Words and Minds: How we use language to think together



Words and Minds: How we use language to think together.

Neil Mercer

Chapter 3: "The given and the new"

* "We use language to make the future from the past . . . . Using language, we can transform the raw material of our shared life experiences into stories which have continuity and coherence." (p46)

[pic]What might Postman think of that? How about Captain Picard? Clarkson alums?

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* Why does Mercer say we have to "take calculated risks about how much 'context' to provide . . ."? (p46)

“Life would be difficult if we could not generally rely on these assumptions.” (47)

[pic] For instance? How would/might it change life here at Clarkson? What would Schneider think of that? John Locke? (see Boxing, p24? ()

* Besides the speaker or writer, who else is responsible for creating "context"? (p47)

* How do "tag questions," "explicit requests," and "overt agreements" help the group in Sequence 3.2? (pp48-49)

* Recaps, elicitations, repetitions, reformulations, exhortations -- seen any of these yet this term? (pp52-55)

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[pic] Am I overestimating or not? (55)

* What happens when a "dispreferred response" occurs in a conversation? (p58)

[pic]If you’re not sure, maybe take a look at or a listen to some clips from

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*What is cohesion, according to Mercer? (60)

* Go to Clarkson’s main website and search for a document, any document – think about how it would look if you did what Mercer does in Sequence 3.8 on page 62?

[pic]Who was Mikhail Bakhtin? What did he think about "monologues"? (p66)

* How has technology encouraged the development of "concordances" and what has that done for linguistic research? (p67)

Chapter 4: "Persuasion, control and argument"

* What attitude towards "rhetoric" does Mercer ask his reader(s) to suspend? (p73)

* What do you think of this claim?

[pic]"Persuasion and argumentation are natural, and potentially very valuable, aspects of how we reason together." (p74)

* Why is using a three-part lists a generally successful strategy? (pp74-75)

* What "tactic" does the following sentence employ?

[pic]"The fact is that too much is spent on the munitions of war and too little is spent on the munitions of peace. (p75)

* Explain how "graffiti" can be seen as "ironic, subversive". (p77)

* How do you feel after reading Burchill's comments? (pp77-78)

[pic]What's the larger point Mercer is making?

[pic]"But metaphors are such a normal and pervasive feature of our use of language that we often do not realize we are using them." (p79)

* What did Lakoff do in 1991? Think someone could do the same sort of research today? (p79-80)

[pic]"Even in ordinary, everyday conversation, we are all rhetoricians." (p82) That might give you some ideas for your individual presentation, eh?

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* Have you had any similar experiences to those Mercer describes in "Buying and Selling"? (pp85-89)

* Have you had any similar experiences to those Mercer describes in "Power and Control"? (pp94-96)

* Many students at Clarkson are involved in group or collaborative projects as part of their academic work. What's your experience in those settings re: the three types of "talk" that Mercer describes (i.e., cumulative, disputational, or exploratory)? (p98)

* Mercer claims that "No system of categories could ever really do justice to the natural variety of language, and even short stretches of dialogue may have characteristics of more than one of each of these types of talk. But this categorization is nevertheless useful for making sense of the messy, category-defying reality of conversation." (p102)

[pic] If it can’t do justice to it, what’s its value?

* What does Halliday mean by the "ideational and interpersonal functions" of language? (p103)

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