Philosophy
Last night at dinner with the department, a colleague, whose native language is not English, declared that he has an accent. Someone else said that he didn't because there was no discernible difference between the way he pronounced words and the way everyone else at the table did. He insisted that this was irrelevant and that he did, in fact, have a different accent than the rest of us because of his native language.
His claim was that an accent is a property. It is something a person has or does not have, or that everyone has an may be classified according to original dialect. The objection is that an accent is really a relation, a non-identity relation in which one's pronunciation is determined to be distinct from others, that is, you can only be said to have an accent relative to some other set of pronunciations taken as the local benchmark from which yours differs.
So, is "having an accent" a property or a relation? Can you have an accent and the people around you not notice or is the accent exactly the noticing of the difference?
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Philosophy
The Ontology of Accents
Last night at dinner with the department, a colleague, whose native language is not English, declared that he has an accent. Someone else said that he didn't because there was no discernible difference between the way he pronounced words and the way everyone else at the table did. He insisted that this was irrelevant and that he did, in fact, have a different accent than the rest of us because of his native language.
His claim was that an accent is a property. It is something a person has or does not have, or that everyone has an may be classified according to original dialect. The objection is that an accent is really a relation, a non-identity relation in which one's pronunciation is determined to be distinct from others, that is, you can only be said to have an accent relative to some other set of pronunciations taken as the local benchmark from which yours differs.
So, is "having an accent" a property or a relation? Can you have an accent and the people around you not notice or is the accent exactly the noticing of the difference?
- Pi Diagram
Ok, so I?m really sorry I haven?t been able to post lately. [What have I been up to, you ask? I?ve been GRE-ing, freshmen-advising, and researching]. You know how I did an entry once on philosophers and their guilt? It?s wearing off on me!!!! I really...
- Q&a Submission Time
Some of you have sent me email questions about philosophers over the past few months, which I believe I?ve already answered (if I haven?t yet, shame on me!). While I hope that this has been helpful for you, you often have really good questions that more...
- New Series: Philosophy Lessons
Due to a recommendation from a follower, I?ve decided to commence a series of posts that explain a little more thoroughly some aspects of philosophy. Think of these as your personal?and very general?philosophy lessons. I will consult my own knowledge...
- "what Suffering Does" (comment On David Brooks)
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/08/opinion/brooks-what-suffering-does I applaud David Brooks?s suggestion (?What Suffering Does,? April 8) that suffering sometimes enables us to break through our culture?s common pursuit of hedonic ?happiness?...
- Spirituality And Ego: Thoughts On Deepak Chopra
My wife Kathy and I recently saw ?Decoding Deepak,? the new movie about Deepak Chopra, made by his son Gotham Chopra. It?s well known that most spiritual teachings tell us that we have to go beyond the personal ego. In the movie, Deepak denies that...