Introduction to Linguistic: case study

INTRODUCTION

Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context. The study of language meaning is concerned with how languages employ logical structures and real-world references to convey, process, and assign meaning, as well as to manage and resolve ambiguity. This subfield encompasses semantics (how meaning is inferred from words and concepts) and pragmatics (how meaning is inferred from context).

The researcher, concerned in the study of language meaning. We study the semantics of some blog of foreign blogger and local blogger. We compare how they used the words and concepts of their post. The language condition of local blogger are basically Filipino or Tagalog as their national language, and English as their second language. While the foreign blogger is using the English language as their first language.

Some researcher says about the language condition of Filipino:

Virtually everyone agrees that media -print, radio, and television (and now, cyberspace) has had a profound influence on people, especially on their language. The Filipino spoken today, especially by the
young (35 years old and below) is undeniably distinctive, to use a loose term, and may have been so influenced by media to a greater extent. This Filipino is spoken by a significant segment of the population and it warrants a linguistic inquiry. Selected articles from Filipino tabloids and dailies, scholarly papers from the University of the Philippines Press, candid and structured interviews of college students, television news, sitcoms and talk shows, and radio programs in Metro Manila are some of the culled sources for the Filipino words, phrase, or sentences found in this study. Filipino, Tagalog, and Cebuano words are arrayed for cognate purposes, with English juxtaposed as a meta- or reference language.

METHODOLOGY

We choose some of the top foreign blogger and local blogger.

Foreign Blogger:

1. Title of the blog: The Rest Still Unwritten (http://diamondkt.blogspot.com/)

Profile of the blogger: DAVID NY BOUND, United States

"I am not a writer. You will never see my name embossed on a fine leather book. The dream of being published does not exist for me. Still, I fill this virtual notebook. I cast a light on myself that is not always kind, but always shines true, illuminating the soul. Pieces of me left unwritten. A life I can't always define. Words often unvarnished. Other times finished. They are all my own and this is their home. This is me."

Local Blogger:

1. Title of the blog: Amourous (http://sheriamor.blogspot.com/)

Profile of the blogger: Sheri Amor, Manila Philippine

"I'm easy to be with and I think I can be considered as just your average girl. :)"

The Procedure:

The researcher, studied the lexical semantics of some post of the foreign blogger and local blogger. We studied their blog, from its title to its profile and statements, and words use in their post and their meaning.

A. The first Blog is from David, the title of his blog is "The Rest Is Still Unwritten" which means he still have some ideas who haven't written yet. There are two words in this title which describes the meaning of this phrase. The first word is "Rest" which is noun (The part of speech that is used to name a person, place, thing, quality, or action and can function as the subject or object of a verb, the object of a preposition, or an appositive.). Second word is "unwritten" which is adjective (Adjectives are words that describe or modify another person or thing in the sentence), root word "written" which is also an adjective and past participle of "write" which is verb. Therefore, the word "Rest" is the objective or subject of the word "unwritten" which is an adjective that describes the noun word "Rest". And this phrase is grammatically correct.

here is one of David's post, it is entitled "Understanding Blame".

Understanding Blame

For someone who often hates his own writing, I felt it was one of my better pieces to date. So I wanted to write a second piece about Anger's close cousin - Blame.

Blame isn't about about right and wrong. And it's not about someone else at all. Blame is an internal war. Similar to anger, blame is just another mask for pain. Anger is a symptom of something deeper. It is never the problem. The real problem is hurt, fear, and/or frustration. The same could be said for blame.

We studied the semantics of his post phrases by phrases.

1. For someone who often hates his own writing,

- The word "own" used is adjective because it describes the word "writing" which is a noun that has a root word "write" which is a verb. Therefore, the two words "own writing" is define as "the written work is belong to someone". The Phrase means that someone often hates his written work.

