Language, Texts and Technology

Where are we going with this?

Created by Brett Oppegaardfor Washington State University's

DTC 375 class, fall 2009

Defining the terms:

• What is language?Main Entry: lan·guage Pronunciation: \ˈlaŋ-gwij, -wij\ Function: noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French langage, from lange, langue tongue, language, from Latin lingua — more at TONGUE Date: 14th century1 a : the words, their pronunciation, and the methods of combining them used and understood by a community b (1) : audible, articulate, meaningful

sound as produced by the action of the vocal organs (2) : a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the use of conventionalized signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having understood meanings (3) : the

suggestion by objects, actions, or conditions of associated ideas or feelings <language in their very gesture — Shakespeare> (4) : the means by which animals communicate (5) : a formal system of signs and symbols (as FORTRAN or a calculus in logic) including rules for the formation and transformation of admissible expressions (6) : MACHINE LANGUAGE 12 a : form or manner of verbal expression; specifically : STYLE b : the vocabulary and phraseology belonging to an art or a department of knowledge c : PROFANITY3 : the study of language especially as a school subject4 : specific words especially in a law or regulation

Courtesy of Merriam-Webster.com

Defining the terms:

• What are texts?

This is text, of course

• And so is this:

Courtesy of hudsonshakespeare.org

This is text, of course

• And so are these:

Courtesy of Cssvault.com

This is text, of course

• And so is this:

Courtesy of DeviantArt.com

This is text, of course

• And so is this:

Courtesy of h-net.org

This is text, of course

• And so is this:

Courtesy of cdli.ucla.edu

And because of this …110001110001111000• So is this:

Courtesy of nerdtests.com

And because of this …110001110001111000• And this:

And because of this …110001110001111000• And this:

Defining the terms:

• What is technology?

What do fire, the wheel and the Internet have in common?

“Technology is a broad concept that deals with an animal species' usage and knowledge of tools and crafts, and how it affects an animal species' ability to control and adapt to its environment.”

- Wikipedia.

Defining the terms:

• Who are we?

“Man is the symbol-using (symbol-making, symbol misusing) animal, inventor of the negative …”

- Kenneth Burke

Now, we're getting

somewhere• What do these things have in

common?• (in Arabic) أ• (in Hebrew) א• 01000001 (in binary code)• A (in the English alphabet)• D (in Caesar’s cipher)

Ciphers / codes / languages

• Caesar’s cipher (abt 50 B.C., letter+3)

• Freemasons’ cipher (16th century)

• Perro, chien, hund … dog

What do you mean by: dog

• How big?• What color?• What breed?• What kind of temperment?• How old?• What's the dog's name?