LINGUIST List 14.2947

Wed Oct 29 2003

Qs: Articulation Instruction; Grammatical Gender

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  1. ScroogeMcUte, Are there special methods to get hearing impaired to speak?
  2. Western Veterinary Clinic, Gender association

Message 1: Are there special methods to get hearing impaired to speak?

 Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2003 04:05:19 EST
From: ScroogeMcUte <ScroogeMcUteaol.com>
Subject: Are there special methods to get hearing impaired to speak?

I was wondering if there are special articulation methods to teach
hearing impaired to speak that on the other hand can be used for
foreign language teaching. I am looking into articulation methods in
an English speaking country right now but I haven't been very
successful yet. Aslo do you think those methods could help a hearing
foreign language learner to learn a foreign language more
sufficiently? My mother tongue is German and I don't think I can tell
the difference between certain phonemes like [v] and [w] sometimes,
therefore I was thinking about finding other ways of making such
differences more clearly.

Sincerly

Ute Heisele
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Message 2: Gender association

 Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2003 13:25:20 -0000
From: Western Veterinary Clinic <westveteircom.net>
Subject: Gender association

I am an MA TEFL graduate from the University of Reading, UK. My first
degree was in Linguisitics. I have a query about a particular subject
and I wonder if you are able to answer it or to direct me to websites
that might enlighten me:

What gave rise to gender allocation/association in relation to
inanimate objects? Gender allocation to inanimate objects is
widespread, across different families of languages, so I imagine it is
ancient in origin. It is not consistent across the different
families, (e.g. the name for the same object could be neuter in
German, feminine in Irish and masculine in Arabic, etc.), so I imagine
the phenomenon of gender allocation may have arisen separately and
independently in different areas. But why did it arise at all? Some
languages do not allocate gender to inanimate objects, e.g. English
(with some exceptions, e.g. sailing vessels, often treated as feminine
nouns), so gender would not seem to be a basic necessity in language.

So, I ask again, what gave rise to gender in relation to inanimate
objects. And why?

I would love to know the answers to the above, but I don't know where to
begin looking. Please help!

Thanks
Alex
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