2. I felt it was one of my better pieces to date.

- The word "pieces" is noun, and the words "to date" is also a noun. The "pieces" as a noun means a literary work and the words "to date" as a noun means time or to schedule.

3. So I wanted to write a second piece about Anger's close cousin - Blame.

- The word "wanted" is verb which means 'a strong desires', the word "Anger" is noun which means 'a strong feeling of displeasure', the word "close" is adjective which means 'being near in relationship', the word "cousin" is noun which means 'relative by blood' and lastly the word "blame" is noun which means 'being responsible for a fault or error'. Therefore the group of words "Anger's close cousin - Blame" means that the Anger and Blame is relatively the same in some ways or similar in some ways.

- Here, we can see that the blogger uses some of idiomatic words like "close cousin" which he can also use this simple term 'same class'.

B. The second blog is from Sheri Amor from Manila, Philippines. The title of her blog is "Amorous" which is adjective, means 'strongly attractive to love'

Title: Domo-kun nails

and 2 black dots for his eyes :D

and you are done :)

i saw this tutorial on youtube and tried it on my ugly nails :) i guess i'll be seeing domo-kun for a while :) have a nice day

1. and 2 black dots for his eyes and you are done.

- The word "black" is a noun, the word "eyes" is also a noun. It means 'put a black dots for his eyes.'

- The phrase is grammatically incorrect, the use of conjunction "and" in the phrase, the "and" in the beginning of the phrase.

2. i saw this tutorial on youtube and tried it on my ugly nails.

-

SPEECH: Debate

Isn't it poverty is one of the main problem in Philippines? and next to it is the educational system of the philippines. We do observed that the cause of poverty is lack of educational background of Filipinos, that's why they cannot able to get a nice job and receive a good salary to provide the needs of their family.

So, k-12 educational system is the answer for our low system of education. By implementing the k-12 educational system here in the philippines,

- it can enhance the quality of basic education in the philippines.

- the 10-year quality of education is reflected in the inadequate preparation of high school graduates for the world of work or entrepreneurship or higher education. If ten years were adequate, how come employers do not hire fresh high school graduates?

- if we will add another 2 years educations, that 2 years can use as the "preparatory years".

- the current system also reinforces the misperception that basic education is just a preparatory step for higher education. and we should prioritize the minority of h.s graduates that go to college?

- the short duration of the basic education program also puts the millions of overseas filipino workers especially the professionals and those who intend to study abroad, at a disadvantage. our doctor graduates working their as janitor, lower than their profession.

- the short basic education program affects the human development of the filipino children.

BADANG pati to. pkisave ehe wait ko now nuh? thanks

MT. ARAYAT (ARAYAT TRAIL)
Arayat, Pampanga
Major jump off: Arayat National Park, Brgy. Bano, Arayat
LLA: 15.20° N 120.742° E, 1030 MASL
Days required / Hours to summit: 1 day / 4 hours
Specs: Minor climb, Difficulty 3/9, Trail class 3

BACKGROUND
The legendary Mt. Arayat rises like a solitary giant over the central plains of Luzon. Long before it drew the attention of hikers, it was already popular in myth. It was said to be dwelling-place of the Kapampangan sun god, Sinukuan. Writer Alex Castro, in "Views from the Pampang", narrates the story: "[Sinukuan] was supposedly imprisoned in a cave sealed with a "white rock" visible on the mountainside." He was engaged on an epic battle with his rival, Apung Pinatubu, who "hurled stones" at Sinukuan. Perhaps this is actually a recollection of Pinatubo's pre-Hispanic eruption, over 600 years ago?

The next legend about Arayat is about Mariang Sinukuan, counterpart of the Tagalogs' Mariang Makiling. In some accounts she was Mariang Makiling's sister, and like her, she was a mountain dweller with fairy-like powers. She was the subject of songs and poems until the present time. Finally, Mt. Arayat is sacred to Rizalistas, who, Castro writes, "gather every December to honor the national hero in quiet ceremonies. The cult was brought to Arayat by the late Apo or Mahal na Inang Birhen Sinukuan in 1947, acknowledged as Rizal's female incarnation."

