anthro homework: the thrilling conclusion!
Apr. 6th, 2005 04:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wisdomeagleI watched "Abyss" (OMG THE ANGST) and did my anthro homework. Since some of you helped me with it, I thought it only fair to share the results. Or perhaps it would be fairer not to share. In any event, here are the exercises relevant to you guys.
4. I polled the readers of my LiveJournal (see Z----'s thesis) on the languages they speak and learn. Of the ten people who responded, all but one speak English as a first language. The remaining girl's first language is French; she speaks English fluently as a second language. Another person is bilingual and claims fluency in Modern Greek and English.
A handful of the people I polled spoke a second language fluently: French, Japanese, Spanish. More had studied at least one language in school; about half had studied more than one. The most common languages studied was Spanish (studied by seven; all but three of my friends), followed by French (studied by six) then German and Japanese.
The language most people wished to learn was ASL (which I included as an explicit option in my poll), possibly because of its obvious usefulness in this country. Romance languages were popular choices; four wished to learn "other romance," two chose Spanish, and one chose French. The second most popular group of languages was Asiatic languages: Japanese, Korean, and Chinese all garnered a few votes Two chose "other Germanic," while no one chose German. Nearly everyone was willing to learn at least one new language. Only two people noted that they would be unwilling to learn certain languages; one would not want to learn Chinese or Korean, another would not want to learn Spanish. No one specified any reasons.
People's experiences with foreign language classes were mixed. A few people loved them; my French friend effused that she "loved them all." Another, more verbose friend noted that in her Spanish classes, she has "learned the language in a consistent, sensible, gradated manner," and a third person has had thirteen pleasurable years of bilingual education in French and English. The four people who unequivocally enjoyed their classes were joined by some who had more mixed experiences. Two said that some classes were better than other; others did not enjoy their foreign language learning at all. Some of the words used were "awful," "generally boring and uninspiring," "generally inadequate," and "hopeless." One person mentioned specific teaching methods (audio-based teaching for a visual learner) were frustrating, and two people said that immersion methods were infinitely more useful than classes.
On the whole, the people I polled were moderately open to new languages. All had studied at least one in school, despite mixed feelings about this experience, and most were willing to learn at least one new language, if only ASL, indicating a desire at least among my friends to communicate with the world at large. This informal poll suggests that immersion techniques, bilingual education, and a strong desire to be an international citizen are the keys to creation a linguistically educated population.
10. I asked the same group of friends I polled in question four to use the following words in sentences: intelligent, aggressive, sexual, cerebral, dominant, and ambitious. My intention was to determine whether these words, which I assumed to be traditionally associated with masculinity, still had that association.
The word "intelligent" elicited no sentences with masculine subjects. Six of the sentences used the word to refer to non-gendered groups, people of indeterminate gender, or objects. Two of the people I polled, both female, referred to themselves as intelligent, one person referred to me, and a final respondee used the word to negatively describe the body of students at MBC. (To wit, "'Intelligent:' what most MBC students are not.")
The word "aggressive" yielded more gendered results. Again, three people referred to non-gendered subjects, but three people used the word to describe explicitly male subjects. Two referred to explicitly female subjects and, interesting, two of my female pollees used the word to negatively describe themselves ("I'm not the aggressive type" and "I'm an academic because I'm not aggressive enough to become a lawyer.") These results seem to indicate that while aggressiveness is becoming more non-gendered, less people are likely to associate it with women.
Amidst the amusing sentences my subjects generated with the word "sexual" only four referred to outside subjects, two of whom were male, two female. Three respondees used the word in some way to refer to themselves ("my sexual proclivities," for instance), and the remaining four wrote non-gendered sentences.
The word "cerebral" was probably a poor choice; I got two people mentioning the cerebral cortex and one referring to brain injury. One referred to a man (Stephen Hawking), and one to a non-specific female. Two people noted that they were not very cerebral, at least in certain situations, while one claims "Cerebral conversation" is her favorite kind. One thought my senior thesis was very cerebral, and a final respondee noted that eating brains gives you kuru. I leave it as an exercise for the reader to figure out which respondee that was.
"Dominant" turned out to be associated mostly with non-human objects; people mentioned dominant traits, dominant alleles, dominant themes, dominant hands, and dominant flora, but only two people used it to refer to people: in one case, the people in question were of non-specified gender, and in the other, a respondee wondered whether she was dominant or not.
Sentences using the word "ambitious" seemed to be a mixed bag, gender-wise. Two people used it to refer to females, one to a male, and four to themselves - two positively, two negatively. ("If I weren't so ambitious..." "I'm not particularly ambitious..." "I'm not the ambitious type..." and "I have very ambitious plans.")
In conclusion, none of the words I chose were very strongly associated with men or masculinity, although aggressive comes close. Many of my respondees, all of whom were female, used the words to describe themselves, whether or not they felt they possessed the traits in question. Others described included roommates and brothers, friends and lovers, but many people left gender undeclared or ambiguous, and both men and women were described by every word I chose.
4. I polled the readers of my LiveJournal (see Z----'s thesis) on the languages they speak and learn. Of the ten people who responded, all but one speak English as a first language. The remaining girl's first language is French; she speaks English fluently as a second language. Another person is bilingual and claims fluency in Modern Greek and English.
