Last Language (November 1st, 2016)

NOTES

-Language can be manipulated to influence and evoke an audience's emotions through the deliberate use of jargon.

-Media is a critical conduit that is responsible for propagation of subjective point of views through the distortion of language.

-Governments deceive their own people.

-Communism in Vietnam War
     Principles behind communism were not evil but it got corrupted along the way.
     Lower productivity results in decreased economic prosperity and hence overall there is less to              distribute in the first place. What is the point then?

-George Orwell 1984- future dystopian society oppressed by central government, highlighting the troubles of censorship and the lack of freedom expression

- Words that cannot be translated from one language to another

Primary Emotions-

Happiness
Sadness
Fear
Anger
Disgust
Surprise

The Language Glass (October 29th,2016)

In the article, "Through the Language Glass," Alex Bellos shed light on numerous concepts that were foreign to me prior to reading this text. Nevertheless, the content of the article itself was rather illuminating as it covered a range of different perspectives on the perception of colours and how this perception is intertwined with language. For instance, Bellos falsifies the myth that the ancient Greeks were unable to distinguish between varied colours or did not have developed sense of colour as he counters that it was merely the lack of colour-oriented vocabulary that resulted in this misconception to arise. 

Bellos then goes on to give specific examples from countries around the world, including Japan and Russia to emphasize the fact that it was not just the Greeks who did not have a colour, more specifically, for blue. I personally found this quite interesting to learn as I have never really focused on the origin of colours of the etymology of colour specific words and hence reading about the emergence of these words was quite fascinating. 

One line that really stood out to me in this article was regarding how colours in different language are discovered in a predictable order whereby: "Black and white come first, then red, then yellow, then green and finally blue." Now that I think about it, today we are surrounded by a gazillion different colours, most of which we can name. Nevertheless, it was not necessarily always like this. Perhaps this predictable order explains why old TV shows. movies and printed photographs were initially in black and white as these were the only explicit colours known to be labelled as a colour back then. 

Accordingly, the examples provided for the German and Spanish language is one I can genuinely relate to as I have been learning French for a while and am thus well acquainted with the "gender system" for words. In all honesty, I also personally believe it would be much easier for me to remember names given to objects if they correlated with the "gender" of the object in French as this makes establishing connections much easier. Whilst this was a great example, I am not sure of how it really links to Deutcher's conclusion that "speakers of different languages may perceive colours slightly differently after all".

Ultimately, I am in agreement with Bellos claim that one's language does not have that much of an influence on their perception. I personally believe that more than the language one speaks, a contributing factor that greatly influences perception is the culture and values they are brought up with. For example, brought up in an Indian society, I was always taught that teachers are to be held with very high regard and are pivotal figures in our lives. Thus, whilst I often see fellow classmates sometimes answer back or perhaps being disrespectful to a teacher, it is something I do not agree with for that is how I have been brought up. Thus, to me, the perception of something as little as wrong and right in varied situations seems to be greatly influenced by one's upbringing as opposed to the language they speak. 

1st order claims:

• We can see something for which we have no word
• None of the ancient language had a proper word for blue
• Colour words emerge in all languages in a predictable order: Black and white come first, then red, then yellow, then green and finally blue. 
• Language barely has an effect on perception

2nd order claims 

• Can perception of varied aspects of the word truly be influenced by one's linguistic acquisitions?
• Are bi/multilingual individuals subject to having two different perspective on a single observation due to the fact that they can speak more than one language?
• Were the Greeks, who barely had a colour-oriented vocabulary, actually unable to distinguish between varied colours?
• Do artists, due to their constant exposure to many colours, have a better sense of distinction in regards to shades of colours?

1)What have you learnt in the last two sessions about language? what came to your mind that you have not shared with the class?

In the last two lessons we have spoken primarily about language in relation to perception. All in all, I have learnt that language itself is much more than simply a means of communication; language is equivalent to an identity. Depending on the regions we come from, or have lived in, we are exposed to a multitude of languages and these have evolved over several generations. In fact, we explored so many different facets of language that I had never even thought about before (on which I have reflected in depth in the specific blogposts for that class). The stroop test is a good example that has over the years quantified the claim that bi/multilingual individuals process fluctuation in minute details much faster than those who are monolingual due to their practice of "code-switching."The activity that demanded us to make our own language essentially taught me how it is not vital for merely the definition of words to be known, but also the fact that several other factors, including expressions, gestures and body language play a critical role in getting across a point in any given language. From a more scientific point of view, we looked at how multilinguals may have greater brain elasticity due to their ability to acquire many languages. 

