Phased Language

This poster of a funny joke has an interesting literary device in it. This device is the ellipsis. Usually it is used to denote words that have been skipped over within a quote of something. Here, however, it is there to imply a pause. This makes the meaning of this literary device change depending on it's context. This is an excellent example of how language is very flexible.

This is a nice example of the Arabic word for teacher written in English letters. Not only is it an artistic piece of graffiti, it is also more dynamic than it first seems. First, it is an Arabic word written with English letters. Second an Arabic letter is substituted for the number 3. This fact makes the word even more fascinating.

This cup has a cute piece of writing on it. "Sahtien." Literally it means health twice but it is used to indicate when someone is eating and you praise their health. It's funny because it is an Arabic word written in English letters.

Sign language is something very unique. It allows people to see language rather than hear it. From this picture it seems that there is a specific sign for each letter. However, what about universal signs like waving or clapping? How do you if a person is waving goodbye or hello? The context obviously is needed to determine this. This raises the thought that universal signs of language depend on the context in which they are used.

Language takes on many forms and there are so many different languages. There is, however, a universal language. This language is that of he body. It is the subtle movements that are done almost without even thinking. These subtle body gestures can reveal a lot about how a person is feeling or whether they are interested or dangerous or any number of things. Whether you are Spanish, English, Lebanese, or from anywhere else body language is the same.

This is very interesting. People using their bodies to form letters is both artistic and creative. Furthermore it introduces the concept of body language in a different and quite literal sense. This is because the letters are actually formed by the human body.

History is always fascinating. Google used an image of what seems to be ancient roman ruins that were built in Lebanon in place of the letter "L" in the word google. It's interesting to see that language is not only used as a means of communication, but also as a historical entity. Having a piece of history replace a letter can be much deeper than just simple visuals. It can imply that language has a long and intricate history behind it.

Deadmouse or as it's spelled by the group, "deadmou5" is a music group. What's significant is that they chose to use the number 5 in place of an s in their group name. Although it does somewhat resemble an s, what happened to the e? Also, this is an interesting name to people who use numbers in place of Arabic letters when writing informally.

This restaurant obviously serves pizza. What is interesting though is that the place is called "PZZA.CO." Rather than spell pizza properly with an "I" they elected to omit this letter. Although it is obvious that it means the place is famous for it's pizzas, why misspell the word?

This post may seem completely irrelevant, but think about it. What effect does the word "NOT" in all uppercase letters have. Does it make it seem like more of a strict rule? Does it make it seem more important? Why not just write it in lower case letters if none of the suggestions above fit? Language is amazing in this way because of the way we interpret it. The capital letters do not change the meaning if the sentence in any way. However, it does have a profound impact on the readers. Why is it that uppercase letters seem more authoritative than lowercase ones?

Found this sign interesting as it literally means "The Hamra" why write it as "Al Hamra" though? It's quite cool how we in Lebanon interchange our languages with so much ease. But does this present a problem of identity in a way? I mean why spell an Arabic title in English?

This is just amazing. Usually you find languages merged together to form something new and funny. Here, however, you have car beeps translated into a form of speech that is really quite funny. The funny part is that if you think about it this actually happens in Lebanon.

This may be a bit late since our class with symbols has already passed, but it still struck me that Danish uses letters or glyphs that are not present in the English language. It is interesting because English does have some Scandinavian in it, and although these glyphs aren't used in English anymore, it is still interesting to realize how the language has evolved.

Until this class started picking up, I hadn't realized that I was experiencing language in motion every time I played a video game online. So many acronyms exist in online gaming it's almost like a completely new language. For example, the word "noob" means newbie or a person that has no clue how to play. Or to "pwn" someone means to completely designate them. Gamers use this type of language all the time. It is amazing how fast new gamers pick it up and how it even sometimes creeps into everyday language.

This passage or canto from the epic poem "The Faerie Queene" by Edmund Spenser is interesting. What makes it so intriguing is the fact that although it is written in English, many of the words are spelled quite differently. In fact, some of the words were changed altogether. It is interesting to consider how the English language has evolved and how the spelling of many of it's words have changed with it. For example the way queen is written in the play has an "e" at the end. What caused people to drop the "e" at the end of the word?

This protest against dolphin killing is very interesting. It was done in china. What is especially interesting is that it is spelled in English as well as Chinese, I presume from what is evident in the upper right corner. It is amazing to see something like this done in such a large country where it seems the main focus is not on the Chinese word but on the English word for "protect"

Japanese anime. Funny thing here is the English writing in a Japanese show where the only other type of English are the subtitles. Just thought it was interesting so I had to post it.