What points of interest were brought up as your classmates discussed the material?

HI 300: Information Technology and Systems for Healthcare

 

Unit 4 Seminar

Tonight’s Agenda

Questions from Unit 2 graded assignments

Reminders about academic writing & plagiarism

Week 4 Assignment Review

 

Discussion Board Example

Investigate clinical decision support applications and provide a summary of at least two of the applications that you find. Please provide facts about each of the applications and answer the following questions:

What does the application do?

How does the application help the user?

VisualDx is a unique clinical decision support system that delivers diagnostic answers where and when physicians need them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72zhp_6Tcw4

 

Scenario: Imagine that you are the Director of Health Information for a large hospital. As Director, you sit on various institution-wide committees which govern the organization’s policies. You have seen issues arise that cause you to propose changes in policies, procedures and operations across the hospital. Therefore, you have decided to create a proposal to the CEO and Board of Directors, which you will develop in collaboration with committee teams.

Unit 4 Assignment Breakdown

Task #1: Evaluate, implement and manage electronic applications/systems for clinical classification and coding.

Select two (2) applications/systems for clinical classification and coding (e.g., encoders, computer assisted coding (CAC), etc.) and

Appraise each vendor in terms of:

capacity to evaluate quality coding practices;

possible implementation considerations/issues; and

systems management challenges and training needs

Provide support for one (1) system that you find as the “best option“

explain why this is the best option.

Brainstorming – Task #1

 

3M 360 Encompass System 3M

3M CodeRyte CodeAssist Sytem

TrueCode Encoder Essentials

Artificial Medical Intelligence (AMI) Emscribe

Video Tip #1: 3M Encoder overview https://youtu.be/nUwWPU9xT0E

What is medical coding: https://youtu.be/jxwT6FRvUR8

Tip #2: Computer Assisted Coding Trends and Forecast 2016-2024: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/computer-assisted-coding-market.html

Tip #3: Interesting article about using encoders: http://www.hcpro.com/HIM-275961-3288/Use-encoders-alongside-of-critical-reasoning-and-clinical-knowledge.html

Tip #4: Different types of medical coding classification systems. https://www.medicalbillingandcoding.org/qnas/what-are-the-different-types-of-medical-coding-classification-systems/

 

 

Task #2: Evaluate the accuracy of diagnostic and procedural coding.

Consider the principles and applications of classification systems (e.g., ICD-10, HCPCS) and medical record auditing used within a clinical documentation improvement (CDI) program. Appraise the value and challenges of a quality CDI program by:

defending the need for ongoing CDI program support; and

critique at least three (3) challenges in the CDI process.

Make connections between auditing, accurate diagnostic and procedural coding with classification systems, and CDI programs

Your executive summary should reflect upon the need for CDI and best practices for ensuring compliance.

Brainstorming – Task #2

What is the goal of a Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI) program?

What are the challenges (3)?

How does auditing, accurate diagnostic and procedural coding fit into the scope of CDI?

 

Tip #1: What is Clinical Documentation Improvement? http://www.ahima.org/topics/cdi

Tip #2: CDI is important in hospitals https://www.healthcareitnews.com/blog/why-clinical-documentation-improvement-so-important-hospitals

Tip #3: How and Why of a CDI Program? https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/6-steps-to-implement-a-cdi-program.html

Tip #4: The Value of CDI https://www.healthcare-informatics.com/article/recognizing-value-clinical-documentation-improvement

 

 

 

Task #3: Advocate information operability and information exchange.

Critique one (1) interoperability issue that is possible within the health information exchange (HIE) (e.g., patient identity matching).

Appraise at least three (3) best practices that address the issue.

 

9

Brainstorming – Task #3

Health Information Exchange

The need to exchange accurate, complete and timely information.

Patient identify matching

Best practices to ensure interoperability (3)

Need for standards and common vocabularies

Tip #1: What is interoperability in healthcare? https://www.himss.org/library/interoperability-standards/what-is-interoperability

Video Tip #2 Video explanation of interoperability https://youtu.be/PaWcU7rqqyA Video Tip #3: Video explanation of interoperability

https://youtu.be/cBx2bFcoviM

Tip #4: Interoperability Examples https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/health-it-interoperability-example

 

 

 

 

 

Task #4: Evaluate health information systems and data storage design.