Thus, whether as a mountain of myth or a towering landmark, Kapampangans take pride in Mt. Arayat. During the 1970s, Mt. Arayat National Park was built - complete with natural pools, picnic areas, and the mountain trail that leads to Arayat's Peak 1. Although the National Park has degenerated into a local resort, it is still the jump-off for Arayat's Peak 1. This peak has a spectacular viewdeck, where you can behold seemingly all of Central Luzon. Pampanga river meanders like a snake across the rice fields; the mountains of Zambales and Bataan come into view; so Sierra Madre on the opposite side.

Meanwhile, Peak 2 can be accessed from Magalang, Pampanga. In either trails, the 'balding' of the mountain is evidenced by the intense heat of the sun. Still, some forests survive and therein, monkeys continue to roam free. You can hear their calls along the last leg of the trail. There are also sightings of wild boar, local civet (musang), and native birds. A separate article for this trail is under construction.

NPA scare continues to scare hikers from climbing Arayat, but there is now military presence in the trails, and the last pockets of NPA resistance were subjugated in 2002. Thus Arayat remains one of the most exciting hiking destinations in Luzon.

ITINERARY
VIA ARAYAT NATIONAL PARK
0500 At Monumento, take bus to Arayat, Pampanga (P120)
0730 ETA Arayat Pampanga. (If private vehicle, take San Simon exit at NLEX)
0800 ETA Arayat National Park; regiser and negotiate (P100 + guide)
0830 Start trek
1200 ETA peak campsite; lunch. You may explore the viewdeck
1300 Start descent
1530 ETA National Park; bathe at the natural pools
1600 Head back to Manila or to Angeles City for sidetrips

SPECIAL CONCERNS
The Arayat N.P. trail has unfortunately gained notoriety for 'extortionist' locals who overcharge everything from entrance to guide fees. In addition they'll even ask for a barangay fee and a parking fee. If you wish to hike Arayat via this route, anticipate these already. The guide fee is P400-500 and don't accept anything higher than that. These charges make an Arayat trip more expensive than it should be. Even then, it is still worth climbing.

Flies, mosquitoes, and other insects abound in Arayat; Off lotion is a must. Also, 50% of the time the trails have no tree cover. The itinerary above is for a daytrip but Arayat is also a good overnight destination. The peak itself is the suitable campsite, with wide spaces for tents and ample shade. At night don't forget to guard or tent-in your belongings as monkeys might take them away.

TRIVIA
Many foreigners climb Mt. Arayat -- and they pay extra. For locals, a guide fee of P500 would suffice, but for foreigners, the guides demand P1,500-P2,000.

SPEECH: Debate

The Implementation Of The K+12 Systems In The Philippines

The Effects of Broken Homes Among
Early Teenagers to their
Academic Performance

A Research Paper Presented to
Dr. Bienvanido Nepomuceno
Mapúa Institute of Technology

In partial fulfillment
Of the requirements in
Sociology
(SS11-A4)

by:
Jonathan M. Nartates

March 2011

Abstract
K+12 educational systems are the additional years to secondary level. This research contains some information about the curriculum of K+12. Interview, books and newspaper were the researchers’ major instrument in gathering information and was augmented with other data collected through readings.Studies cited by the researchers have also shown that the country’s education program is equivalent to the 12-year education cycle followed abroad except that it is being completed in only 10 years. The respondents of this research are the high school students who will experience the implement of K+12 educational systems. These researches analyze and study what will be the effects of the K+12 educational systems to the country, parents, and students. The K+12 plan will cost an estimated annual investment of P30 billion over five years. This amount will increase the Department of Education share of the national budget from about 12 percent to 14 percent. But the Department of Education had received as much as 18 percent of the budget before. Countries considered poorer than the Philippines invest in K+12 for their children. Filipino children deserve no less.

