71 57
•
1. Start with a tone at the same frequency as vibrating vocal cords higher if a woman’s or child’s voice is being synthesized, lower for a
man’s
•
2. Emphasize the harmonics corresponding to the formants required for a particular vowel, liquid, or nasal quality.
•
3. Add hissing or buzzing for fricatives.
•
4. Add nasal resonances for nasal sounds.
•
5. Temporarily cut off sound to produce stops and affricates…. Fromkin Rodman Hyams 386
•
A Sound Spectrogram will give an indication of some of the variables of analyzing or synthesizing speech:
71 58
Fromkin Rodman Hyams 366
71 59
SPELL CHECKER
I have a spelling checker. It came with my PC.
It plane lee marks four my revue Miss steaks aye can knot sea.
Fromkin Rodman Hyams 381
Explain why the spell checker is not working in the poem above.
71 60
THEORIES AND MODELS
• In The Physicist’s Conception of Nature, Manfred Eigen said, “A theory has only the alternatives of
being right or wrong. A model has a third possibility: it may be right, but irrelevant.”
Fromkin Rodman Hyams 397
• Explain why a theory for Artificial Intelligence must be rigorous and at the same time allow for language
play. In AI, are rigor and language play compatible concepts or not?
71 61
TRANSLATION
• “Translation is more than word-for-word replacement. Often there is no equivalent
word in the target language, and the order of words may differ, as in translating from an
SVO language like English to an SOV language like Japanese. There is also
difficulty in translating idioms, metaphors, jargon, and so on.”
Fromkin Rodman Hyams 382
71 62
• “Machine translation is often impeded by lexical and syntactic ambiguities, structural
disparities between the two languages, morphological complexities, and other cross-
linguistic differences.”
Fromkin Rodman Hyams 382
• In the following examples consider what information must be taken into consideration
for better machine translation:
71 63
During that time we regret that you will be unbearable.
• SWISS NUNNERY HOSPITAL: The nuns harbor all diseases and have no respect for religion.
• GERMAN HOTEL: All the water has been passed by the manager.
• ZURICH HOTEL: Because of the impropriety of entertaining guests of the opposite sex in the bedroom, it is suggested that
the lobby be used for this purpose.
• TURKEY: The government bans the smoking of children. Fromkin Rodman Hyams 382
71 64
Having Fun with
Computer Terminology
71 65
1024
When Alan Schoenfeld of the University of California at Berkeley attended a conference
on Artificial Intelligence, he was given Hotel Room Number 1024.
Wow he said.
1024 is 2 to the tenth power. It is a kilobyte. Nilsen Nilsen 98
71 66
ACRONYMS
• Acronyms are so common in computer terminology that programmers make fun of them.
• “TLA” stands for “Three Letter Acronym.”
• “YABA” stands for “Yet Another Bloody Acronym.”
• “YABA Compatible” means that the initials can be pronounced easily, and are not ambiguous or
offensive. Nilsen Nilsen 99
71 67
CHAT GROUPS
• Linguist Susan Herring at the University of Texas, Arlington studied the humor in chat groups. Her results were as follows:
• imaginary situations: 20 percent • a mock persona: 14 percent
• teasing: 13 percent • irony: 6 percent
• name play: 5 percent • silliness: 4 percent
• real situations: 3 percent • riddles: 2 percent
• pretended misunderstandings: 2 percent • puns: 1 percent
Nilsen Nilsen 167
71 68
EMOTICONS
• In conversation we can show our emotions, but on the internet this is difficult, so we use emoticons:
• :- Smiling • :- Really Smiling
• ;- Winking • :- Kissing
• I-0 Yawning • :- Tongue-Tied
• :’-{ Crying • :- Undecided
• :-II Angry
Nilsen Nilsen 100
71 69
SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY
• Many computer terms come from Science Fiction and Fantasy:
• A huge network packet is a “Godzillagram” from Godzilla
• Teenage hackers are “Munchkins” from The Wizard of Oz
• A mischievious program is called a “wabbit” from Elmer Fudd’s “You wascawwy wabbit.”
• A program that repeats itself indefinitely is said to be in “Sorcerer’s Apprentice Mode” from Fantasia
• The meaning of life, truth, and everything is “42” from a computer in Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Nilsen Nilsen 99
71 70
• When someone asks for information that they can easily find themselves, the Cyber Police
might say, “UTSL.” This means “Use the Source, Luke” from Starwars.