Evaluate at least three (3) health information systems (HIS)

select the best health information system

why, explain with rationale

Evaluate at least three (3) data storage designs (e.g., onsite, cloud)

select the best data storage design for disaster recovery purposes

why, explain with rationale

Brainstorming – Task #4

Health Information Systems (HIS) Examples:

Specific examples: Phillips Intellispace Console, Archimedes IndiGO, and Diagnosis One

 

Data Storage Design Examples:

Onsite, Hybrid, Cloud, Tape, Disc

Cost, Disaster Recovery, Oversight

Tip #1: What is a health information system? http://phinnetwork.org/resources/health-information-systems-his/

Tip #2: Different Types of health information systems www.floppybunny.org/robin/web/virtualclassroom/chap12/s2/systems1.pdf

Video Tip #3: Data Design Storage Overview https://youtu.be/xwVqmJQOcvw

Tip #4: Disaster Recovery Planning https://www.healthmgttech.com/best-practices-in-healthcare-disaster-recovery-planning.php

 

 

 

Task #5: Manage clinical indices/databases/registries.

Evaluate three (3) managerial challenges (as hospital’s Director of Health Information) related to:

clinical indices, databases, and registries

Recommend three (3) best practices or policies related to:

management of secondary data sources

Brainstorming – Task #5

Understanding the difference b/t primary and secondary data sources.

Maintaining security and confidentiality

Need to ensuring data quality

Need for clinical documentation (CDI) program

Need for interoperability

Need for compliance with laws, regulations, and accreditation standards.

Need for audit processes

Video Tip #1: Video about Patient Registries https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3ZPZ0EKVCE

 

 

Task #6: Evaluate data from varying sources to create meaningful presentations.

With respect to data warehousing, appraise at least two (2) approaches in data warehouse design that supports:

quality data management from varying sources;

processing/storage of data throughout the warehouse model;

meaningful output into the presentation layer

Summarize your recommendations in the executive summary.

Chapter 4

15

Brainstorming – Task #6

Top-down, Bottom-Up and Hybrid

Cost, data quality, data marts, data mining

Give a summary of the 2 you choose

Tip #1: Data warehouse design approaches

Tip #2: Data warehouse Overview presentation

 

 

Unit 4 Assignments

Discussion

Submit Unit 4 Assignment

Quiz

Ambulatory Care Coding 80 Questions.

This assignment requires Ambulatory Care Coding experience.

You CAN NOT google these questions for the answers.

Must be CPC, CCS, or RHIT certified coder.

Please check 40 that are answered, 40 that are unanswered.

Need by 09.16.2015

 

Ambulatory Care Coding

 

  1. Patient had a left femoral hemiorraphy for a recurrent hernia, what is the correct code assignment?

 

C. 49555

 

  1. A patient was taken to the endoscopy suite. The endoscopy was passed into the esophagus and continued into the duodenal bulb. Based on this documentation, what CPT code would be selected to represent this procedure?

     

 

  1. 43200
  2. 43234
  3. 43235
  4. 43260

     

 

  1. Which of the following is not coded separately from the coronary artery bypass procedure?

 

  1. Upper extremity artery
  2. Upper extremity vein
  3. Saphenous vein
  4. Femoropoplitear segment of a vein

     

 

  1. Which of the following CPT codes should be used for an emergency curettage due to retained placenta after normal vaginal delivery?

 

  1. 58120
  2. 59160
  3. 49320
  4. 59840

     

 

  1. How do you code a retropubic subtotal prostatectomy?

     

    B. 55831

     

  2. Treatment of a missed abortion, completed surgically a 22 weeks is coded as?

     

    C. 59821

     

  3. Which of the following CPT codes describes the surgical removal of kidney stones through an incision in the body of the kidney.

 

D.50060

 

 

 

  1. The patient undergoes the closure of a nephrocutaneous fistula, how is this coded?

 

B. 50520

 

 

 

  1. The patient provides a kidney to a sibling who has renal failure. An open procedure is performed. How is this coded?

     

    B. 50320

 

10. Principles of ICD-9-CM coding for ambulatory care encounters includes.

 

A. Ambulatory care diagnoses should be coded to the highest of certainly at the conclusion of the encounter.

 

B. Code suspected diagnoses as if the disease or injury existed.

 

C. conditions previously treated and no longer existing are coded.

 

 

 

D.Only the most significant diagnosis should be coded.

