Andy Curtis, the professor and founder of peace linguistics, a new class only offered at BYU-Hawaii was “inspired by the 400 journal articles about peace education and peace study I read,” shared Curtis. “I found that there is a hole between applying linguistics and peace study.”
Curtis is a professor at Anaheim University, and this is the second Winter Semester he has been on campus to teach this course. “I am who started this class. The idea actually came from Brother Mark James, who approached me some years ago about the peace linguistics courses. It took a year of planning and preparation. I taught it alone for the first time last year. This year I am co-teaching with Sister Nancy Tarawhiti who is in the English language teaching department. She will be teaching it after I finish my block teaching in February. This class is really like a combination of peace education.”
Curtis said, “One of the things that makes this class different from other peacebuilding courses is the fact we use the linguistics approach. There are lots of stuff done with the language of peace, but there is very little done with the linguistics of peace.
“For example, we study ‘Words are Deeds.’ We look at words as actions. If you tell somebody I love you or I hate you, it has an equivalent meaning. When saying ‘love,’ you create love. But by saying ‘hate,’ they make hate manifest in the world. It is different from peace building, as this class focuses on the language, even the potential to create peace or war carried by every word, phrase, and line.”
Curtis used the government of the United States as an example. He said they look at President Trump’s tweets in class. “Some tweets help like, ‘Kim Jong-un of North Korea made a very wise and well-reasoned decision.’ While other [tweets] do great harm and damage like, ‘Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me “old,” when I would NEVER call him “short and fat?” Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend.”’
According to Curtis, what students are hoping to take out from the course is “an awareness of how language works in a detailed and systematic level into their work whether it be counseling, international diplomacy, or linguistics itself.
“What we do in peace linguistics class might help with their daily life. Some of my married students shared their experience when they argued with their partners. They suddenly realize the words they were saying makes the situation worse so they just stop talking for a while, which they don’t normally do. Being aware of the words they are saying and a little bit of silence helps prevent disagreement.”
As a non-member of the church, Curtis shared one of the most enjoyable things his students had taught him about the language of the LDS Church. “We discussed the word ‘veil’ in class. Also, on Sunday I went to my first sacrament meeting and someone introduced me to a young boy as elder.” Curtis said shockingly, “I was thinking if he was an elder, then I must be ancient. I have been reading the Book of Mormon for a year now, and I keep coming across the example of linguistics.”
Cassandra Disner Chotipairat, a senior from California majoring in TESOL said, “I have taken linguistics classes. I have seen how this peace linguistics class applies to linguistics. In this class, there are many peace building literatures. As you look at the articles about peace, linguistics is really important. It adds more correct definitions to it.
“One of the articles we read in class is about non-killing language. We discussed how much we don’t like the word ‘non-killing.’ In its own way, it is not peace-holding because of the word ‘killing.’ So we studied how we can use our language more peacefully.”
“This offers me a different perspective in linguistics. Since I am going to teach English as a second language, there would be a lot of cultures, which foster the possibility of conflicts and misunderstandings. I know how to incorporate peaceful language in a classroom setting. “I would define peaceful language as words of compassion, encouragement and forgiveness. If something is really good, we say ‘I’d die for it’ or ‘I’d kill for it.’ Why not say, ‘I’d live for it right now?’ That turns a negative to a positive word.”
Colton McLane, a senior from Washington, D.C., majoring in peace building, said, “This class summarized all the concepts I learned like conflict analysis from peace building. I am able to identify how those concepts are established in a spoken or written form. It is like breaking down the meaning behind words we use in communicating peace.”
Writer: Helam Lau