Word Play

by Peter Farb

Peter Farb closes Word Play by making a connection between language and peace. He says, "The . . . likely truth is that an inability to communicate has little to do with international friction as is seen in the special ferocity of wars fought between people who speak the same language" (p.366). I found this to be the most interesting part of the book because I have never thought that my mission as a language teacher is to encourage the use of language as a predominant world language in order to promote peace. But perhaps this is a common goal in language teaching that is not talked about but is understood. I like this concept.

If I am to go to Taiwan, for example, to teach English as a foreign language, my goal is to teach more people in the world English. As far as relating multi-lingual people with peace, that is apparently the point of programs such as Fulbright teaching grants and the Peace Corps. In addition to increasing communication between people globally, the teaching of foreign languages also teaches people multicultural tolerances, which in turn, can sponsor peace.

However, I also think that the point of such programs as well as the point of Word Play is so that Americans (in this case) can learn other languages and cultures in order to understand how languages interrelate. In that aspect, I admire Peter Farb for his inclusion of such a wide variety of languages and cultures in this book. He uses them as examples to illustrate his point or to contrast and compare to English. For example, on pages 125 and 126, Farb compares the verbal dueling practices of black American youths to that of speakers of Tzotzil, a Mayan language of Mexico.

I noticed that this book covered a lot of linguistic items that we have covered in class, which was great because it reinforced what I've learned so far. For example, I was excited to see Hymess SPEAKING acronym. We recently covered this in class and I thought it was really interesting. I was happy to see it reappear in Farb's book.

I especially liked chapter 8: Man at the Mercy of the Language. The concept that we fit our understanding of the world into the language that is given to us by our native culture is something I like to think about. Farb uses colors widely to exemplify the way that words limit our descriptive abilities. For example, he says on page 198, " . . . the color that a speaker describes as like swamp water has low codability, which means that other speakers cannot be certain exactly what color is intended." In addition, features unique to our individual cultures shape the words we have for color. "Languages with only the two color terms black and white are spoken in cultures as a very simple level of technology . . ." (pp. 200-01).

Another favorite chapter of mine was chapter 13: The Spoken Word. My focus in undergraduate school was poetry, which uses spoken language in a creative way. Also, when I teach I like to emphasize the syllabic rhythms and emphases of words. I think that it's good pronunciation and comprehension practice for learners. I also really like the use of musical instruments such as drums and guitars. Farb gives an example of the use of drums in the Kele language of Congo. He says that they can communicate several miles away by drumming messages to neighboring villages. "Since various words . . . are distinguishable solely by their patterns of tone, regardless of their particular vowels and consonants, drums can deliver complete messages by the use of tonal phonemes alone" (p. 295). Someone can say, "You left my cigarettes at my house. Ill bring them to you when I come by tomorrow," with the use of drums! I found this really fascinating.

In chapter 6: Playing with the Language, Farb talks a good bit about lying. He makes a strong connection between our sociolinguistic communities and trust in the language. For example, he says that if he were on vacation in Maine (an area we are to assume that he is not familiar with) and asked a local to recommend a good lobster restaurant, he likely would not accept the first strangers suggestion. He would have to get a second or third opinion before he tried the restaurant. However, in his own speech community he would share more of the same knowledge with the speaker about the meaning behind verbal and gestural clues indicating sincerity or falsehood. Perhaps lying is something we should teach in classrooms?

Chapter 15: Language in Flux elaborated on a concept that we've been talking about a good deal in our Applied Linguistics course, which is the way that people change and sometimes permanently transform the language. Farb highlights some of the processes that encourage the mutation of a language over time. They are: loss, assimilation, metathesis, addition, spelling pronunciations, blends, malapropisms, and popular etymology. His definitions were clear and precise. This was a good addition to similar material we've covered via lecture in class.

The strength of this book, I thought, is its wealth of global and sociolinguistic examples. Many of the concepts were ones that I had seen before, but the inclusion of so many clear and well-described examples in the right contexts fleshed out many that seemed abstract to me before. This would be a book that I would pick up perhaps while overseas to open my mind and remind myself of the subjectability of language.