
( -ed you walk? + turn “-ed” into “did” ), resulting in:
“Did you walk?”

In other words, by using “né?” you are choosing not to expose your students to this IMPORTANT algorithm in the development of the English language. This is surely going to affect the quality of our students grammar substantially. Since we do not know how many other structures this algorithm governs, we have no idea to what extent we are damaging the structures that depend on their fully understanding this “simple” rule of question formation.

I could go on and on about the effects of the other elements cited above, but I believe you got the point. I invite you to NOT use those words anymore. I understand that it may be hard at first, but we need to start kicking that habit. Meanwhile, I would invite you to think of English equivalents for:

Ai ai ai
(sentence), né?
Ó, (sentence)
Vixe...
Nossa, nossa...
Então...

Some may just have to be totally replaced with something else. Think first, what does “ai ai ai” mean?

That’s the food for thought for today. Roll up the sleeves and let’s monitor!!

Thanks
Marcello