On language, linguistics and new beginnings

A recent decision I made was to pursue further education in the form of a distance learning program in forensic linguistics. What is forensic linguistics? I’ll come to that soon enough. First I'll summarize my academic background to show how I came to be interested in this burgeoning field of study.

At university I studied law and society and sociocultural linguistics. I must admit from a relatively young age I thought I was hearing a call to the bar, but as the financial realities of such aspirations became more evident, specifically in a post financial crisis economy, I found other ways to make a living. To say that I learned about the law and language would be oversimplifying. I learned about how people use them while considering their unique backgrounds, experiences and motivations and how all that could be used to explain certain actions or phenomena. I’ve constructed a dialogue of how Henry David Thoreau, Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau would respond to the Weather Underground movement and I’ve analyzed a conversation between four university students wherein the female and male participants refer to one location with different terms, namely ‘the market,’ and ‘the store,’ and which linguistic devices were used to argue in favor of one term's liegitimacy over the other across the two genders. Incidentally, it was after writing the paper on that conversation I decided to add linguistics as a second major after receiving encouragement from someone who would eventually become my favorite linguistics professors.

I can remember a moment of clarity in my third year when my seemingly unconventional double major choice suddenly made sense to me. Sitting in a human rights law class, listening to the professor (another one of my favorites) talk about the then newly waged ‘war on terror’ along with ‘enemy combatants’ and ‘enhanced interrogation tactics.’ At the time, lest they appear unpatriotic, it seemed to me that people were more invested in supporting the troops than questioning the way information was gathered, how detainees were being treated or whether the military’s conduct complied with the Geneva Conventions. But more than that, the language used was such that it made the actions described thereby seem mitigated. Using these words, which were not previously a part of our lexicon, provided a new framework for people to use to evaluate what was happening. This war is unlike any other war in that it is not being fought in a single location, but rather the world over, even at home. There is no one identifiable group, but rather a widespread network of individuals that are being dealt with. 

In that context, it would appear to follow that such new circumstances would also facilitate the use of new words to classify what was going on and who was doing what to whom. In that moment I realized how integral language is to shaping an individual's perception. What seems more troubling is how this principle is not only recognized by some in influential positions, but how it can be manipulated to achieve a desired reaction to something without you even being the wiser. As an example of this you need look no further than a commercial break the next time you watch TV.

Linguistics as a discipline involves a number of subfields. There’s phonetics and phonology, how sounds of a language are articulated (using the tongue, teeth, lips etc.) and how these sounds come together to create meaning in a language. There’s morphology which, crudely described, is how words are assembled within a language. Take for example the English suffix –ed, which by itself has no meaning until attached to the end of a (regular) verb, thus creating the past tense. To further highlight phonology, consider the difference between walked and waited: both end in –ed but are pronounced differently. If you’re interested in seeing how other languages work, check this out. There’s syntax, which studies how sentences are formed within a language. Semantics deals with meaning-consider the words “a heavy metal detector.” Is it a device that detects heavy metals or a particularly weighty metal detector? Did you just re-read those words placing different stress on heavy and metal? There’s another example of phonetics. Pragmatics deals with context and its ability to infuse meaning into a phrase which, on its surface, has little to do with what’s going on. Imagine you and your friend have just finished a nice lunch, the check has arrived and your friend looks in their bag then says “Oh, I seem to have forgotten my wallet.” Without even knowing it, you understand this declaration to be an implied request from your friend to cover the bill this time due to their absent mindedness. There are other subfields but I think that list will suffice for now. 

Sociolinguistics is a form of descriptive linguistics, which means it examines and analyses how language is used and what its affects are within a population considering such factors as race, age, gender, socioeconomic status, educational background or religion; all while considering the norms that govern social interaction and structure relationships within society. In my last upper division class at UCSB, Asian American experiences with language, I wrote a paper analyzing the use of a particular variety of English, technically referred to as African American Vernacular English (AAVE), more widely known as ebonics. I took into account the recognized associations with that particular variety of English. These associations are manifold and contain both positive and negative connotations. From the hypermasculinity and coolness of hip hop culture and rap music, to its perception by many as a bastardized form of standard English and ties to criminal activity through the aforementioned music, films and representations of those who speak it. My paper dealt with analyzing the use of so-called tokens (examples) of AAVE being used in the film Better Luck Tomorrow, which boasts a mostly Asian American cast and is based on actual events. I argued (with considerable help from the work of other linguists) that these examples served a greater purpose than just Asian dudes trying to sound black. Whether it was dropping g's, yo mama jokes or use of the ever-controversial "N word," (though it should be noted in this film it was the version with an "a" at the end, not an "er") these tokens served, in my opinion, to construct an identity that challenges normative expectations and understandings of the experience of Asian American boys in high school given their [AAVE tokens'] previously mentioned social connotations and the absence of an Asian American variety of English. Of course I recognize that the dialogue I was analyzing was entirely scripted, thus lacking a certain degree of authenticity. However, I still think that representations in film and media are relevant to sociological inquiry and their role in shaping the linguistic practices, and perhaps by extension the consciousness, of speakers cannot be overlooked.

Forensic linguistics is is the application of linguistic knowledge, methods and insights to the forensic context of law, language, crime investigation, trial, and judicial procedure. The field’s origins can be traced to a case from the 1950s in England (John Olsson, 2009, Introduction). A more recent example caught my eye with the announcement that J.K. Rowling had published a novel under a pseudonym.

