• Rather than a weekly discussion thread, watch this video. I made it last year but it covers some parts I couldn’t get to tonight:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCarK3wSnPA
Ignore the slang reading by McWhorter I mention on there — we didn’t read it this year.
• Blog Post #4:
The readings for this week deal with language change. What is made clear throughout is that all languages are constantly changing; this is, and has always been, the normal situation for every language.
With that in mind, I’d like you to turn your focus on your own language – whether it be English or another language that you speak or grew up speaking. After doing the reading, I’d like you to talk to someone older than yourself – a parent, a grandparent, a mentor, anyone at least 10 years older than you – about changes they’ve noticed between the way that they grew up speaking your language, and the way that you speak your language. Is your accent different? Do you use different words? Did the spelling system change at all? Report your findings. 250 words.
• Read Encyclopedia of the World’s Endangered Languages pp.vii–xvi and the paragraph-long description of any endangered or extinct language from North America — your choice. You will briefly discuss this language during our next class, which will count as your quiz grade.