Introduction
Rep. Raymond Palatino, a member of Kabataan Party list said: The new system would translate to added burden to parents who could barely send their children to school. For povertystricken country such as ours, the proposal to add two years to basic education is a question of survival.

This K+12 will need more allowance to implement this program. Then the parents need to work harder for them to support the studies of their children. But this program will help the students to add additional knowledge and for...

The PROS (which is basically the side of the government, well-heeled and articulate leaders from the academe, the business community and the media):

1. “Enhancing the quality of basic education in the Philippines is urgent and critical.”
2. “The poor quality of basic education is reflected in the low achievement scores of Filipino students. One reason is that students do not get adequate instructional time or time on task.”
3. International test results consistently show Filipino students lagging way behind practically everybody else in the world. In the 2008 mathematics exam, for example, we came in dead last.
4. “The congested curriculum partly explains the present state of education.” Twelve years of content are crammed into ten years.
5. “This quality of education is reflected in the inadequate preparation of high school graduates for the world of work or entrepreneurship or higher education.” If ten years were adequate, how come employers do not hire fresh high school graduates? How come most high school graduates flunk the UPCAT?
6. “Most graduates are too young to enter the labor force.” Since most children start Grade 1 when they are 6 years old, they do not reach the legal employable age of 18 when they graduate from high school today.
7. “The current system also reinforces the misperception that basic education is just a preparatory step for higher education.” Why prioritize the minority of high school graduates that go to college?
8. “The short duration of the basic education program also puts the millions of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), especially the professionals, and those who intend to study abroad, at a disadvantage. Our graduates are not automatically recognized as professionals abroad.” The best examples are our engineering graduates, who are condemned to international jobs not befitting their professional status due to our not having a 12-year basic education cycle.
9. “The short basic education program affects the human development of the Filipino children.” If we believe that 17-year-old high school graduates are emotionally, psychologically, and intellectually mature, why do we require them to get parental consent before they get married?

The CONS (which are basically the madlang people whose pocketbooks would be adversely impacted by the proposed additional 2 years of basic education):

1. Parents have to shell out more money (for transportation and food) for the education of their children.
2. The government does not have the money to pay for two more years of free education, since it does not even have the money to fully support today’s ten years. DepEd must first solve the lack of classrooms, furniture and equipment, qualified teachers, and error-free textbooks.
3. We can do in ten years what everyone else in the world takes 12 years to do. Why do we have to follow what the rest of the world is doing? We are better than all of them. Filipinos right now are accepted in prestigious graduate schools in the world, even with only ten years of basic education.
4. As far as the curriculum is concerned, DepEd should fix the current subjects instead of adding new ones. The problem is the content, not the length, of basic education. As an editorial put it, we need to have better education, not more education.
5. A high school diploma will not get anybody anywhere, because business firms will not hire fresh high school graduates.
6. Every family dreams of having a child graduate from college.
7. While students are stuck in Grades 11 and 12, colleges and universities will have no freshmen for two years. This will spell financial disaster for many private Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).
8. The drop-out rate will increase because of the two extra years.

“The government has not yet shown the arguments of the opposition to be fallacious,” writes Cruz.

On the other hand, Cruz characterizes the opposition (anti) as being “very vocal airing its arguments not only in newspapers, on radio, and on television, but even in the parliament of the streets.”

“As of this writing,” Cruz writes, “I have not heard the opposition rebut the arguments of the government. In fact, as far as I can see, they have refused to even listen to the government.”

Since this is a public debate, Cruz contends that “we have to move from constructive speeches to rebuttal”.

I think we really don’t have a compelling need to listen to rebuttals. Enough yakety yak already! What we need are objective, actual (empirical) cost-benefit and pedagogical studies to support or debunk the claims of either side. A promising start would be to read “Length of School Cycle and the ‘Quality’ of Education” written by Felipe & Porio published in the Philippine Education Research Journal (PERJ).

