Topic
Alien language
About: Alien language is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 36 publications have been published within this topic receiving 183 citations. The topic is also known as: extraterrestrial language & exolinguistics.
Papers
TL;DR: The authors argue that changing the face of the multi-dimensionalities of poverty within societies is possible only when education is constructed in a rights perspective over the favoured colonial languages, which are not an integral part of the culture and resources of a community.
Abstract: Pre-colonial Africa was neither an educationally nor a technologically unsophisticated continent. While education was an integral part of the culture, issues of language identification and standardisation which are subject to contentious debate today were insignificant. Children learned community knowledge and history by asking questions instead of being taught in a hegemonic alien language. This article argues that education and development should take place in a broader context of human rights, and explores the links between three areas often dealt with separately, namely: language, education and development. The authors of this paper demonstrate that changing the face of the multi-dimensionalities of poverty within societies is possible only when education is constructed in a rights perspective over the favoured colonial languages, which are not an integral part of the culture and resources of a community. The authors make a distinction between the right to education and rights in education, the latter of which are found to be more significant for the challenges Africa faces. It is argued here that the elements of Amartya Sen’s “threshold” conditions for inclusion in human rights and self-development in education are essential, and that a more promising architecture of education would include what the authors term meta-narrative frameworks, i.e. interrelated policies. The authors contend that the neoliberal commodification of the knowledge sector has only exacerbated human rights and capabilities deprivation – which encompasses both human and income poverty.
65 citations
TL;DR: The drive to improve is a marked feature of the culture, and much has changed in the past twenty years as mentioned in this paper, as has the number of competent English speakers, education has been freed up, English introduced into primary schools, and listening tests established in national exams, yet the peculiarities of Japanese English continue to adorn the country's buildings, goods and items of clothing.
Abstract: Starts with excerpt from John Dougill, English as a decorative language (ET12, 1987). Twenty years on English still decorates Japan. At the end of the 1980s, Japan's bubble economy burst and the country has been rectifying the ills of the past ever since. The drive to improve is a marked feature of the culture, and much has changed in the past twenty years. The number of ‘international Japanese’ has grown, as has the number of competent English speakers. Education has been freed up, English introduced into primary schools, and listening tests established in national exams. Yet the peculiarities of Japanese English (called Janglish or Engrish by some) continue to adorn the country's buildings, goods and items of clothing.
34 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined language from an ecological perspective and then considered language from a wider biological viewpoint, one that enables us to explore language as a meaning-making activity at the core of every form of life, including plants.
Abstract: Language is often considered a key feature of being human, and human linguistic behavior has been adopted as the universal template for studying the nature of language and its evolution. Yet it is not always clear what “language” actually is, and the lack of definition calls into question the notion that human language is unique because it has no equivalent in any nonhuman species. We ask whether the use of language is truly an activity, a form of behavior, which makes us so unique and unlike other species. We tackle this question by examining language from an ecological perspective and then considering language from a wider biological viewpoint, one that enables us to explore language as a meaning-making activity at the core of every form of life, including plants. We examine how innovative philosophical thinking and scientific research similarly call into question the current limits of language in describing the botanical world and human-plant dynamics. By providing an overview of the most rece...
15 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 2 |
| 2020 | 3 |
| 2019 | 3 |
| 2018 | 4 |
| 2016 | 2 |
| 2015 | 3 |