Historia de un Oso

a film by Gabriel Osorio Vargas

This year’s surprise Oscar winner for Best Animated Short Film, is a beautiful heartwarmingbreakingwarming story. Bear Story, to be precise.

Mapping Applied Linguistics: A Guide for Students and Practitioners

by Christopher J. Hall, Patrick H. Smith and Rachel Wicaksono

Finally, I finished this book. Not the easiest reading, especially if you have it on Kindle and try to go through it on the beach, as I did. But gratifying. I did not expect to go much past the introduction — yes I do read introductions. And this is what caught my attention (together with a 3-D representation of human forkhead-box protein 2 shown above):

All communities and cultures have deeply held beliefs about the nature of language and languages, which applied linguists ignore at their peril. But research in linguistics and allied fields allows us to bring new perspectives on the practical problems facing language users, which we must also be aware of if we are not to be led astray by tempting, but misleading, courses of belief and practice. Sometimes the most level path or the straightest-looking route doesn’t lead to new territory, but ultimately sends us round in circles or soon dries up altogether. <...> We’ll also continually bear in mind that most language users (the clients of applied linguistics), hold them to be self-evident; and, furthermore, that the beliefs of users can have profound effects on language uses. Finally, we’ll remember that all those who work professionally with language, including linguists, will succumb to the lure of these attractive avenues of belief . . . even if they do lead nowhere except to fewer spirited discussions at family holidays, the dinner table, the pub or the coffee house.

And here is the author’s top ten ‘dead ends’:

1. People think in language
2. Children are taught their first language(s)
3. Written language is superior to spoken language
4. Some groups of people don’t use their language properly
5. Some people speak their language without an accent
6. The way groups use their language reflects their intelligence
7. People with two languages are confused
8. Languages get contaminated by influence from other languages
9. A nation has, or should have, one language
10. Languages exist independently of users and uses

The fact that many of my colleagues (teachers!) indeed hold many of these beliefs is enough to convince me that I should go on, if only for the sake of being able to destroy their arguments in the pub or the coffee house. Moreover, this book made me realise that I am an applied linguist too. Beginner level, but still.

“Rere”: reduplicated relations

First published 8 February 2016 @ sólo algunas palabras

In Mandarin Chinese, reduplication is a very common feature. Its function is to create an informal, less direct or more cute version of a word with the same meaning. For example, 謝謝 xièxie, “thanks”, is a reduplicated 謝 xiè. However, when it comes to naming your relations, it could well be that these apparently reduplicated words came first and then got shortened, just like English “ma” and “pa” are short versions of “mama” and “papa”.

Now mama, papa, baba, dada etc. are babble words, something that babies all over the world tend to produce without thinking about their parents and other relatives. (How on earth Finns got to use äiti and isä, is anyone’s guess. Here’s my own guess: Finnish is derived from Elvish, not the other way round, and elvish babies never babble.) What I find interesting about Mandarin is that there are different babble words for different kinds of brothers, sisters, uncles and grandparents. Which is logical, if you think of it. For example, an older brother and a younger brother often have nothing in common. Calling them simply “brothers” is just silly.

Han characters		Pinyin	Meaning	Etymology
trad.	爸爸	bàba	dad, papa	From 爸 “dad” formed by reduplication
simpl.
trad.	媽媽	māma	mom, mum, mama	From 媽 “mum”
simpl.	妈妈
trad.	哥哥	gēge	older brother	From 哥 ‎“elder brother”
simpl.
trad.	弟弟	dìdi	younger brother	From 弟 “younger brother”
simpl.
trad.	姐姐	jiějie	older sister	From 姐 “elder sister, young lady”
simpl.
trad.	妹妹	mèimei	younger sister	From 妹 “younger sister”
simpl.
trad.	舅舅	jiùjiu	mother’s brother, uncle	From 舅 “mother’s brother, uncle”
simpl.
trad.	叔叔	shūshu	father’s younger brother, uncle	From 叔 “father’s younger brother, uncle”
simpl.
trad.	奶奶	nǎinai	paternal grandmother, gramma, granny	From 奶 “milk; woman’s breasts”
simpl.
trad.	爺爺	yéye	father’s father, paternal grandfather, granddad	From 爺 “father, grandfather”
simpl.	爷爷
trad.	寶寶	bǎobǎo	baby	From 寶 “treasure, precious”
simpl.	宝宝

Vivani organic dark chocolate

by Vivani

A couple of weeks ago we discovered this nice little organic food shop called Zoe Market (Calle Pérez Galdós, 37, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria). I can’t pinpoint what exactly it was prompted us to walk in but I am sure it was not organic food as such. Inside, it is full of wonderful vintage stuff, like Singer sewing machine, aluminium milk pails, 1950s Italian magazines, etc. We chatted for a while with an owner and learned that this is a part of a very small chain called Zoe Food, with two shops in Las Palmas and two shops in Trieste. Ah! Trieste! And so we chatted a little more.