 

 

 

  1. Level  2 codes of the HCPCS coding system are maintained by the:

    D.Center for medicare and Medicaid services.

     

  2. J1020 injection methylprednisolone acetate, 20 mg is an example of a

    C. Level 2 code

     

  3. Level one of HCPCS consists of

 

  1. CPT codes

 

 

 

  1. The inclusion of a code in COT indicates that the procedure is:

 

  1. Commonly performed across the country
  2. Endorsed by the AMA
  3. Reimbursed by third party payers

     

 

  1. The three key components used in defining the levels of E/M services are:

 

  1. History, examination, medical decision making.

     

 

  1. The differences between a new patient and an established patient is whether the patient received professional services from the physician or another physician of the same specialty who belongs to the same group of practice

 

  1. Within the past three years

 

 

 

  1. Mary Cole, who is recovering from pneumonia, returns to her physicians for follow up. Dr. Small reviews a recent x-ray, performs a problem focus examination followed by a short discussion of findings. CPT code assigned.

 

  1. 99212

 

  1. Refer to the medical decision making table in your CPT book. Given the following information determine the type of medical decision making involved. Number of diagnoses/management options _ limited, amount and/ or complexity of data reviewed _ moderate risk of complications and / or morbidity or mortality high.

 

  1. High complexity
  2. Low complexity
  3. Moderate complexity
  4. Straightforward

 

 

 

  1. Joan Harrington is required by required by her insurance company to obtain a second opinion consultation prior to undergoing a hysterectomy, she presents to Dr. Marks who conducts a comprehensive history and physical examination medical decision making is moderate. Dr. Marks concurs that the surgery is necessary. Dr. Marks assigns the following CPT code for the visit.

    B. 99244

     

  2. Which code is used to report anesthesia services for a Medicare patient undergoing a tranurethal resection of the prostate?

     

 

  1. 00914

     

 

  1. Cystourethroscopy with fulguration of bladder tumor (2.5 cm inside) is coded.

     

 

  1. 52235

     

 

  1. A biopsy of skin and subcutaneous tissue (3 lesions) would be coded.

     

    C.11643

     

  2. A debridement of the skin, subcutaneous tissue and muscle is coded.

 

C.11043

 

24. Bisch of procedure

 

  1. 63170

 

25. Open reduction of fracture of the distal fibula with internal fixation

 

  1. 27792

 

26. Transurethral resection of prostate following urethral dilation.

 

  1. 52601

 

27. Repeat cry cautery of the cervix.

 

  1. 57510
  2. 57511
  3. 57511, 57511
  4. 5713

 

28. Two facial lacerations are repaired with layer closure. One is 10 cm and the other is 3 cm.

 

  1. 12016
  2. 12035
  3. 12052, 12054
  4. 12055

 

29. Esophagoscopy for removal of foreign, body is coded.

 

  1. 43045
  2. 43200, 43215
  3. 43215
  4. 43247

 

30. Simple hemorrhoidectomy, internal and external with fistulectomy.

 

  1. 46255
  2. 43255, 46270
  3. 46257
  4. 46258

 

31. Arthroscopy of knew with synovial biopsy.

 

  1. 01382
  2. 27330
  3. 29870
  4. 29875

 

32. A patient develops difficulty during surgery and the physician discontinues the procedure, identify the modifier that may be reported by the physician to indicate that the procedure was discontinued.

 

  1. -52
  2. -53
  3. -73
  4. -74

 

33. EGD with laser destruction of a pedunculated polyp in the duodenum.

 

  1. 43250
  2. 43234, 43258
  3. 43239
  4. 43258

 

34. What is the correct code assignment for ligation of four hemorrhoids?

 

A. 46945, 46946

 

B. 46946

 

C. 46900, 46910

 

D. 46924

 

35. Which of the following is vital for determing why an insurance company paid less than expected?

 

  1. CPT code book
  2. The explanation of benefits
  3. Knowledge of the insurance regulation
  4. Talking to the patient

 

36. To properly link the diagnosis to the service what should be listed in box 24 of the CMS_1500 claim form?

 

  1. The place of service code
  2. One linking reference number from box 21
  3. The CPT code number
  4. The ICD_9-CM code number

 

37. Which set of percentages is correct for initial hospital services, 99221 65, 99222 296, 99223 362, 99231 261, 99232 410, 99233 174

 

  1. 4%, 19%, 23%
  2. 13%, 45%, 42%
  3. 9%, 41%, 50%
  4. 36%, 57%, 24%

 

38. A claim is denied because the CPT code and place of service code do not match. Where would the coder look to solve this problem for the future?

