Doublespek Language

“Authority and American Usage” written by David Foster Wallace, poses an argument about the English language, and the different beliefs of its usage. This essay was written in defense of Bryan A. Garner’s, A Dictionary of Modern American Usage. His argument in “Authority and American Usage” is the difference the between prescriptivism perception and the descriptivism perception (Linguistic terms that could easily be made into smaller, more understandable words for people like me). Since the beginning of time, language has evolved. From biblical times, to Shakespearean times, to present day; the English language has been continuously changing since it’s birth and has no intentions on stopping.

In William Lutz’s essay entitled “The World of Doublespeak,” from Christopher Ricks’s and Lenonard Micheal’s anthology State of the Language, Lutz examines the art of doublespeak. This essay is meant to enlighten people on examples and different uses of doublespeak and how organizations and others use it to mislead. Lutz begins by defining doublespeak as “language which pretends to communicate but doesn’t, language which makes the bad seem good, the negative appear positive, the unpleasant attractive, or at least tolerable” (278). Specifically, people who use doublespeak pretend to be conveying a certain message while in the real sense they are doing the opposite of that. The author gives specific examples of doublespeak that affect the

Many popular theories of second language acquisition have been analyzed throughout history. The socialization of L2 learners, their present emotional state that is present at time of acquisition, as well as the comprehensible input and output with the use of scaffolding play a major role in second language acquisition. Let us also not forget the importance of written expression as well as reading comprehension with these L2 learners. Each play a role in language development. However, I believe that in acquiring a language, one must use a variety of techniques that work together to create a balance within the learning environment. Furthermore, all L2 learners learn differently and so a variety of resources will need to be used based on the ability of each student. There are many theories that have been developed by highly qualified experts in the field on linguistics. However, I will address those areas that I agree with as I present my personal theories on second language acquisition.

In the essay, “Propaganda: How Not to be Bamboozled,” and “The World of Doublespeak,” both authors discuss and explains the unusual types of propaganda and the misleading nature of doublespeak. First, Donna Woolfolk Cross describes the constructions and the specific methods propaganda presented in our day by day life, and how to avoid being tricked. Also Cross believes that it is important for People in a democratic society to be well informed about propaganda due to how people get manipulated into simply doing something except thinking. Additionally, Cross explains for us as readers the different sorts of propaganda and how we view the topics in a positive way. She highlights in her essay that propaganda is not continually negative; however, it also used in significant ways. Cross presents in her essay that there are thirteen different types of propaganda; such as Card Stacking, Name calling, and

Language is an incredibly powerful tool for communication and the words we use control the

In the essay, “Propaganda: How Not to be Bamboozled,” and “The World of Doublespeak,” both authors discuss and explains the unusual types of propaganda and the misleading nature of doublespeak. First, Donna Woolfolk Cross describes the constructions and the specific methods propaganda presented in our day by day life, and how to avoid being tricked. Also Cross believes that it is important for people in a democratic society to be well informed about propaganda due to how people get manipulated into simply doing something except thinking. Additionally, Cross explains for us as readers the different sorts of propaganda and how we view the topics in a positive way. She highlights in her essay that propaganda is not continually negative; however, it also used in significant ways. Cross presents in her essay that there are thirteen different types of propaganda; such as Card Stacking, Name calling, and Glittering

In the essays “The Ways We Lie” by Stephanie Ericsson, and “The World of Doublespeak” by William Lutz, there are two different angles on lying. They both have a different outlook on lying, Ericsson believes that it is just a part of our language, and that these lies are not deliberate. Lutz believes that it is more deliberate, and intentional. Both Ericsson and Lutz use anecdotes and stories as examples of lies, while describing different kinds of lies.

