Language around you

Background: take a walk!

We sometimes focus on texts as self-contained objects, perhaps hidden away in a book or on a library shelf, but we are often surrounded by written language. How do texts fit in to the physical environment where you live?

For Friday’s class, instead of meeting on Zoom, I’d like you to take a walk, and keep your eyes open for texts. Ask two questions about the texts you notice:

What language does the text use and why?
What kind of language does the text?

By the first question, I mean identify whether the text is in English, Spanish, Latin, or any other language. What do you think motivated the choice to use a particular langauge?

By the second question, I mean how does language express the content of the text? Is it giving you a command (“No parking!”), a reminder (“Don’t forget to wear masks at all times and maintain social distance”), quoting a poem or scripture, or something else?

Assignment

Spend 50 minutes outdoors; look for different publicly visible texts. Take pictures, make notes to yourself, and reflect on the two questions above – what languages, and what kinds of language to you find?

If you are not on campus, choose a safe space to stroll in where you will see one or more examples of pubicly visible written language.

If you are on campus, be on the lookout in particular for texts in Latin! Here are some places you could look:

Dinand Libary, above front entrance, and in main reading room
Kimball Dining Hall, above entrance
On the College seal displayed outside the Linden Lane entrance, and on the gate there
O’Neill above entrance (seen from Swords 2)
Haberlin Hall above entrance
In various locations in Fenwick Hall
St. Joseph Chapel, above entrance, and several inside the chapel
In the Mary Chapel
Beaven Hall inside the front door
The Jesuit cemetery up the hill from St. Joseph’s chapel includes long Latin inscriptions for Bishop Fenwick (18246), and George Goodwyn (1847)