TPLL

2.1 Strengths of the child

- Enjoys new experience
- Enjoy physical activities
- He is interested in music and dancing
- Artistic
- Can fix his own meal
- Good in conversation, telling the story
- He is usually seems happy
- He join activities/playing with his peers
- He is also helpful

2.3 Weaknesses of the child

- He easily get bored
- He can't handle pressure
- He have trouble in pronunciation
- He have trouble in writing

2.3 Target outputs

- Since, the child is having hard time in pronunciation and writing, we want to focus in writing and reading (to at least correct his pronunciation). We want him to learn how to enjoy his lesson. We are targeting to build his foundation in understanding and learning one of the important skills of a child which is writing and reading.

2.4 Our Lesson Plan

First Day:
- Introduce/Review the Alphabets and numbers
- Teach the proper pronunciation

Second Day:
- Review previous lesson
- Introduce/Review: Lines and Shapes
- Tracing Lines and Shapes

Third Day
- Review previous lesson
- Matching Lines and Shapes
- Tracing the Alphabets
- Introduce the vowels

Forth Day
- Review previous lesson
- Matching the big and small vowels
- Tracing the vowels
- Writing his name

Fifth Day
- Review all the lesson
- Final test:
- Tracing Alphabets and numbers
- Matching Lines and Shapes
- Matching Big and Small vowels
- Writing his name

3. Documentation and Pictures

First Day

Date: Monday, September 3, 2011
Time: 2:00-3:00pm
Tutor: Teacher Christal
Lessons:
1. Introduce/Review the Alphabets and numbers
2. Teach the proper pronunciation

Introduce/Review the Alphabets and numbers

Since Verleen is already know the alphabets, Teacher Christal review this to him. While they are starting the lesson, the child was excited to learn from his Teacher Christal but unfortunately, since he already knew the alphabets his excitement turn to boredom. But then, when Teacher Christal motivated him by giving him a reward every correct pronunciation of the letters, he starting to enjoy it again.

Proper pronunciation

- He Pronounce the Alphabets well, but some of his consonant letters cannot pronounce it properly. When he pronounce the letter "N" he pronounce it as letter "M", his letter "F" sounds "EP", his letter "V" pronounce as letter "B" and his "W" pronounce as "Dalbyu".
- He pronounce the numbers properly from number one to ten.


Second Day

Date: Tuesday, September 4, 2011
Time: 2:00-3:00pm
Tutor: Teacher Christal
Lessons:
1. Review previous lesson
2. Introduce/Review: Lines and Shapes
3. Tracing Lines and Shapes

Reviewing previous lesson

The second day of tutor is kinda excited for the child, because Teacher Christal promise him that if he will pronounce correctly the consonant letters; N, F, V and W. He will be rewarded. The Child again are motivated to learn.

Indroduce/Review: Lines and Shapes

For the second day, our new lessons are Lines and Shapes. Teacher Christal introduce the Horizontal Line and Vertical Line. She introduce also the basic shapes; Round, Triangle, Square, and rectangle.

Tracing the Lines and Shapes

After introducing/Reviewing the Lines and Shapes, Teacher Christal start to teach him how to trace the lines. He is presently active during their lesson. He enjoy tracing Lines and Shapes.

Third Day

Date: Wednesday, September 5, 2011
Time: 11:00-:12nn
Tutor: Teacher Edlyn
Lessons:
- Review previous lesson
- Matching Lines and Shapes
- Tracing the Alphabets
- Introduce the vowels letters

Review Previous Lesson

Third day of tutor, Teacher Edlyn review the previous lesson of the child from his Teacher Christal. Verleen now still enjoying tracing the Horizontal Lines and Vertical Lines. He also enjoying tracing the basic shapes.

