Re: Presenting a language?

Woof!  A language in ten minutes.

As a teacher, I'd say throw up the assignment and I can give you clearer
advice.  AFter all, if your teacher wants a *complete* description fo the
project (unlikely, I'd guess, since he/she allowed you to do a language
knowing that he/she would only provide ten minutes for the presentation)
I'd advise different things than if your teacher wants a synopsis.

In the latter case, which is most likely, I think, I'd recommend that you
come in with a text translated into your language and explain it for those
ten minutes, focusing only on those grammatical features used in the text.
I'd also offer handouts (we teacher types love those things -- shows
initiative!) of paradigms and grammatical notes.  If you've ever seen
those study guides for a foreign language that are written on six fold-out
sheets of paper, you'll have some idea what I'm talking about.  (BTW, I
*love* those things and if I ever get rich I'm going to buy every damned
one of them in existence!)

You simply won't have time to explain the finer points of phonology,
grammar, or lexicon in ten minutes.  It could take me ten minutes to
describe how *one* sound is made in one of my languages -- but then, I'm
more discursive than most.

If, as in the former case, your teacher wants a complete description of
the language in ten minutes, you need to schedule an appointment to talk
to him or her and explain the impossibility of this.  Perhaps your teacher
misunderstands the scope of the project.

On Sat, 10 Jun 2000, Robert Hailman wrote:

> Alright, some of you may know that I'm doing Ajuk as a project at
> school, and part of the process is that we have to present our projects
> to the class in a presentation of ten minutes or less.
>
> Does anyone have any ideas of how to present a language? We must assume
> that the people have no knowledge of linguistics or any foreign language
> besides a minimal amount of French, at best.
>
> Thanks in a advance!
>
> --
> Robert
>

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