 

B. Fee schedule database

 

 

 

39. A patient presents with a closed fracture of the supracondylar humerus and receives open treatment with intercondylar: How should this be coded?

 

D.24546

 

40. Red blood cell count, differential white blood cell count, and platelet count automated, is coded as?

 

C. 85041, 85004, 85049

 

41. An asthmatic patient is treated with two nebulizer inhalation treatment on the same day by the same physician, using prefilled vials of 0.5 mg of albuterol and 2.5 mg normal saline. How is this coded?

 

  1. 94640, 94640-76, J7611, J7611
  2. 94664-76
  3. 94664, 94664-22, J7611x6
  4. 94640, 94640

 

42. A catheter is placed into the renal pelvis for injection. The same physician perfors both the injections and the supervision and interpretation. How is this coded?

 

  1. 50392, 74475-26
  2. 50392, 74475
  3. 74475-26
  4. 74475

 

43. Magnetic resonanceimagaing cholangiopancreatograpy on a 25 year old male

 

  1. 74185
  2. 76498
  3. 58037
  4. 58042

 

44. A rapid influenza test is performed with a commercial test kit. When complete, the technician visually reads the results as positive, how is this procedure coded?

 

  1. 87275
  2. 87276
  3. 87400
  4. 87804

 

45. Some reconstructive plastic surgical procedures are performed in multiple stages. What modifier should the surgeon report when the patient is returned to sugery for a planned stage procedure?

 

C. 58

 

46. Accu-check home blood glucose monitor

 

    1. A4258
    2. E0607
    3. A4253
    4. E0607, A4253

       

 

47. CT of maxillofacial area, with and without contrast.

 

    1. 70488
    2. 70487
    3. 70450
    4. 70486, 70487

       

 

48. Two- view x-ray of sacrum and cocoyy

 

D. 82607, J3420

 

 

 

49. What is the correct code for a nonabsorption vitamin B_12 level?

 

  1. 82608
  2. 82607
  3. J3420
  4. 82607, J3420

 

50. RS&I of bilateral extremity angiograph

 

  1. 75716

 

51. When clinical laboratory tests are reported on the same day, what modifier should be assigned?

 

B. 91

 

 

 

52. In addition to the claim submitted by the surgeon, the assistant surgeon bills for his or her services. What modifier does the assistant surgeon attach to the procedure code?

 

    1. 62
    2. 52
    3. 81
    4. 80

 

53. A female patient about undergo chemo, decided to harvest and store eggs for later attempts at pregnancy. How is the laboratory service of storage coded?

 

  1. 89342
  2. 89346
  3. 89343
  4. 89528

 

54. Visual acuity screening

 

  1. 99173

 

55. Comprehensive opthalmology evaluation for a new patient.

 

    1. 99204
  1. 92012
  2. 92004
  3. 92002

     

 

56. Binaural hearing aid check

 

  1. 92539
  2. 92591
  3. 92590
  4. 92591, 92539

 

57. Individual interactive psychotherapy, outpatient, 50 minutes.

 

D. 90834, 90784

 

 

 

58. EEG, awake and sleep

 

B. 95819

 

59. With the use of imaging, the patient had a percutaneous needle core biopsy of the left brest.

 

D. LT

 

60. Barium enema with KUB

 

C. 74270

 

61. Planned sigmoidoscopy with removal of foreign body under conscious sedation, procedure not completed due to hypotension. How would the physician report this?

 

C. 53

 

62. Comprehensive oral examination

 

  1. D0150
  2. D0145
  3. D0502
  4. D0121

 

63. A radiologist interprest x-ray for a community hospital. The equipment belongs to the hospital. What modifier should the radiologist append to his CPT code?

