Whether a language is spoken, written, or signed with the hands, it is generally agreed that language processing occurs mostly in the left side of the brain. Tonal languages use more of the right brain for understanding nuanced tones and pitches, but the whistled language of Turkey takes right brain language processing to another level. Before the invention of telephones, village dwellers in Turkey created a unique form of long distance communication: whistled Turkish. The language is called kuş dili by locals, meaning “bird language.” Onur Güntürkün of Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany told Science Daily, “If you look at the topography, it is clear how handy whistled communication is. You can’t articulate as loud as you can whistle, so whistled language can be heard kilometers away across steep canyons and high mountains.” Güntürkün continued, “We are unbelievably lucky that such a language indeed exists. It is a true experiment of nature.”
Whistled Turkish; or, the Bird Language
The Relationship Between Sounds and Words in Language
It is a long established characteristic of natural human language that the relationship between the sounds that make up a word and the meaning behind that word is arbitrary. Since Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure postulated the arbitrary nature of signs the nonexistent relationship between signifier and signified was considered a universal property of human language. The onomatopoeia is often sited as an argument against Saussure’s idea because these words directly represent their meaning through sound. In a recent study, titled Iconicity can Ground the Creation of Vocal Symbols, a group of linguists examined this relationship between sounds and words in a laboratory setting.
Making Words Dance
Kwame Alexander and Chris Colderley explain why we need to read and write more poetry in (and outside of) the classroom
I tried to do the same thing for her when I was twelve.
I hadn’t saved my allowance so I couldn’t purchase a Mother’s Day card, let alone a gift. I decided to write a poem instead. It wasn’t great. (The first line was “I hate Mother’s Day.”) The funny thing was that when she read it, she simultaneously smiled and cried (a river). The rainbow of emotion on her face was incredibly inspiring. My little poem brought her so much joy, and that made me want to continue writing, to continue to make words dance. Since then, I’ve spent my life expressing the wonders and woes of life through verse.
Kwame Alexander and Chris Colderley explain why we need to read and write more poetry in (and outside of) the classroom
I tried to do the same thing for her when I was twelve.
I hadn’t saved my allowance so I couldn’t purchase a Mother’s Day card, let alone a gift. I decided to write a poem instead. It wasn’t great. (The first line was “I hate Mother’s Day.”) The funny thing was that when she read it, she simultaneously smiled and cried (a river). The rainbow of emotion on her face was incredibly inspiring. My little poem brought her so much joy, and that made me want to continue writing, to continue to make words dance. Since then, I’ve spent my life expressing the wonders and woes of life through verse.
Language Skill Changes Lives in North Korea
As North Korea announced the creation of its own time zone, the leaders of the “hermit country” have again politically distanced themselves from the rest of the world. However, in the last decade, there has been a huge increase in interest in foreign language education as more trade jobs are opening up and students are trying to connect with outside cultures. “Many people believe that those who work in [foreign] trade have [even] better standards of living than provincial party cadres, so there’s more interest in language skills,” an anonymous source in Yanggang Province told the Daily NK. “If you’re good at a second language you can get into a good university and get a nice job, so the drive among parents to get their children into special foreign language classes is fierce. Parents who want their children to have good language skills and get a solid job will do anything, including selling household goods, to make sure they have support.”
The Rising Demand for Bilingual Teachers
Schools are struggling to provide quality education to an increasing number of students who don’t speak English. In the last 25 years, the amount of English language learners (ELLs) in the U.S. has risen from 5% of all public school K-12 students to more than 10%. The majority of these ELLs speak Spanish, leading to a country-wide increase in demand for teachers who are bilingual in Spanish and English. Other languages however, are in demand as well, and there is an increasing call for the U.S. to take another look at its language education. “This is not a new phenomenon, it’s a structural dysfunction of the U.S. education system,” Santiago Wood, executive director of the National Association for Bilingual Education, told Fusion. “The federal government does not give any priority attention to this matter.”
Four Years to English Proficiency
Study Finds English Learners in Seattle-Area Elementary Schools Successfully Reach Language and Literacy Targets in Nearly Four Years
A new Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Northwest study, prepared in partnership with seven Washington school districts, found that English language learners (ELLs) took 3.8 years on average to gain English proficiency. The study included nearly 18,000 students who attended district elementary schools between 2000 and 2013. The seven districts (Auburn, Federal Way, Highline, Kent, Renton, Seattle, and Tukwila) make up the Road Map Project, an initiative aimed at doubling the proportion of students who are college and career ready by 2020.
“Knowing the time that it takes students to develop English proficiency provides educators with a measure of how quickly they can expect students to progress and helps schools identify specific programs and practices that are successful in developing students’ language and literacy skills,” said REL Northwest’s Jason Greenberg Motamedi, author of the study.
Navajo Nation Loosens Language Requirement for Leadership
Recently, the collective voice of the Navajo Nation passed a referendum to change the language requirements for the positions of tribal president and vice president. The referendum eliminates the need for potential leaders to be fluent in Navajo, giving voters more freedom in who they can elect for office. Starting with the 2018 election, there will be a possibility of selecting a non-Navajo-speaking president of the Navajo Nation. The vote came in response to a 2014 presidential candidate being disqualified from the race after refusing to have his language skills tested. For many, this is representative of equality and democracy, allowing younger people who are less likely to be fluent in Navajo easier access to government participation, but for others, the new ruling diminishes the language that is a defining part of the tribe’s culture and tradition.
MIT Study Suggests a Universal Property of Language
Three MIT researchers have investigated the tendency for languages to place words that work together as closely as possible. This property, dubbed the “dependency length minimization,” or DLM, was a trait that most of the 37 languages analyzed overwhelmingly catered to. Keeping related words syntactically close together means a lesser strain on working memory and the brain in general. This large-scale, quantitative study provides evidence for DLM as a universal property of language. “It was interesting because people had really only looked at it in one or two languages,” Edward Gibson, a professor of cognitive science and co-author of the paper told MIT News. “We thought it was probably true [more widely], but that’s pretty important to show. We’re not showing perfect optimization, but [DLM] is a factor that’s involved.”
Voting Rights Act Left Some Less Equal
Language minorities earned voting rights only in 1975
August 6th marks the 50th anniversary of the landmark Voting Rights Act, signed into law by Lyndon B. Johnson following the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama and “Bloody Sunday,” which drew national attention to voting rights issues. The Voting Rights Act addressed the rampant discrimination that racial minorities faced despite the voting rights guaranteed by the 14th and 15th amendments. The Voting Rights Act is credited with enfranchising racial minorities across the U.S. and especially in the South.
Comparison of Expulsion Rates Reveals Bias Against ELLs
A new study from the Regional Education Laboratory Northwest found that English language learners (ELLs) are suspended and expelled at a higher rate than native English speakers. The study took place at six Oregon school districts and also discovered a correlation between ELLs who were suspended or expelled and substantially lower test scores. “Parents and educators nationwide have grown increasingly concerned over reports that schools discipline some groups of students more than others,” said REL Northwest’s Art Burke, lead author of the study. “Particularly worrisome is discipline that removes children from their classrooms for extended periods of time.”
