Digressions
8
Task 2
Identifying digressions
You will read the transcript of a digression from the lecture on linguistics in Unit 6. The speaker is talking about the problem of embedded words.
2.1 Read the text, including the highlighted digression, and answer the questions below.
The research that I’ve been involved in has been looking at factors responsible for our being able to cope successfully with this problem of embedded words, the fact that we’re not constantly going off in the wrong direction being fooled by the sounds into hearing something that isn’t there. Let’s just try to think about what factors might be helping us not to go wrong. I’ve got three possible hypotheses here and again these are in the handout that I’ll be giving you and you don’t need to write these down, you’ll get this text later on. OK, the question is then, how are we successful most of the time in deciding where word boundaries come?
1. Why does the lecturer digress? Choose one of the reasons from Task 1. 2. How do you think the lecturer’s delivery might change as she digresses?
a. Do you think she would speak: 1 more slowly, 2 more quickly, 3 at the same speed?
b. Do you think she would speak: 1 more quietly, 2 more loudly, 3 at the same level?
c. Do you think she would pause: 1 before the digression, 2 after the digression, 3 before and after?
d. How do you think she would say the word OK?
2.2 CD2: 12 Here is a digression from the lecture on social learning in Unit 7. Listen and read the extract. Then answer the questions.
1. What digression does the lecturer make and why?
2. How does she mark the beginning and end of digressions? Think about the questions relating to the lecturer’s delivery after the digression in Ex 2.1.
My first set of examples come from a – and I’m going to talk about some fairly classic experiments in this lecture, but I would point out before I go on that there is a really excellent chapter on this subject in Shettleworth’s book, which is referred to in the reference list for this lecture. Sara Shettleworth has a superb chapter on social learning. It’s called ‘Learning from others’. It’s very up-to-date, very thoughtful, very comprehensive, and I’m just going to mention just a few of the examples that she mentions. But if you seriously want to think about this area, and it involves many complexities, her chapter is a very good place to go. Anyway, some of the best-known work on social learning, or putative social learning, in rats, in animals, are about food preferences. These are examples of learning the significance of stimuli, learning what foods are good to eat and what foods are bad to eat.
Listening
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