May 3, 2012
Interlingua [in-ter-ling-gwuh] is a planned language using words that are found in most West-European languages. It was made by IALA – a group of people (the most known was Alexander Gode) that worked on it for more than 20 years, and they finished and published the first dictionary in 1951. Interlingua was created on the base of languages: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian.
‘Inter’ means ‘between’ or ‘to each other’; ‘lingua’ means ‘language.’ The goal of the language was to enable people of different countries to talk to each other easily. Because Interlingua was made by people to be easy, it is easier than natural languages to learn. Many thousands of people know Interlingua, and Interlingua speakers say that millions can understand it (read texts in it and listen to someone talk in it) without having to learn it first. Continue reading →
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May 3, 2012
Basic Color Terms: Their Universality and Evolution (1969) is a book by Brent Berlin and Paul Kay, who’s work proposed that the kinds of basic color terms a culture has, such as black, brown or red, are predictable by the number of color terms the culture has.
Berlin and Kay posit seven levels in which cultures fall, with Stage I languages having only the colors black (dark–cool) and white (light–warm). Languages in Stage VII have eight or more basic color terms. This includes English, which has eleven basic color terms. Continue reading →
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May 3, 2012
The principle of linguistic relativity holds that the structure of a language affects the ways in which its speakers are able to conceptualize their world, i.e. their world view. Popularly known as the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis, or Whorfianism, the principle is often defined as having two versions: Strong (language determines thought and that linguistic categories limit and determine cognitive categories) and Weak (linguistic categories and usage influence thought and certain kinds of non-linguistic behavior).
The term ‘Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis’ is a misnomer as the men never co-authored anything and never stated their ideas in terms of a hypothesis. The notion of ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ versions of Whorf’s principal of linguistic relativity is a misunderstanding of Whorf promulgated by Stuart Chase, whom Whorf considered ‘utterly incompetent by training and background to handle such a subject.’
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May 3, 2012
The Culture is a fictional interstellar anarchist, socialist, and utopian society created by the Scottish writer Iain M. Banks which features in a number of science fiction novels and works of short fiction by him, collectively called the Culture series.
The Culture is characterized by being a post-scarcity society (meaning that its advanced technologies provide practically limitless material wealth and comforts for everyone for free, having all but abolished the concept of possessions), by having overcome almost all physical constraints on life (including disease and death) and by being an almost totally egalitarian, stable society without the use of any form of force or compulsion, except where necessary to protect others. Continue reading →
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May 3, 2012
Excession, first published in 1996, is Scottish writer Iain M. Banks’s fourth science fiction novel to feature the Culture (a fictional interstellar anarchist, socialist, and utopian society). It concerns the response of the Culture and other interstellar societies to an unprecedented alien artifact, the Excession of the title.
The book is largely about the response of the Culture’s Minds (AIs with enormous intellectual and physical capabilities and distinctive personalities) to the Excession itself and the way in which another society, whose systematic brutality horrifies the Culture, tries to use the Excession to increase its power. Continue reading →
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May 3, 2012
Slavoj Žižek [slah-voy zhee-zhek] (b. 1949) is a Slovenian philosopher and cultural critic working. He has made contributions to political theory, film theory and theoretical psychoanalysis. Žižek is a senior researcher at the Institute of Sociology University of Ljubljana.
Žižek uses examples from popular culture to explain the theory of Jacques Lacan and uses Lacanian psychoanalysis, Hegelian philosophy, and Marxist economic criticism to interpret and speak extensively on immediately current social phenomena, including the current ongoing global financial crisis. Continue reading →
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May 2, 2012
Unknown knowns are the things that we know, but are unaware of knowing. The coining of the term is attributed to Slovenian Philosopher Slavoj Žižek and it refers to the unconscious beliefs and prejudices that determine how we perceive reality and intervene in it. It is the Freudian unconscious, the ‘knowledge which doesn’t know itself,’ as French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan said.
Žižek first used the term as a response to former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s statement at a press briefing given in, 2002: ‘There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don’t know we don’t know.’ Continue reading →
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May 2, 2012
Yo is an English slang interjection, commonly associated with American English. It was popularized by Italian and African Americans in Philadelphia in the 1970s. It is used to signify informality, close cultural understanding, and communal bonding. It remains very popular among Philadelphia Italian Americans, possibly arising from the Italian language word ‘io’ (meaning ‘I’). In Italian, first person statements are often preceded by io.
