Report of Fall 2010 Group N-R

Fall 2010 Group Reports

Bibliographies and Study Guides : Report of Fall 2010 Group N-R

Created by Graham Drake, last modified by Paul Schacht on Sep 01, 2012

Lauren Hanson, Gian Martinelli, and Andrew Moak English 361 N-R Dictionary Final Report Intro Our letter group was N through R. The first step we took was to thoroughly look over and familiarize ourselves with our section of words. The second step was to look over the list again as a group, and created a list of words that we deigned wc—I think you mean "deemed" to be potentially obsolete. We arrived at these predictions by simply thinking if each of us had heard the word used in common conversation over the past year or two. If no member of the group had heard or used the word, we would label it as potentially obsolete, creating a survey that Lauren will explain to test empirically if a word is indeed obsolete. Oftentimes, a word was included in the potentially obsolete list if it had an unfamiliar definition, such as "Name", which was defined as an "exclamation demanding identity of someone having done or said something senseless or odd, said to be derived from "State your full name". In addition, we deemed certain words like "Not" potentially obsolete, as it is used at the end of the sentence as in "You’re my best friend…not!" because no group member had heard this being used over the past few years. The third step we took was to create a list of words to add that we commonly hear in everyday speech. This ranged from common phrases such as "No Shave November" to groups, such as fraternities and sororities, as well as buildings that had not been previously included, such as "Nassau," and restaurants such as "Pizza Paul’s". Strategy For our means of collecting data, we decided early on in the project to compile a survey. As a group, we looked through the dictionary and made a list of words which we suspected may be obsolete, as well as words that we believed could be added to the dictionary. Lauren found a website which hosts free online surveys and used this to put together a survey to test the words on our list. It was divided into two sections, which were modeled as follows:Multiple choice word recognition: Takers were given a word, its definition, and a sample sentence and asked to classify it in one of four categories – Familiar, Somewhat familiar, Unfamiliar, and Obsolete. These options were described at the start of the survey to ensure uniformity in the category selection of test takers. This section included the words we believed may be obsolete, as well as the potential additions already found.Fill in: Survey takers were given space for each letter, N-R, and asked to brainstorm for words that they use regularly. This allowed us to collect new words which we had not previously thought of from a wide variety of students on campus.A copy of this survey can be found at <http://www.kwiksurveys.com/online-survey.php?surveyID=HIMEGG_4f85d1a0> (password: sunygeneseo). Over one hundred Geneseo students were invited to take the survey through conversation, email, and social networking sites. Of these, forty-five surveys were submitted. The data from these surveys was recorded by kwiksurveys in a series of bar graphs and lists which allowed us to see not only the results of the survey overall, but also look all the answers of any particular individual to see trends. One of strengths of this method, particularly in Section 2 of the survey, was its anonymity. Based on the candid nature of the results, survey takers seemed to be very comfortable with answering the questions honestly. The responses we received epitomized the lexicographers’ ideal of honesty rather than political correctness, a survey goal which may not have been as effective in a face-to-face interview in public locations on campus. One of the main challenges of our investigation of Geneseo English came in interpreting the data once it had been collected. While some of the Section 1 answers were quite clear, others showed an even split between opposing categories, such as Familiar and Unfamiliar. As a group, we conferenced about how such results should be interpreted. Split results could mean a cultural difference in lexicon between two demographics on campus or the results of survey taker discretion. We decided to use our own experience to make judgment calls about these words. This was the part of our project which had the most internal disagreement within our group as we compared our own experiences and opinions. In the end, however, we debated until we reached a unanimous agreement on the status of each word in the survey. Conclusion In many cases, it was difficult to determine whether or not the word has fallen into disuse. The responses to some of the words were almost evenly split between being thought of as obsolete and familiar. From these results, we used several methods of determining what has become obsolete. We often had to make a decision based on slight percentages. For example, the responses to "rotation," which refers to "the act of passing a joint between several people," were nearly equal, with 46% of the tested body expressing familiarity and 55% expressing unfamiliarity. With a word like "rotation," we reasoned that the division between familiarity and unfamiliarity may be dependent on the varying social groups on campus. This can also be seen in "RL," which stands for "real life" in the online gaming community. Although the responses were evenly divided down the middle, this term was kept for the same reasons as "rotation," namely, that there is a social community on campus that seems quite familiar with its usage. Nevertheless, some of these social-circle terms are no longer in usage. Another gaming term, "QQ," was deemed obsolete, since an overwhelming amount of the tested student body was unfamiliar with it. We made many revisions to our section of the dictionary. Many terms were unknown by the large majority of the tested body. These now-obsolete terms include "nug/nugget," "Onion," "Phi Slam," "QP," "RTFM," and "rainbow." We were often surprised to see that certain terms had not fallen out of widespread usage. For example, the dance move of "raising the roof" is now obsolete; however, using this term as a way of indicating that one is making the party more exciting is still acceptable. We also made many additions. Thanks to the suggestions from the surveys, we added terms like "naked lap," "randy," "roasted," and "riot punch" to the dictionary. Other terms, like "pawn," "rook," and "O RLY?" were found fit to be added on the basis of the group’s awareness of them. Indeed, our research allowed us to make significant additions to the dictionary, as it showed us that the Geneseo lexicon continues to grow and renovate itself. This is the most carefully-explained report of methodology that I’ve seen in the whole class. Your method is sophisticated and shows the right amount of depth as well as breadth among the populations that you survey. You also pinpoint examples and carefully analyze your statistics to sound out their implications. Very good job. A

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