 

  1. 26
  2. TC
  3. 59
  4. 52

 

64. Replacement of a nonprogrammable epidural drug infusion pump

 

  1. 62360
  2. 62362
  3. 62360, 62361
  4. 62361

 

65. Initiation and management of continuous positive airway pressure ventilation

 

  1. 94660

 

66. Removal of foreign body from cornea using a slit lamp

 

    1. 65205
    2. 65222
    3. 65205, 65222
    4. 65220

 

67. Cervical collar, foam, un-adjustable

 

    1. L0150
  1. L0180
  2. E0856
  3. L0120

     

 

68. Hearing aid, monaural, behind the ear.

 

  1. V5241
  2. V5298
  3. V5160
  4. V5060

 

69. The physician provides a patient covered by commercial insurance with a peak flow meter to use at home.

 

D.   58096

 

 

 

70. The physician performs an arthroscopic debridement of the shoulder, extensive, with chondroplasty and abrasion, arthroplasty. An arthroscopic mumford procedure is also performed. How is this coded?

 

  1. 11044-RT, 23120-RT
  2. 29823-RT, 29824-RT
  3. 11044-RT, 29824-RT
  4. 29823-RT, 23120-RT

     

 

71. The modifier used to report therapeutic interventional procedures on the right coronary artery is.

 

  1. RT
  2. RC
  3. 50
  4. LC

 

72. The physician performs an open repair of the medical meniscus of right knee: How is this coded.

 

C. 27403-RT

 

 

 

73. Modified radical mastectomy

 

  1. 19307

 

74. The physician treats a patient who has osteomyelitis of the left scapula following a past injury. A piece of dead bone is removed from the body of the scapula. How is this coded?

 

A. 23172-LT

 

75. The physician performed a partial avulsion of the nail plate of the left thumb.

 

A. FA

 

76. Surgical sinus endoscopy with spenoidotomy

 

C. 31287

 

77. Percutaneous thrombectomy of AV Fistual Graft

 

    1. 36870
    2. 35331
    3. 92973
    4. 35363

 

78. Prosthetic aortic value placement, using CP bypass

 

C. 33405

 

79. Diagnostic lumber puncture

 

A. 62270

 

80. Catheterization of Eustachian tubes, tympanic approach

 

    1. 69631
    2. 69405
    3. 69405-50
    4. 69400

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anthropology Essay ( 5 Pages)

WEEK 4:
LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATON

MAJOR THEMES

    • LANGUAGE AND SPEECH

 

    • ELEMENTS OF SPEECH

 

  • SYMBOLS

 

 

 

 

  • Language: A system of cultural knowledge used to generate and interpret speech.

 

    • key medium through which we interpret, express and transmit culture
    • transmits cultural memory and maintains traditions across generations.

 

  • Both a medium and effect of culture.
  • Ex: racial, class and gender relations both shape and are shaped by language.
  • Reflects and facilitates social and cultural change.

 

WHAT IS LANGUAGE, AND WHY DO ANTHROPOLOGISTS STUDY IT?

 

 

 

 

Study of Language

 

Linguistics: Scientific study of language with focus on formal structures of language (such as grammar); emphasis is on the formal construction of language, not its use.

Sociolinguistics: studies linguistic variation – how language is used in different social contexts and what it tells us about social relationships.

Linguistic Anthropology: Studies language as a form of symbolic communication and carrier of cultural information and meanings. Focuses on the relations between culture, meaning and language.

Linguistics: Structural Elements of Language

  • Although their surface forms differ, all human languages are composed of the same elements.

 

  • Phonology: study of the categories and rules for FORMING vocal symbols.
  • Ex: No English word begins with “ng”
  • Consonants and vowels tend to alternate in English. Some sequences of consonants, such as /mktb/ are excluded in English.
  • Phoneme: the minimal category of speech sounds that serve to keep utterances apart.
  • Ex. The English sounds /t/, /d/, and /s/ are phonemes

 

“Emic” and “Etic” Perspectives

Linguistics:
Elements of Language Analysis

 

Grammar – categories and rules for combining vocal symbols.

 

Morphemes are basic grammatical elements consisting of vocal symbols that form the minimal units of meaning in any language.

Ex: the word /bats/ is comprised of the morphemes /bat/ and plural /s/.

 

Difference between phoneme and morpheme?