Although often used as a greeting, yo may come at the end of a sentence, often to direct focus onto a particular individual or group or to gain the attention of another individual or group. It may specify that a certain statement that was previously uttered is more important, or may just be an ‘attention grabber’ (e.g. ‘Listen up, yo!’). In the Japanese language, the sentence-final particle ‘yo’ is used to emphasize sentences as is often the case in English slang as above, but is etymologically unrelated. ‘YŌ’ is also used by Japanese teens as casual greetings between friends, but is pronounced with a more drawn-out tone.
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May 2, 2012
In linguistics, a phatic expression [fat-ik] is one whose only function is to perform a social task, as opposed to conveying information. The term was coined by anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski in the early 1900s from Greek ‘phanein’ (‘to show oneself,’ ‘appear’).
In Russian linguist Roman Jakobson’s work, ‘Phatic’ communication is that which concerns the channel of communication, for instance when one says ‘I can’t hear you, you’re breaking up’ in the middle of a cell phone conversation. In the modern context, this usage appears in online communities and more specifically on micro-blogging. Continue reading →
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May 2, 2012
Aizuchi [eye-zoo-chee] is the Japanese term for frequent interjections during a conversation that indicate the listener is paying attention and understanding the speaker. In linguistic terms, these are a form of phatic expression (one whose only function is to perform a social task, as opposed to conveying information).
Aizuchi are considered reassuring to the speaker, indicating that the listener is active and involved in the discussion. Aizuchi are frequently misinterpreted by non-native speakers as agreement on the part of the listener, because common aizuchi include: ‘hai,’ ‘ee,’, or ‘un’ (‘yes,’ with varying degrees of formality); ‘sō desu ne’ (‘I see’); ‘sō desu ka’ (‘is that so?’); ‘honma’ (‘really’); ‘naruhodo’ (‘I see, that’s right’); and nodding. These can be compared to English ‘yeah, yeah,’ ‘yeah, ok,’ ‘got it,’ ‘yep,’ ‘uhuh,’ or ‘go on,’ but are more pronounced and important in Japanese. Continue reading →
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May 1, 2012
The Avengers is a team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in 1963 in ‘The Avengers #1,’ and was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby, following the trend of super-hero teams after the success of DC Comics’ Justice League of America. Labeled ‘Earth’s Mightiest Heroes,’ the Avengers originally consisted of Iron Man, Ant-Man, Wasp, Thor, and the Hulk.
The original Captain America was discovered by the team in issue #4, trapped in ice, and he joined the group when they revived him. The rotating roster has become a hallmark of the team, although one theme remains consistent: the Avengers fight ‘the foes no single superhero can withstand.’ The team, famous for its battle cry of ‘Avengers Assemble!,’ has featured humans, mutants, robots, gods, aliens, supernatural beings, and even former villains.
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May 1, 2012
James Jean is a Taiwanese-American visual artist, known for both his commercial and fine art gallery work. He is also known in the American comics industry as a cover artist for various books published by DC Comics, as well as for his work for Prada, ESPN, and Atlantic Records. His work, which has been collected in numerous volumes, has been compared to Maxfield Parrish (known for his distinctive saturated hues and idealized neo-classical imagery). Jean was born in Taiwan and was raised in Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey. He illustrated covers for the comic book series ‘Fables’ and ‘The Umbrella Academy.’ In 2008, Jean retired from illustration and commercial projects to focus on painting.
In 2007, Jean created a mural for the Prada Epicenter stores in New York and Los Angeles. He also created a backdrop for Prada’s Spring/Summer 2008 show in Milan. Aspects of the Epicenter mural and the Milan wallpaper were transformed into clothing, handbags, shoes, and packaging. Prada undertook a global campaign that featured Jean’s work in advertising environments, animation, and special events. Jean developed an animated short based on the theme titled ‘Trembled Blossoms,’ taken from the poem ‘Ode to Psyche,’ by John Keats (one of his darker and more experimental odes). In 2010, Jean was commissioned by fashion designer Phillip Lim to paint a series of portraits featuring Los Angeles-based actors, musicians, and tastemakers, including Rachel Bilson, Selma Blair, and Devendra Banhart.
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