A handful of the people I polled spoke a second language fluently: French, Japanese, Spanish. More had studied at least one language in school; about half had studied more than one. The most common languages studied was Spanish (studied by seven; all but three of my friends), followed by French (studied by six) then German and Japanese.
The language most people wished to learn was ASL (which I included as an explicit option in my poll), possibly because of its obvious usefulness in this country. Romance languages were popular choices; four wished to learn "other romance," two chose Spanish, and one chose French. The second most popular group of languages was Asiatic languages: Japanese, Korean, and Chinese all garnered a few votes Two chose "other Germanic," while no one chose German. Nearly everyone was willing to learn at least one new language. Only two people noted that they would be unwilling to learn certain languages; one would not want to learn Chinese or Korean, another would not want to learn Spanish. No one specified any reasons.
People's experiences with foreign language classes were mixed. A few people loved them; my French friend effused that she "loved them all." Another, more verbose friend noted that in her Spanish classes, she has "learned the language in a consistent, sensible, gradated manner," and a third person has had thirteen pleasurable years of bilingual education in French and English. The four people who unequivocally enjoyed their classes were joined by some who had more mixed experiences. Two said that some classes were better than other; others did not enjoy their foreign language learning at all. Some of the words used were "awful," "generally boring and uninspiring," "generally inadequate," and "hopeless." One person mentioned specific teaching methods (audio-based teaching for a visual learner) were frustrating, and two people said that immersion methods were infinitely more useful than classes.
On the whole, the people I polled were moderately open to new languages. All had studied at least one in school, despite mixed feelings about this experience, and most were willing to learn at least one new language, if only ASL, indicating a desire at least among my friends to communicate with the world at large. This informal poll suggests that immersion techniques, bilingual education, and a strong desire to be an international citizen are the keys to creation a linguistically educated population.
10. I asked the same group of friends I polled in question four to use the following words in sentences: intelligent, aggressive, sexual, cerebral, dominant, and ambitious. My intention was to determine whether these words, which I assumed to be traditionally associated with masculinity, still had that association.
The word "intelligent" elicited no sentences with masculine subjects. Six of the sentences used the word to refer to non-gendered groups, people of indeterminate gender, or objects. Two of the people I polled, both female, referred to themselves as intelligent, one person referred to me, and a final respondee used the word to negatively describe the body of students at MBC. (To wit, "'Intelligent:' what most MBC students are not.")
The word "aggressive" yielded more gendered results. Again, three people referred to non-gendered subjects, but three people used the word to describe explicitly male subjects. Two referred to explicitly female subjects and, interesting, two of my female pollees used the word to negatively describe themselves ("I'm not the aggressive type" and "I'm an academic because I'm not aggressive enough to become a lawyer.") These results seem to indicate that while aggressiveness is becoming more non-gendered, less people are likely to associate it with women.
Amidst the amusing sentences my subjects generated with the word "sexual" only four referred to outside subjects, two of whom were male, two female. Three respondees used the word in some way to refer to themselves ("my sexual proclivities," for instance), and the remaining four wrote non-gendered sentences.
The word "cerebral" was probably a poor choice; I got two people mentioning the cerebral cortex and one referring to brain injury. One referred to a man (Stephen Hawking), and one to a non-specific female. Two people noted that they were not very cerebral, at least in certain situations, while one claims "Cerebral conversation" is her favorite kind. One thought my senior thesis was very cerebral, and a final respondee noted that eating brains gives you kuru. I leave it as an exercise for the reader to figure out which respondee that was.
"Dominant" turned out to be associated mostly with non-human objects; people mentioned dominant traits, dominant alleles, dominant themes, dominant hands, and dominant flora, but only two people used it to refer to people: in one case, the people in question were of non-specified gender, and in the other, a respondee wondered whether she was dominant or not.
Sentences using the word "ambitious" seemed to be a mixed bag, gender-wise. Two people used it to refer to females, one to a male, and four to themselves - two positively, two negatively. ("If I weren't so ambitious..." "I'm not particularly ambitious..." "I'm not the ambitious type..." and "I have very ambitious plans.")
In conclusion, none of the words I chose were very strongly associated with men or masculinity, although aggressive comes close. Many of my respondees, all of whom were female, used the words to describe themselves, whether or not they felt they possessed the traits in question. Others described included roommates and brothers, friends and lovers, but many people left gender undeclared or ambiguous, and both men and women were described by every word I chose.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-06 03:41 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-06 04:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-06 08:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-06 08:02 pm (UTC)Re, I love you. XD <33333333 Seriously made my day. XD Along with the (see my thesis) thing. XD
W000000000000000000000000t for finishing your thesis! I can't wait for your defense. XD (Wed., yes?)
....and some last minute OMG DEFENSE SPAZ I DIDN'T FINISH MY THESIS & I'M SUPPOSED TO GET UP IN A ROOM FULL OF IDIOTS AND DECLARE MY INADEQUACY. >_> .....Hopefully my presentation part will take up most of the 30 minutes we get, though................
(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-06 09:04 pm (UTC)(I took the bit about kuru out at the last minute... sorry. *sad* But I freaked and was like, no, instant-edit. The bit where I cite your tehsis is still in there though. :P)
Love you muchly.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-07 01:30 am (UTC)(&ZOMG I'M ALIVE!!!!!!)
<33333333333333333333333333333333
(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-07 02:29 am (UTC)