Sociolinguistics: Language in Context

  • Sociolinguistic rules combine meaningful utterances with social situations into appropriate messages.

 

  • Semantics – the categories and rules for relating vocal symbols to their referents
  • Ex: Is the glass half empty or half full?
  • What does the word “crash” mean?
  • What is a “water pill”?

 

Anthropology: Language and Symbolic Representation

  • Linguistic anthropology is concerned with the study of language as a system of symbolic representation and meaning making.

 

  • Like sociolinguists, we focus on the rules and conventions that govern language use in social interaction (linguistic variation)

 

  • But we study language as a symbolic system of cultural knowledge and focus on its context-specific meanings and interpretation.

Language as a symbolic system?

A symbol is anything that people can perceive with their senses that stands for something else.

 

It may be an object or action or sound used to represent something abstract; an emblem.

  • Ex: Letters are symbolic representations of vocal sounds.

 

  • Because humans assign meaning to symbols in an arbitrary fashion, there is room for an infinite range of possibilities.

 

  • Symbols greatly simplify the task of communication.
  • Once we learn that a word stands for something, we can communicate about that thing in all its contexts and in the absence of the thing itself

Examples of symbols

 

    • Underlying most adjectives used for people are the culturally constructed categories of “good” and “bad”; “normal” and “abnormal.”

 

  • Some examples?

Names and Adjectives
Can Be Symbolic

 

    • Anthropologists have typically written about “other” cultures from their own cultural positions

 

  • In writing ethnographies, we make choices about what to say and how to say things about the people we write about, what kind of language to use.

 

  • Our representations are not objective, but very much subjective. Once written, images of others are not neutral.

 

  • Our decisions when writing ethnographies change how the people we write about are represented to the reading public and may heavily affect their lives.

Language and Representation: the heart of the anthropological project

Random House definition of ‘savage”

  • “Fierce, ferocious, or cruel; untamed…uncivilized; barbarous…enraged or furiously angry…unpolished, rude…wild or rugged….uncultivated; growing wild…an uncivilized human being …a fierce, brutal or cruel person”

 

Note how this definition is used to confirm the value of its opposite: the civilized.

*

*

 

Gender and Communication: Conversational Styles

 

  • Gender structures our:

conversation styles

the words we use and how we use them

body language

 

This may cause miscommunication and/or misguided evaluations and judgments.

 

  • Why might men be reluctant to ask directions?

 

  • Why might women be more comfortable asking questions in a learning environment?

Gender, Communication, and Language

 

    • Women are taught to:
    • ask questions
    • encourage responses from other speakers
    • make positive minimal responses
    • allow interruptions into their speaking turns.

 

  • Men are socialized to:
  • interrupt
  • make minimal negative responses
  • challenge or ignore other speakers
  • introduce new topics and control them
  • make direct assertions.

 

These are not rules but culturally informed patterns.

(Learned, Shared, Symbolic, Naturalized, Dynamic)

 

We may observe aspects of these patterns in ourselves or others, but of course they do not apply to all men or women.

Examples of Gender Bias in Language

 

  • Pair orders: Men tend to precede women in naturalized versions of common constructions.
  • Ex: his and hers, male and female, husband and wife.
  • The pairing for good and bad, rich and poor likewise puts the most valued of the pair first.

 

  • Maiden name and terms of address (Mr. Smith and his wife);

The practice of naming speaks volumes about our values.

Mr. vs. Miss/Mrs./Ms.

 

  • Adjectives: Men & women “yell,” but women “screech” or “shriek”; men & women talk, but women “gossip;” men & women laugh but women “giggle” – all of these are used to denigrate or trivialize women. And what about men who “shriek,” “giggle,” or swish?

 

The Anthropology of Language

Language is more than a tool of communication

Not neutral, not natural; but reflective and loaded

Guides our perception: of ourselves, others, and the world

Reflects and reenacts social hierarchy, identity and difference

Thus, it offers a key means of understanding and interpreting the culture(s) in which it operates.

*

*

 

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: Are Humans Trapped by their Language?

 

  • Does language affect our thought and perception of outside reality? Or, is it a passive symbolic system that merely describes outside reality, a transparent tool for the transmission of thought?

 

  • Two American linguists at the fore of this discussion of how language can limit, not expand, our knowledge of the world: Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf, Sapir’s student.