• Another word from Starwars is an “Obi-Wan Error.” This comes from the name “Obi-Wan
Kenobi” and refers to an “off-by-one code,” as in 2001: A Space Odyssey where the computer
is named “HAL.” This comes from “IBM” but is the three letters before I, B, and M.
Nilsen Nilsen 99
71 71
hitting of “Control,” “Alternate” and “Delete” at the same time.
• This is refered to as the “Vulcan Nerve Pinch” from Star Trek.
• “Droid” from “Android” has become a suffix in such words as “trendroids,” who follow trends, and “sales
droids” who promise customers things that can not be delivered or are useless.
• The “code police” and “net police” are named after the “thought police” in George Orwell’s 1984.
71 72
SIGNATURES
• People like to create enigmatic and puzzling signatures. One user named Eddie follows
his signature with “Ceci n’est pas une signature.”
• This is an allusion to a painting of a pipe by René Magritte with the disclaimer, “Ceci n’est
pas une pipe.”
Nilsen Nilsen 166
71 73
TEXT MESSAGING
Since numbers and letters require more than a single stroke on cell phones, acronyms are often used:
1337 leet [elete] AFAIK: As far as I know
BFF: Best Friends Forever BTW: By the way
CUL or CUL8R: See you later FTW: For The Win
FYI: For Your Information GIGO: Garbage In Garbage Out
GFR: Grim File Reaper I 3 you I less than three you
IMHO In My Humble Opinion L8tr later
LOL: Lots of Laughs Lolocaust, lolling and seriousing لووووووووووووووووووووووووووووووووووول
OIC: Oh, I see OMF: Oh, my Gosh
71 74
POS: Parent Over Shoulder ROTF: Rolling on the Floor
ROTFLMAO: Rolling on the Floor Laughing My Ass Off RUOK: Are you OK?
STFU: obscene TIA: Thanks in Advance
TMI: Too Much Information woot
WTF: obscene WYSIWYG: What you See Is What You Get
and BCNU: Be Seein’ you
Nilsen Nilsen 99
71 75
VIRUS JOKES
• ATT Virus: Every three minutes it
tells you what great service you are getting.
• MCI Virus: Every three minutes it reminds you that you’re paying too
much for the ATT virus.
71 76
virus does not horse around. It warns you of impending hard disk attack—
once if by LAN, twice if by C:.
• New World Order Virus: Probably
harmless, but it makes a lot of people really mad just thinking about it.
Nilsen Nilsen 177
71 77
Eschholz-Rosa-Clark [2009]: 105
71 78
Computer Humor Website
ANIMATOR VS. ANIMATION II: http:www.metacafe.comwatch689540animator_vs_animation_2
DAMN YOU AUTOCORRECT JAY LENO SHOW: http:damnyouautocorrect.com7264video-damn-you-autocorrect-featured-
on-the-tonight-show-with-jay-leno
THE THE IMPOTENCE OF PROOFREADING TAYLOR MALI: http:www.youtube.comwatch?v=p_rwB5_3PQc
71 79
http:www.abdn.ac.uknewsdetails-8719.php
LOLSPEAK: http:www.speaklolspeak.com
http:www.lolcatbible.com
MY BLACKBERRY’S NOT WORKING: http:www.flixxy.commy-blackberry-is-not-working.htm
TEXTING: Justin Long Jimmy Kimmel: http:www.youtube.comwatch?v=Afhk5VDCpb0feature=fvwrel
TOP 50 POPULAR TEXT CHAT ACRONYMS NETLINGO: http:www.netlingo.comtop50popular-text-terms.php
71 80
Related PowerPoints
• Movie Humor
• Stand-Up Comedy
• Television Humor
• Urban Legends in contrast to Tall Tales of the Frontier
71 81
Attardo, Salvatore. Humorous Texts: A Semantic and Pragmatic Analysis. New York, NY: Mouton de Gruyter, 2001.
Attardo, Salvatore. Linguistic Theory of Humor. New York, NY: Mouton de Gruyter, 1994.
Attardo, Salvatore. “The Semantic Foundations of Cognitive Theories of Humor.” HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research 10.4
1997: 395-420.
