Learn Languages: English: Using Sentence Connectors

Sentence Connectors

English Whit #1, Using Sentence Connectors, is the first in a series of online learning resources designed to demonstrate some of the learning and teaching styles at UNSW Foundation Studies. The learning sequence in this Whit is part of the Academic English curriculum in our Standart Foundation Program.

Using Sentence Connectors provides an opportunity for learners to understand more about the theory and practice relating to the use of cohesive devices. In this Whit, sentence connectors are employed to convert individual sentences into a meaningful paragraph.

Link to the course:

https://www.openlearning.com/courses/FoundationAcademienglish

Alicia Keys - Caged Bird

Alicia Keys - Caged Bird

Right now I feel like a bird
caged without a key
Everyone comes to stare at me
with so much joy and revelry

They don't know how I feel inside
through my smile I cry
They don't know what they're doing to me
keeping me from flying

That's why I say that
I know why the caged bird sings
only joy comes from song
she's so rare and beautiful to others
why not just set her free?

So she can fly, fly, fly
spreading her wings and her song
Let her fly, fly, fly
for the whole world to see

Mmm, mmm
hey, hey
Mmm, mmm
She's like a caged bird
Fly, fly
Ohh, just let her fly
Just let her fly, just let her fly
Spread wings, spread beauty,
Hmm

Alicia Keys - Pájaro Enjaulado

Ahora mismo me siento como un pájaro
enjaulado sin una llave
Todos vienen a mirarme
llenos de alegría y jolgorio

Ellos no saben cómo me siento por dentro
más allá de mi sonrisa yo lloro
Ellos no saben lo que me están haciendo
impidiéndome volar

Es por eso que digo que
sé porqué los pájaros enjaulados cantan
sólo alegría procede de la canción
ella es tan rara y bonita para los demás
porqué no simplemente liberarla

Para que ella pueda volar, volar, volar
expandiendo sus alas y su canción
Déjala volar, volar, volar
para que todo el mundo lo pueda ver

Mmm, mmm
hey, hey
Mmm, mm
Ella es como un pájaro enjaulado
Vuela, vuela
Ohh simplemente déjala volar
sólo déjala volar, sólo déjala volar
Expande tus alas, expande belleza
Hmm 

Universal Structure of human lexical semantics

Today I would like to share a recent scientific discovery that provides evidence for a semantic parallelism between languages.

The Lexical Semantic's Universal Structure

Maybe it’s not so difficult to adapt ourselves to new languages because, we are all humans, and that makes languages highly similar. All we need to express the same things, although we use different words.

Youn, H. et al had published a surprising scientific result, they had empirically demonstrated that there is a universal structure of human lexical semantics.

What does this mean?

Semantic network is highly structured: structural semantic are consistent across different language groups, and largely independent of geography, environment, and the presence or absence of a literary tradition. 

There is a universal attribute of human cognition and language use and the reason is that the way concepts are organized in the human brain reflect properties universal to human cognition.

They state:

“Semantics, or meaning expressed through language, provides indirect access to an underlying level of conceptual structure. We provide an empirical measure of semantic relatedness between concepts”.

Link to the full article:

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/01/25/1520752113.full.pdf