*

*

 

Anthropology of Language

  • Edward Sapir: languages are more than a tool of communication — they guide our perceptions.

 

  • Benjamin Lee Whorf: language provides a frame of reference that orders our view of the world and shapes our perception of reality.

*

*

Sapir was a student of the famous American anthropologist Franz Boas, who studied the languages of certain NW coast Native Americans. Boas discovered that there was a sound in this language between ch and sh but that linguists couldn’t hear it cuz it was not in their phonology.

 

Safir-Whorf Hypothesis

Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf suggest that language helps us determine how we see and think about the world.  They believe that language restricts the thought of people who use it and the limits of one’s language become the limits of one’s world. Example Edward Sapir: 1884 – 1939

In 1921 published his only book — Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech

Later contributed to the theory of meaning — developing what some eventually called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, primarily developed by his student Benjamin Lee Whorf

Sapir stated: “Human beings do not live in the objective world alone but are very much at the mercy of their particular language. The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same world with different labels attached.”

 

Whorf’s best known claim was that “standard average European” cultures are in a mental straight-jacket in which events are packaged in boxes, such as days, hours, minutes: a length of time, he argued, “is envisioned as a row of similar units, like a row of bottles.”

Humans create their own limited mental pictures of the world. The word “week” is often quoted. A week has no concrete reality in the external world. Yet most native speakers of English have a mental model of a sequence of seven days, which is divided into two chunks, five working days followed by two rest-days, the “weekend” – or sometimes six working days followed by one rest day. They have this idealized notion of a week, even though they may organize their own working life quite differently, and may know that technically the week begins on a Sunday. In contrast, an Inca week had 10 days, nine working days followed by market day, on which the king changed wives.

 

Whorf looked at the Hopi indians. He noted that they have a cyclical view of the world. They don’t refer to the days of the week in same way Westerners do.

 

Whorf never said you could not think about your language! He never said you can’t step out of your habitual thought.

 

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

Examples

Inuit – many words for snow

Malayalam – same word for snow, dew, mist

Hanunoo of Philippine Islands- 92 varieties of rice

Looking at the sunlight refracted through a prism, English speakers identify at least 6 colors (purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red)

Bassa speakers in Liberia identify 3 colors

Shona speakers in Rhodesia identify 2 colors.

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Grammar

  • Example: Conception of Time
  • English — Past – Present – Future

 

The effect of such a concept on Western people: diaries, records, annals, histories, clocks, calendars, timetables, salaries and wages specified in terms of limited time units, etc.

 

  • Hopi – The objective (things that exist now) and the subjective (things that can be thought about and therefore are in the process of becoming)

Euphemism

Roundabout language that is intended to conceal something embarrassing or unpleasant. Often used in political speech or for “bathroom words” why?

 

Some examples:

 

Collateral damage

Pacification

Restroom

Bacon or Pork

Beef or Steak

 

Can you think of others?

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Metaphors

 

    • Take language from one semantic domain of experience and apply it to another domain.

 

  • Ex: “foot of the mountain”: use of body organ to speak about landscape features; “tax burden” links taxes to the physical experience of carrying a heavy load.

 

  • Metaphors not only extend language from one domain to the other, but also extend meaning.

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Examples for Metaphors

 

  • Jenni is a fox.
  • Jim is a snake.
  • Charlie is a pig.
  • The shoulder of the road.
  • Your point is right on target.
  • Your claims are indefensible.
  • She shot down my position.
  • She attacked my argument.

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Metaphors: Illness

 

  • We fight a cold
  • We fight disease
  • We strengthen our defenses
  • We wage war on cancer
  • We have heart attacks
  • We are struck down with a given illness
  • Headline: Hillary Clinton battles pneumonia

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Metaphors: Time as economy

 

  • Time is money.
  • You’re wasting time.
  • That flat tire cost me an hour.
  • He’s living on borrowed time.

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Time is seen as a valuable commodity to be bought or sold or borrowed; won or lost

Time is seen as a scarce resource that we quantify, invest and spend

American Tongues:
A Film by Louis Alvarez and Andrew Kolker

  • Peabody Award-winning look at American accents and their social implications.
  • Looks at the way we judge people by the way they talk.
  • A survey of American linguistic prejudice; racial; regional; class-based.
  • “Southerners talk too slowly. New Yorkers are rude. New Englanders don’t say much at all.”

