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Language functions, McLuhan and Burke

Language functions, McLuhan and Burke. Created by Brett Oppegaard for Washington State University Vancouver's CMDC 375 class, spring 2011. How do we use language?. To communicate ideas, exchange facts and opinions … yes, and how else?. Source: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language.

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Language functions, McLuhan and Burke

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  1. Language functions, McLuhan and Burke Created by Brett Oppegaard for Washington State University Vancouver's CMDC 375 class, spring 2011

  2. How do we use language? • To communicate ideas, exchange facts and opinions … yes, and how else? Source: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language

  3. How do we use language? • Emotional expression Oops! Ow! Darn it! Source: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language

  4. How do we use language? • Social interaction Good morning, lovely dayPleased to meet youBless you! … Thank you! Source: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language

  5. How do we use language? • As rhythmic sound Shirley Oneple, Shirley Twople … Shirley TenpleI like coffee, I like tea … Source: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language

  6. How do we use language? • As graphical representations Source: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language / Howdesign.com / tkhere.blogspot.com

  7. How do we use language? • To try to control reality ‘I baptize you …’I name this ship ‘Titanic’ Source: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language

  8. How do we use language? • Recording the facts Genealogy CensusLaw casesImpossible to predict how it will be used in the future (when it’s ‘communicated’) Source: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language

  9. How do we use language? • Instrument of thought 32 plus 19 equals 51 So if I put this nail here …Rough draft, gets thoughts flowing Source: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language

  10. How do we use language? • Expression of identity Go Cougs!Four more years! Source: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language

  11. McLuhan-Fiore reading • Our society's transition from 'the magic world of the ear' to the 'neutral world of the eye' was caused primarily by what? How did that change the ways in which we live for the better? For the worse? Are we now, per McLuhan's “Global Village” concept, returning to Orality? How? Why?

  12. McLuhan-Fiore reading • McLuhan argues (p. 26 of “The Medium is the Massage,” not in course pack) that “all media work us over completely. They are so pervasive in their personal, political, economic, aesthetic, psychological, moral, ethical and social consequences that they leave no part of us untouched, unaffected, unaltered. … Any understanding of social and cultural change is impossible without a knowledge of the way media work as environments.” • “Environments are not passive wrappings, but are, rather, active processes which are invisible.”

  13. Hidden ideologies in a map? “For to do its work, ideology depends on its dissimulative (disguised) nature not being recognized. In this sense, advertising is not ideological. … What form is quintessentially ideological in this sense?” From: “Ideology and the Map” by Ben F. Barton and Marthalee S. Barton, “Professional Communication: The Social Perspective.”

  14. Hidden ideologies in a map? "if we was going so fast we ought to be past Illinois, oughtn't we?" "Certainly." "Well, we ain't." "What's the reason we ain't?" "I know by the color. We're right over Illinois yet. And you can see for yourself that Indiana ain't in sight." "I wonder what's the matter with you, Huck. You know by the color?" "Yes, of course I do." "What's the color got to do with it?" "It's got everything to do with it. Illinois is green, Indiana is pink. You show me any pink down here, if you can. No, sir; it's green." "Indiana pink? Why, what a lie!" "it ain't no lie; I've seen it on the map, and it's pink." (Mark Twain, 1924, “Tom Sawyer Abroad,” p. 23)

  15. Hidden ideologies in a map? Electoral College by state (2008) Electoral College by county (2008) Maps courtesy of: Mark Newman, Department of Physics and Center for the Study of Complex Systems, University of Michigan

  16. Defining the terms What is a map? What is a map? 'A representation, usually on a plane surface, of all or part of the earth or some other body showing a group of features in terms of their relative size and position.' - cartographer Norman Thrower

  17. Defining the terms What is a map? What is a map? 'Maps have the character of being textual in that they have words associated with them, that they employ a system of symbols within their own syntax, that they function as a form of writing (inscription), and that they are discursively embedded within broader contexts of social action and power.' - geographer John Pickles

  18. Hidden ideologies in a map? A parable about a renowned empire's College of Cartographers: “In that Empire, the craft of Cartography attained such Perfection that the Map of a Single province covered the space of an entire City, and the Map of the Empire itself an entire Province. In the course of Time, these Extensive maps were found somehow wanting, and so the College of Cartographers evolved a Map of the Empire that was of the same Scale as the Empire and that coincided with it point for point.” (J.L. Borges, “A Universal History of Infamy, p. 141)

  19. Hidden ideologies in a map? By state population (2008) By shades of support (2008) Maps courtesy of: Mark Newman, Department of Physics and Center for the Study of Complex Systems, University of Michigan

  20. Kenneth Burke's definition of man • Man is the symbol-using (symbol-making, symbol-misusing) animal • Inventor of the negative • Separated from his natural condition by instruments of his own making • Goaded by the spirit of hierarchy • And rotten with perfection.

  21. Kenneth Burke's terms • Condensation • Substitution

  22. Translations: Ambiguities 1. Linguistic: Words or syntax may be rendered in several ways. 2. Attributive: An image or figure may lie halfway between two ideas in such a way that the qualities of the image or figure and / or the attitudes toward them is obscured. 3. Contradictory: Words or ideas may contradict one another in the work. 4. Moral: Words or ideas in which the attitude (of the author or the audience toward the notion the word represents) cannot be determined. 5. Situational: Actions of a character or events in the work occur in such a way that they lead to differing interpretations. 6. Generative: Origin of a work is unknown; therefore, a lack of understanding exists concerning the customs, conduct, and attitudes of characters in the text and / or the audience for which the work was first intended. From: The Craft of Translation. Ed. John Biguenet and Rainer Schulte, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1989, with summary courtesy of: Dr. Dene Grigar, WSU Vancouver.

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