I myself am very keen on the acquisition of varied languages. I personally believe learning multiple languages opens many windows to the world as those you can communicate with on a different level have increased in numbers. As mentioned in class, at the moment I am very much into Korean and hence have been practicing my Korean skills. Nevertheless, what I have learnt over time along with my acquisition of languages is that it is extremely difficult to learn a language unless you are constantly surrounded by people fluent in it. Thus, despite the fact that I have been learning the basis of Korean for the past couple of months, I am sure that spending just a week in Korea itself, submerged in that atmosphere would be a much more effective way of acquiring and implementing concepts. 

2) How important is body language across cultures? Do we think differently when we speak more than one language?

I think body language is something very distinct across different cultures. For example, in the Indian culture, subtly bowing down to greet with folded hands is quite common. Nevertheless, if contrasted to the Korean whereby individuals fully bow down, the body gesture would be received oddly if swapped in the different contexts. Accordingly, being a multilingual, I can say at least on my behalf that my thought process does not differ whilst switching from one language to another. Nevertheless, more than thinking differently, I think often it is a different side of one's personality that emerges depending on the language they are conversing in and how they desire to portray themselves. 

3)How reliable is language?? Explore these aspects: (lost in translation, misunderstandings, legitimacy of language, language used in marketing, media, bias...)

I believe that language itself is not reliable due to the fact that language can cleverly be moulded or in some cases distorted to deliver an ambiguous message. Marketing and media is a great example as evidence to this as these are fields especially where language is cleverly manipulated to attract buyers/buyers. For instance, as we were studying in our biology lessons, food products often have labels like "trans-fat free" or "cholesterol free," to appeal to health conscious people. Now, we learnt that cholesterol is only founded in animal cells, hence, it is ipso facto impossible for potato chips to have cholesterol in the first place. However, due to the fact that cholesterol is connoted with unhealthy, simply plastering the fact that a product is free of this molecule tricks buyers into picking it up. Therefore, language can be cunningly manipulated in contexts to reap benefits. 

Words and What they Mean (October 25th, 2016)

NOTES

Do we need to know a definition of a word, in order to understand its meaning?
Do words have meanings or do we give them meanings?

Young people no longer use language properly?
Elucidate on the use of abbreviations and slang in the technologically advanced generation.

oignon = onion= onion

How does emotion influence the way we perceive words that we don't know the meaning of?

context is crucial for perception; if you take words of of context, meanings can be misconstrued.

Image Theory- EinsteinTheParrot
Call and Response: natural conversation is when both people understand
Familiarity with the sound of words triggered Einstein
Subtle gestures utilized
Parrots are associated with general repetition, however the video seemed to contradict this phenomenon as the parrot almost seemed to be having a conversation with his owner.

Advantages of speaking more than one language.
Brain elasticity- widens one's horizons, more adaptable
"To have a second language is to have a second soul"
Different personalities emerge from speaking different languages.
Cultural surrounding has an impact on how you act in different situations
harder to distinguish or label one as stronger than the other if we grow up speaking both simultaneously

How languages evolve:
A language family can comprise of may languages and sub-branches
language scattered though the babble of migration
so many dialects. So many different branches.

Make your own language? (October 20th, 2016)

In today's class we spent majority of the time going through everyone's new languages. It was actually quite a great experience to see how the different groups had perceived the task in varied ways, and thus the product was different from group to group. I personally think this particular activity enhanced my understanding of how language and perception are linked as the languages presented were completely ambiguous to us and yet we had to try and decipher the meanings unveiled in the messages being relayed.

However, whilst watching the performances was great, what I enjoyed more was the succeeding discussion we had. I learnt a lot about Italian culture and the significance of prominent gestures whilst on the other hand I also learnt that similar actions may be perceived in a contradicting way in countries like Japan and Korea as over exaggerated gestures connote aggression. One thing led to another and we somehow began commenting on the Indian head "bobbing." Now, I may have a got a little worked up in class about this as I personally believe that western media has over time skewed the perspective of so many different cultures and religions, that reality is not even sought after any more. People tend to limit their perception of cultures/religions merely to what their exposure allows them to.

I definitely think that Western portrayal of not only the Indian culture, but several other cultures, has heavily influenced society and the view point they adhere to. Why must an Arab country always be represented by vast deserts? Why must Italian culture always be associated with a thick accent and perhaps pizza? Why must Indians be characterized by their "head bobbing?" The list can go on and on. However, the point I am trying to make is that we have become a society where we blindly accept facts that are placed on a platter. We have stopped questioning things. It is almost as if we are going back in time. The questioning attitude that people once exhibited, the questioning attitude that allowed phenomenons like the Industrial Revolution and the Renaissance to prevail and propel our society, is again being curtailed.