I acknowledge that after all that I have barely come to scratch the surface of what forensic linguistics is. This is because I am still a novice to the field. I have been reading more and more trying to familiarize myself with other cases and applications, but this is only the beginning of the process. Given the increasingly technological aspect of daily life and the various social media that is being used to document it in an unprecedentedly public manner, the field is becoming more and more relevant, providing opinions that play a part in the decisions rendered in judicial procedings. I look forward to beginning the program in October, as well as an upcoming week-long conference to be held here in Germany next month. Perhaps I’ll have more to talk about then!

Below is a list of works cited in my paper on the use of AAVE and its social implications in the film Better Luck Tomorrow.

As of late

I started this blog a year and a half after I moved here as a forum to present my musings about life in Germany from the perspective of an American. It became apparent after a while that such a tenor, as embodied by my former choice in title, limited the range of topics I could, within the framework of my thematic choice, reasonably delve into. It has been a while since I last posted anything, almost a year to be exact. “I just got too busy,” is an easy alibi, but it’s not that cut and dry.

The truth is that at some point in the recent past I stopped observing my life through this prism of a foreigner and have become comfortable here. Although I cannot say in confidence that my fluency and accuracy are on the same level, my language skills have improved enough. I can hold my own in conversation, but I am well aware of the fact that my speech is still lousy with incorrect articles, improper use of verbs, or nouns, prepositions and adjectives for that matter, and peppered with clumsy yet still comprehensible (or so I tell myself) constructions. Yet none of that bothers me anymore.

That being said, I have not completely lost my Californian core. Take for instance this gorgeous summer weather we have been enjoying recently. As someone who comes from a place with nearly year-round sunshine, June and July have been kind of rough times to live here. Last year I only retrieved the summer clothes out of the basement for my trip home. In the past, I heard from people that there used to be proper summers with plenty of warm and sunny days. The first two years I lived here such days were few and far between, or so it felt to me by comparison. When there were sunny days everyone would enjoy them, and all you would hear on the streets is “Oh, how lovely is this weather?” The evening news would start with the anchor saying “Germany is blooming,” with b roll of kids playing in fountains or splashing in public pools, dogs panting, smiling groups in sunny beer gardens and of course the obligatory eating-an-ice-cream-in-the-shade shot. But these days, while treasured by all, seemed fleeting. By the time you got comfortable with the summer weather, clouds rolled in and you were back to the status quo. 

This year has been different. We’ve enjoyed a couple weeks now of consistently legitimate summer temperatures. I get the distinct impression, however, that not everyone is as delighted with this sunny spell. The fact that there had been no rain for a week didn’t bother me at all, but when I was at the salon I could hear another patron lamenting the dryness and uncomfortable heat, and the stylist echoing her opinion even reassuring her that the forecast predicted rain in the coming days. Or on a walk in the countryside with a friend and her dog, as we pass another resident the first words out of his mouth are “It is too hot, right?”

I like the heat. In fact, I think some Germans tend to play a bit fast and loose with the word “die Hitze,” (the heat). While 30°C (86° F) is balmy, I am not in any way distressed by it. I’m used to much hotter summer days, and where I’m from those temperatures have yet to arrive-they’ll surprise you in August or September when even some Californians begin to tire of the summer sun. Though it has to be said, the heat here is somehow different. Geography undoubtedly plays a role (latitude?), but that’s not the point. It’s examples like this, moments where I feel somehow different from everyone around me, which once seemed ever-present but over time have become as infrequent as warm and sunny days. 

This isn’t to say I don’t still have such thoughts, or plan to deny indulging myself by writing about them, but there are other yarns to be spun.

Nailed it!

So another milestone has been reached this week in Germany. I am pleased to say that I am now a licensed driver! After my vacation I began behind the wheel lessons. The first lesson was definitely shocking-I didn’t crash or anything, but for the first time to be in road traffic behind the wheel was a bit jarring. A chance to apply all the facts I learned over the last six months, and let me tell you, checking boxes on a computer screen is a lot easier. I had to get used to all the other traffic around me (cyclists, scooter drivers, buses, dog walkers, old couples with bags from the bakery and the occasional pack of children). I also had to keep an eye out for signage, monitor my speed limit and make sure to check over my shoulder before every maneuver. 

After a few lessons everything became more comfortable, and on Friday halfway through the exam I realized that nothing had gone wrong (OK, perhaps it took me an extra few seconds to decelerate to 50 kmh after driving on a ‘fast street,’ into a village-but I totally noticed it and slowed down without having to be told). The tester (a third party examiner and the driving instructor are in the car for the practical exam) was very pleasant and she pretty much talked to my instructor the whole time so I just had to play chauffeur and not hurt anyone. Mission accomplished! Not looking to get a car any time soon, but there is a car sharing program here that could be quite nice for once in a while drives.  

The semester is in full swing. I’ve had two weeks now at the new gig and everything is great. Next week is a holiday here, so that’ll be enjoyable. The weather has suddenly turned downright wintery. It’s been quite mild and fall-like this month, but within the last few days the night temperature has dropped below zero and during the day it’s under 10. And as of this morning, we've changed our clocks back an hour, so it's going into, 'the dark season.' I don't mind though.

And what would an end of October post be without some pictures of trees with fall colors?