Eventually, we left with a bar of 99% Panama cocoa dark chocolate — did I read it right? I didn’t know these things even exist!

It turned out to be even better (and less bitter) than I expected. You simply can’t get a bar of chocolate chocolatier than this.

More photos of chocolate @ Shutterstock.

Todo lo que nunca te dije lo guardo aquí

by Sara Herranz

I discovered (online) the Canarian artist Sara Herranz while in Santander. Which I thought was ironic. In any case, I fell in love with those drawings. (Is “fell in love” too strong an expression? Sure it is. Live with it.)

But this book (2^nd edition, in case you are interested; also acquired in Santander on my last weekend there) is more than a collection of illustrations. I don’t know what it is exactly though. It has graphic and chapters but graphic novel it ain’t. Saying that, none of “graphic novels” I came across lately are. Is it a love story, or many love stories, or a story of promiscuous search for a true love? Well, these are some of the possibilities. It is funny (not ROFL funny) and sad (not “I want to kill myself” sad), witty and touching. Not to mention erotic — oh wait. I just mentioned it.

♡ ♥ ♡

Me enamoro de ti precipitadamente, sin leer la letra pequeña.

♥ ♡ ♥

Que te rompan el corazón no es el fin del mundo, no es el fin de nada.

♡ ♥ ♡

El enamoramiento dura seis meses, luego hay amores eternos que duran tres años.

♥ ♡ ♥

Hay gente que va al gimnasio para ponerse en forma. Nosotros preferimos otro tipo de agujetas.

♡ ♥ ♡

Ellos son la droga. Ellos son la cura. Y no son las personas que necesito, pero como placebo no están nada mal.

♥ ♡ ♥

En cualquier caso, la vida no parece del todo una mierda, debajo de este enorme edredón de plumas.

♡ ♥ ♡

Hoy es uno de esos días en los que necesito un abrazo, o tres cervezas.

♥ ♡ ♥

... la vida es demasiado corta para no besar con lengua.

♡ ♥ ♡

Me muero por conocer a mi próximo ex.

♥ ♡ ♥

Are You Experienced

by The Jimi Hendrix Experience

If there ever was a doubt that death is a smart career move, at least in rock’n’roll world, you should look no further than Are You Experienced, the greatest something and an endless source of greatest somethings of all time. Yes, untimely death can make even a mediocre musician interesting. In case of undoubtedly gifted and charismatic Hendrix, the move proved to be not just smart but stratospheric, rendering him practically a god. JHE was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. Andy Beckett wrote in The Independent back in 1994:

Who’s still listening? The under-20s, daring heavy metal fans, grunge musicians (he was from Seattle), rock critics.

Add to this list yours truly, if only for a reason to understand what it’s all about. You see, I am no longer interested how critically acclaimed, or commercially successful, or revolutionary music was at the time. (In case of AYE: it was, it was, very much.) All I care about is whether I want to listen to this album now.

For me the answer is: not really. AYE features solid, occasionally great songwriting coupled with unpredictable guitar wizardry and consistently bad vocals. (The liner notes inexplicably claim that AYE is a concept album. Which is absurd, considering how radically different were the UK and American versions. Unless releasing two different albums under the same name was the concept. Why, the UK version didn’t even have Hey Joe, Purple Haze, and The Wind Cries Mary.)

Saying that, AYE still is head and shoulders above most of rock albums released this millennium. It’s just nowhere near the greatest album of all time. All time is a long time.

The Wind Cries Mary

After all the jacks are in their boxes And the clowns have all gone to bed You can hear happiness staggering on down the street Footprints dressed in red And the wind whispers Mary A broom is drearily sweeping Up the broken pieces of yesterday’s life Somewhere a queen is weeping Somewhere a king has no wife And the wind, it cries Mary The traffic lights they all true blue tomorrow And shine their emptiness down on my bed The tiny island sags downstream Cause the life that lived is, is dead And the wind screams Mary Will the wind ever remember The names it has blown in the past And with his crutch, its old age, and it's wisdom It whispers no, this will be the last And the wind cries Mary

The Secret of Kells

a film by Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey

I liked this animation even more than its follow-up, Song of the Sea. It certainly is funnier. The international team of brothers-illuminators living in Kells provide comic relief. Aisling, some kind of forest fairy, reminded me very much of Little My. And music by Bruno Coulais (Microcosmos, Coraline, La planète blanche) and Kíla is awesome.