I personally believe it is crucial for us to go beyond the facts simply provided to us. The aim is to do some exploration for ourselves and not simply agree with everything being told.

Language (October 18th, 2016)

In today's lesson we essentially examined the relationship between language and perception. Firstly we watched a video regarding the The Stroop Test. I particularly found this to be quite interesting as I was recently used as a subject for the Stroop Test by some psychology students and thus could relate to this phenomenon. However, when I had first been exposed to this test I did not have much hindsight wisdom about the test. Nonetheless, having studied this test in varied subjects this year, I am now familiar with the rudimentary purpose of it. In fact, I could make many connections with this test and the most significant one would be the factor we associated the Stroop Test with in our English Lang and Lit lessons: multilingualism. In the lesson, we learnt how a bilingual/multilingual person often outperforms a monolingual in the Stroop Test due the faster processing and elasticity of their brains. Actually, I clearly remember how I had completed the Stroop Test with the psychology students and they had been quite impressed with the speed that I had exhibited. Perhaps I can attribute this trait to the fact that I can speak almost 6 languages? Maybe it was just a coincidence, but evidence accumulated over time supports the claim that multilinguals are considerably efficient in the Stroop Test in comparison to monolinguals.

We then watched the 'Million Dollar Question' video and in all honesty I felt quite exasperated and annoyed at all how it played out. When I learnt that this was a comedic staged scene and not the official TV show, I was quite relieved in a sense as if this were to be real television, I would have been quite disappointed. However, this video really got me thinking about how we truly depend on sense and perception to such a great extent but these elements that we rely on so heavily can often be deceiving. Language is one such element interlinked to our perception of things. For instance, a word may mean something in one context but another in another and therefore our perception of that word is limited to our subjective point of view. This can be a starting point for several arguments caused due to the dynamics in varied opinions based on the sense and perception of different individuals.

Another example of the limitation of sense and perception can be dependent on the phenomenon of property of object vs property of mind. Whilst we tried to distinguish between several examples and classify whether they were property of the object or mind, I could not agree that even one of them was the property of an object and personally believe that every thing we perceive around us is based on subjective sense and perception. For instance, a sweet drink may not be sweet for everyone and the definition of what comprises of light blue and what dark blue is also dependent and varied from individual to individual.

Another way to look at sense and perception hindering our perception would be when we over-depend on our senses. For instance, often times we may here or see things that may not be true and at times like this, we have to learn to deviate from our primary sense and perception and apply logicality to decipher the true meaning of something. A basic example I can think of is when a person overhears their friend "gossiping" about them. However, they may have misheard the conversation and this can result in conflict. Thus, whilst primary sense and perception are key to our survival, we must also learn how to distinguish between contexts that need us to think independently of our subjective viewpoints and thus overpower the reliability of one our sense and perception.

Senses continued(October 11th, 2016)

Sounds

• My apartment doorbell

Smells

• Baby Food- Cerelac
• Johnsons shampoo/ baby powder
• Wet grass
• Hospital smell 
• Vicks 
• Play dough 
• Chlorine 
• Petrol 

Tastes

• Fruit loops
• Pancakes 

First order claims- claims about the world

The brain has to fill in the gaps 

Contents of visual working memory are encoded in the visual cortex

Second order claims- Knowledge claims 

How can we trust our perception? Are perceptions valid and reliable?

Sensible Senses (October 6th, 2016)

I may have already made my love for open discussion lessons to be quite clear. However, I shall reiterate this fondness as today's lesson was another great example of one that I find myself truly engaging with due to being mostly opinion and discussion based.

Accordingly, today's lesson was begun with a rather simple (seeming) riddle: "If a tree falls down and no one hears it, does it still make sound?" When I first read the question my immediate instinctive response was- yes, of course the tree makes sound regardless of someone hearing it. Nevertheless, my understanding of sound was clearly a little distorted as the mind blowing answer was revealed to us. Hence, today I was enlightened about how sound itself is produced due to vibrations. However, in order for the vibrations to be classified as a "sound," there must be a mechanism present to mediate the transformation. Accordingly, this mechanism is human beings is essentially our ears. I personally would have never looked at this questions from a such a perspective and hence the answering of this questions made me aware of how it is crucial to engage with a presented questions not always directly but also with some hindsight wisdom that can allow us to better assess the question and a potential answer.

