Re: Nattiki (was: Re: speaking and saying)

This sounds wonderful, Matt... I hope you write this
experiment up as an article.

Sally

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Matt Pearson wrote:
>
> Mathias asked:
>
> >Does making up this language make your students more comfortable with
> >linguistics ?
>
> I don't know.  The purpose of the project was to allow me to introduce
> the concept of principles and parameters to the students - i.e., what
> kinds of variation are found in natural languages, versus what sorts of
> features seem to be universal.  Some of the students have really taken to
> Nattiki, and are writing their term papers on Nattiki-related subjects
> (one student is inventing a non-standard dialect of Nattiki, another
> is inventing a history and culture for the Nattiki speakers, another
> is writing about Nattiki religious practices...).  Other students
> seem to feel that the whole thing is a big joke - or at best, a
> diverting game.  They seem not to have understood the serious intent
> behind it, despite all my efforts.  (Oh well, if there's one thing
> you learn as a teacher, it's that no strategy works for everyone...)
>
> Matt.
>
> ------------------------------------
> Matt Pearson
> mpearson@ucla.edu
> UCLA Linguistics Department
> 405 Hilgard Avenue
> Los Angeles, CA 90095-1543
> ------------------------------------