Matching Lines and Shapes

After the tracing, here come the next step which is matching the lines and shapes where we can find out if the child can read the object properly. And he matched all of the objects well. Because of his very good performance, Teacher Edlyn give him three stars, Verleen like it well. Teacher Edlyn observe that Verleen also motivated by craving for the stars which it is also a reward during their class activities.

Tracing the Alphabets

Of course after tracing the Lines which is the first step in learning to write, Teacher Edlyn now let the child trace his alphabets. And the performance of the child are getting good. But some of the alphabets don't trace well but it is normal for a four year old child like him that having hard time when it comes in writing or tracing a letters, since they are just starting learning it.

Introduce the vowels

Teacher Edlyn now introduce the vowels. So that in the next day of tutor, the child could have a background of the lesson. He pronounce the vowels well but when Teacher Edlyn ask where is letter "A" for example, the child are having a hard time to recognize the vowel "A".


Fourth Day

Date: Thursday, September 6, 2011
Time: 11:00-:12nn
Tutor: Teacher Edlyn
Lessons:
1. Review previous lesson
2. Matching the big and small vowels
3. Tracing the vowels
4. Writing his name

Review Previous Lesson

Teacher Edlyn, review the previous lessons. When Verleen got almost of the previous lessons; Tracing and Matching Lines and Shapes, she gave the child three stars. Teacher Edlyn observe that because of that three stars, the child get excited for the new lesson. The child also ask like this "Teacher Edlyn, do i still have a star later?" when Teacher Edlyn answered it "Yes, if you will listen to our lesson and got it right, you will have more big stars" then the child was so excited to have his big star.

Matching the big and small vowels

Previously, Teacher Edlyn introduced the vowels. Today, Teacher Edlyn will test the ability of the child in recognizing the big and small vowels. The child performance is not so good but not so bad, it is average. He can match some of the big vowels to the small vowels but some are not.

Tracing the vowels

For the next step in learning to write, Teacher Edlyn give another activity which is tracing the vowels. The child performance is great.

Writing his name

Then, after tracing the vowels. They move on to the child's name. Verleen now tracing his name. While Verleen tracing his name, Teacher Edlyn pronounce the letters of his name, so that Verleen will also know how to read his name and learn which is "V" or "E".

Fifth Day

Date: Friday, September 7, 2011
Time: 11:00-:12nn
Tutor: Teacher Edlyn
Lessons:
1. Review all the lessons
2. Final test:
- Tracing Alphabets and numbers
- Matching Lines and Shapes
- Matching Big and Small vowels
- Writing his name

Review all the lessons

Teacher Christal was the one handling the reviewing materials of the child. She reviewed him for 30 minutes and the remaining 30 minutes is for the final test of the child.

FINAL TEST RESULT

A. Tracing Alphabets and numbers
- The Child is very good. He traced it well, he got four stars.

B. Matching Lines and Shapes
- The Child is great. He matched the lines and shape correctly. he got five stars.

C. Matching Big and Small vowels
- The Child is good. He match 80% of the vowels. he got three stars.

D. Writing his name
- The Child is very good. He wrote his name and he can also pointed where the letter "E" is. he got four stars.

4. Findings and Recommendation after the invention

We find out that this child is really intelligent, if only the parents and companion of the child can give extra time to teach him and let him explore learning, this child will be great. This child is really motivated in learning especially if he knows that other people recognize his work and give him a reward like candies and stars.

Recommendations:

We observe that sometimes he have a hard time remembering some of the letters. He have trouble learning visually, so we suggest that they need to be guided through any lessons with charts, diagrams, graphs, or other visual learning materials. For example, the teacher may need to tell him how different parts of a diagram relate to each other and why.

5. Reflections

We have learned that it is not easy to teach a four year old child. Since they are in cognitive years, we, the teachers should teach him properly and step by step because the children cannot acquire all at the time, it should be one at the time. But, we're proud that, even it is just a short period of time, we gain his ability when it comes in writing and reading.