Moving on, we watched the "how many balls can you see?" video and I was left speechless once the true essence of the video was established by revealing the hundreds of clear jell like balls. I mean, what made me even more stunned was the fact that I knew of the existence of these globular structures as I oft played with them as a child. Nevertheless, the thought of this never even occurred to me. In my opinion, the reason for this lies in the fact that we as humans have been engineered to accept so much at face value that we as a species have become quite gullible. If asked to focus on one thing, our mind eliminates other potential distractions whereas the main point may be to test how we can balance our perception and judgment effectively. Similarly, the Queen Elizabeth smile and frown face and the Albert Einstein facial illusion, is another example of how the human mind can easily be manipulated to get it to focus on one element, that an anomalous element takes them by surprise.

Whilst I throughly enjoyed the aforementioned elements of today's lesson, my favourite part without a doubt was the part where we examined the story of "The Boy Who Can See With No Eyes." Using echo locations to detect sight? That is a phenomenon I never thought possible for the human mind. However, watching this video allowed me to be better acquainted with how people adapt to their own needs and work around their problems to find effectual solutions to them. With this solution being an exceptional one. I mean, it sounds crazy but the fact that a boy has developed this skill also sheds light on how he may have activated a certain part of his brain that may not otherwise be activated for other people. That being said, this ability is clearly not innate and his ability to do so has emerged form his determination and willpower.

In the latter part of the class we analyzed the different nuances of senses that we do not often categorize whilst speaking about sensory perceptions. The following are some of these unconventional senses:

.

• Nociception: This sense of response is essentially the response adopted by the nervous system in an emergency situation. This response is also known as the fight or flight response as the nervous makes decisions based on subcategories of these two main sets. 

• Chronoception: This sense essentially relates to the idea of the perception of time. Unknowingly, we already studied this concept last lesson and it is now good to know how we can label this concept as being chronoception. 

• Proprioception:This sense can be defined as he sense that allows an individual to make connections between one's own individual body parts. Thus, the simplest of things such as raising an arm or the movement of fingers fall under proprioceptive movements. 

• Equilibrioception: As the name suggests, this sense is essentially the sense of physical balance in a mundane context. In fact, whilst we may have never considered this sense in our lives, it is critical to engage with the fact that this is the sense that allows us to stand without stumbling around. Perhaps clumsy people have a lower degree of equilibrioception which causes the constant tripping. 

• Thermoception: Thermoception is essentially the mechanism that allows our bodies to perceive varied temperatures. For instance the detection of cold and warm temperatures can be attributed to thermoreceptors in the body. In fact these thermoreceptors play an important role in the organ systems due to the fact that they allow the body to always maintain optimal conditions by externally detecting surrounding temperatures. 

Possible claims-

First order claims- 

• The neural cortex of the brain, responsible for logical perception is placed very close to the area responsible for memory. 

Second order claims- 

• Sensory perception is not reliable due to the fact that sense and perception is subjective and not an objective element that remains constant in different individuals.  

Types of Knowledge Questions (October 4th, 2016)

We kicked off this lesson by presenting our short skits based on the varied perceptions of time on a global scale. Whilst may group presented a skit based on the dynamics of the concept of time in our specific cultures, interpreting and analyzing the skits performed by other groups was a great experience as it allowed us to view the concept of time from multiple perspectives.

Accordingly, we spent much of today's lesson evaluating the different degrees of Knowledge Questions by essentially categorizing a given list of questions on a scale of "not a knowledge question" to "good". This activity certainly allowed me to get a glimpse into what can be classified as a good knowledge question. I believe that this lesson was effective as it gave me a better idea of what exactly shall be the basis of our presentation.

I personally believe that knowledge questions, questions which are open ended often provoke us and lead us into digging deeper into theories beyond what we already accept as convention/norm. This in my opinion is essential as without any extended analysis or without taking a unique different approach to something, nothing new would ever be invented or discovered. In fact this lesson, for some reason made me ponder about the Renaissance Period. The Renaissance was indubitably a period of revolution in terms of the world. With the invention of the Printing Press to the discovered of human anatomy, many facets of the world were revealed during this period. However, what was the undercurrent of this paradigm shift? This new found quench for absorbing knowledge? It was the development of a Questioning Attitude. As the name suggests, this attitude was one that essentially encouraged people to question every minuscule detail of life, to protest blindly accepting whatever is asserted by a supreme authority. One this Questioning Attitude was brought into motion, there was no stopping it. And the benefits of this shift in thinking resulted in unsurmountable amounts of explorations and discoveries that hold substantial gravity till date.

Thus, all in all, I do in a way believe that TOK urges us to follow in the path of developing a questioning attitude. Maybe by the end of the course we won't be experts enough to give birth to a novel prodigious invention, however, we will ultimately have altered perspective that teach us the art of exploration for self and I am quite excited to participate in this journey to get to that point.