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PROBLEM: WE ASCRIBE VALUES TO LANGUAGE: Intelligence: When northerners hear southerners we think that they are slow, not just that they talk slow. Slowness of speech equals slowness of mind.

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Sapir was a student of the famous American anthropologist Franz Boas, who studied the languages of certain NW coast Native Americans. Boas discovered that there was a sound in this language between ch and sh but that linguists couldn’t hear it cuz it was not in their phonology.

 

Safir-Whorf Hypothesis

Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf suggest that language helps us determine how we see and think about the world.  They believe that language restricts the thought of people who use it and the limits of one’s language become the limits of one’s world. Example Edward Sapir: 1884 – 1939

In 1921 published his only book — Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech

Later contributed to the theory of meaning — developing what some eventually called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, primarily developed by his student Benjamin Lee Whorf

Sapir stated: “Human beings do not live in the objective world alone but are very much at the mercy of their particular language. The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same world with different labels attached.”

 

Whorf’s best known claim was that “standard average European” cultures are in a mental straight-jacket in which events are packaged in boxes, such as days, hours, minutes: a length of time, he argued, “is envisioned as a row of similar units, like a row of bottles.”

Humans create their own limited mental pictures of the world. The word “week” is often quoted. A week has no concrete reality in the external world. Yet most native speakers of English have a mental model of a sequence of seven days, which is divided into two chunks, five working days followed by two rest-days, the “weekend” – or sometimes six working days followed by one rest day. They have this idealized notion of a week, even though they may organize their own working life quite differently, and may know that technically the week begins on a Sunday. In contrast, an Inca week had 10 days, nine working days followed by market day, on which the king changed wives.

 

Whorf looked at the Hopi indians. He noted that they have a cyclical view of the world. They don’t refer to the days of the week in same way Westerners do.

 

Whorf never said you could not think about your language! He never said you can’t step out of your habitual thought.

 

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Time is seen as a valuable commodity to be bought or sold or borrowed; won or lost

Time is seen as a scarce resource that we quantify, invest and spend

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PROBLEM: WE ASCRIBE VALUES TO LANGUAGE: Intelligence: When northerners hear southerners we think that they are slow, not just that they talk slow. Slowness of speech equals slowness of mind.

Materials Scince & Engineering

Practice Problem

 

A specimen of some metal having a rectangular cross section 10.4 mm x 13.3 mm is pulled in tension with a force of 8040  N, which produces only elastic deformation. Given that the elastic modulus of this metal is 79 GPa, calculate the resulting strain.

 

Problem 6.03

A specimen of aluminum having a rectangular cross section9.9 mm × 12.6 mm (0.3898 in. × 0.4961 in.) is pulled in tension with 35500 N (7981 lbf) force, producing only elastic deformation. The elastic modulus for aluminum is 69 GPa(or 10 × 106 psi). Calculate the resulting strain.

Problem 6.08

A cylindrical rod of copper (E = 110 GPa, 16 × 106 psi) having a yield strength of 240 MPa (35,000 psi) is to be subjected to a load of 6660 N (1497 lbf). If the length of the rod is 380 mm (14.96 in.), what must be the diameter to allow an elongation of 0.54 mm (0.02126 in.)?

Problem 6.19

A cylindrical specimen of some metal alloy 7.1 mm in diameter is stressed in tension. A force of 9980 N produces an elastic reduction in specimen diameter of 0.0039 mm. Calculate the elastic modulus (in GPa) of this material if its Poisson’s ratio is 0.34.

Problem 6.37

 

A cylindrical metal specimen having an original diameter of 10.81 mm and gauge length of 51.2 mm is pulled in tension until fracture occurs. The diameter at the point of fracture is 7.79 mm, and the fractured gauge length is 66.6 mm. Calculate the ductility in terms of (a) percent reduction in area (percent RA), and (b) percent elongation (percent EL).

 

Problem 6.54

(a) A 9.9-mm-diameter Brinell hardness indenter produced an indentation 2.3 mm in diameter in a steel alloy when a load of 1000 kg was used. Compute the HB of this material. (b) What will be the diameter of an indentation to yield a hardness of 280 HB when a 500-kg load is used?