Language has the influence to undermine the relativity or seriousness of a topic. In Molly Worthen’s article “Stop Saying ‘I Feel Like’“, she interviewed several college students, historians, scientists, etc. about their attitude toward the phrase ‘I feel like…’. In one particular response from Jing Chai, she states, “I’ve tried to

While reading chapter six from Beyond Grammar Language, Power, and the Classroom, written by Mary R. Harmon and Marilyn J. Wilson, I began to realize how much we become caught up in the rules of the so-called Standard American English. It is sad because people are being judged on their dialect, which is a representation of who people are and where they are from. I have found myself correcting people that have a different dialect, or correcting people that say words that I have been told were not proper language, such as the word ain’t. Standard American English is something that is embedded in our brains at a young age and as we go through school; language is something teachers are constantly correcting children on. Reading about dialect has

The language of propaganda and doublespeak have an extended history, going back to the earliest civilizations. Propaganda and doublespeak are the use of verbal exchange to have an impact on the emotions, attitudes, and opinions of human beings. To try to get them to approve on a particular political, religious, or economic point of view, or even to start a war. It is suspicious manipulation of the opinions of the societies to a large extent by their government. In the effort to manage the nation 's thought process, the government has used the language of mass propaganda and doublespeak for selling war.

On many occasions a speaker may, just as Pinker states, “sidestep, shilly-shally and engage in all manner of vagueness and innuendo.” (Source E para. 1). However, looking deeper into the language of the speaker allows many to identify the true motive behind the speakers tricky diction, therefore revealing the speaker's values. Identifying forms of doublespeak, and pretentious diction will as pinker warns, “ they will let us know the things we need to know, and also the things we wish we didn't.” ( Source E para. 8), thus exposing the true identity and beliefs of the individual. Frequently, supercilious politicians lie to the American public by sprinkling praises with, “”. Orwell let's it be know that their language, “is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” (Source B para. 4). Once again if this type of diction is discovered then their true identities are revealed. Also, broken language may be hidden just as well as the motives are hidden. If this break in language is detected, a loss of credibility occurs due to simultaneously revealing the true identity of the speaker's intelligence. Referring to Cummins, if the speakers “bike” is made of square tires, then their message being set forth is no longer credible, and their true identity of intelligence is revealed. Dissecting one's language leads to

In the essay “Doubts About Doublespeak”(1993), William Lutz depicts how utilizing doublespeak can damage a society. Lutz begins with providing examples of doublespeak that range from silly to serious, showing how doublespeak can be harmless, but also disguise a truth with a manipulation of words. There are many different types of doublespeak, Lutz breaks it down into four different categories euphemism, jargon, gobbledygook and inflated language. By breaking them down, Lutz shows the audience that they share similarities in which they make something negative sound better than it is. There are more types of doublespeak that can be seen all around us, moreover, as more doublespeak is being created everyday and everywhere it becomes difficult

However, it can be argued with (Bruner 1964) that social interaction doesn’t explain all the complexities of language acquisition. Almost every day the language we hear is often incorrect, poorly defined, incomplete and full of hesitations, mispronunciations and other errors, and yet despite this we still learn to talk following the correct grammatical rules. Again this indicates the idea of Chomsky’s (1968) LAD model that children are born ‘hard-wired’ with the innate knowledge of linguistic rules and so these rules help the baby make estimations and presumptions about the language it is hearing. From these estimations and presumption the child can work out grammatical sets of rules and when more language is exposed to them, the more their language develops. Even within Chomsky’s (1968) LAD theory, undoubtedly he believed the role and promotion of the ‘nature’ aspect is the core foundation on which language can develop. But his theory also requires the role of nurture

From a baby 's first word to their first complete sentence, there 's a lot to debate with their language development. The average child has a vocabulary of up to six-thousand words by the time they turn five years old (Brighthubcom, 2016). Language development is one of the most critical roles for an educator in both early childhood and primary settings. It is this ability of language development that is particularly interesting in the nature vs nurture debate. In order for educators to provide effective communication, it is important that they have the knowledge and understanding of the four key concepts of language, such as phonological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic development and the underlying theoretical perspectives that explain the processes of language acquisition and development.

Some linguistic models try to explain the development of second language acquisition. The three most common models are (1) the Universal Grammar Model, (2) the Competition Model, and (3) the Monitor Model. The Universal Grammar Model refers to the system of principles, conditions, and rules that are properties or elements of all human languages. At the same time, each language has grammatical rules that vary from one language to another. Thus, Chomky states that different languages have a limited possibility of different grammatical structures (1975). Therefore, second language learners base their second language acquisition on universal principles common to all languages, and on the force of the particular rules of each language. All of those can be concluded that as a human, especially as children, we have vary form of rules in language, in this case is second language.