Two women were drinking at a typical college bar with loud live music. Both were newly single and lonely and they were comparing their preferred partner communication styles across multiple criteria as observed by a male graduate student in linguistics. Because of the subject they discussed he assumed they were also studying linguistics.
As the night went on the music and crowd became louder these two women raised the volume of their conversation to hear one another. They both agreed garrulousness was unattractive. In their raised voices they made points regarding verbose versus laconic speaking styles and reached the mutual conclusion with one of them yelling, “after all, it’s not the size of the diction - it’s how he uses it” and the other nodding vigorously in agreement.
When the body language of these two graduate students shifted the linguistics graduate student read they were becoming disillusioned by their experience at the bar. So he approached them and - in a parallel register yelling over the noise - he convinced them he was both loquacious and extremely effective. One of the women asked if he considered himself a cunning linguist and the graduate student affirmed he did. The two women and the graduate student left together.
After the apartment the situation escalated in a direction the graduate student did not anticipate. He was pleased but one of the women was somewhat disappointed. The three of them were chatting after and the disappointed woman asked a pointed question about an act she expected. Very quickly the graduate student discerned the women were not linguists at all. All three people had misheard each other.
This is the kind of applied linguistics problem is at the center of MAL LAB research and our intent is to recreate the situation for testing.
Above is a joke and is comedic - or it is intended to be. Would being more realistic make it humorous and amusing instead of a joke?
How would the story change if the one woman was not disappointed. Not only are all linguists generous lovers, but what other discipline studies the movement of mouth and tongue to and the resulting external impact?
Humor has the power to heal and improve communication. It is a worthwhile subject of study in applied linguistics, and and non-traditional research methods can be as effective as traditional ones with very dynamic subjects.
Opportunities for research like this inspired the creation of the MOMUS Applied Linguistics Lab (MAL LAB) where I am proud to serve as Founding Director. Our goal of seeking postmodern solutions is my personal and professional passion. At MAL LAB, a central value from our Solution Asset Style Guide (SAS Guide) is that Applied Linguistics Solutions Should Not Have Linguistics Problems Applied. For this reason, technical terminology is typically limited and our rigorous analysis kept as obscure as the problems we discover and seek to solve, for:
SOLVING PROBLEMS REQUIRES COMMUNICATION
COMMUNICATION REQUIRES THE USE OF LANGUAGE
APPLIED LINGUISTICS ADDRESSES LANGUAGE PROBLEMS
WE DISCOVER AND ANALYZE PROBLEMS
AND SOLVE THEM WITH APPLIED LINGUISTICS
## Founding Director JR Sullivan - D. Litt. ##