Spring 2010

E 321L • American English-W

Course Description

In this class we will examine the development of American English from colonial times through the present. Topics we will cover include: the influence of Native American languages; American post-colonial nationalism and attitudes toward British English; the origins and diffusion of regional dialects; language use in Texas and the south as regional dialect areas. We will also look at modern and modern social and ethnic dialects, including African-American Vernacular English, and at the emergence of new varieties of American ways of speaking and writing in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries in the wake part of emerging computer technology and networked communication.

Grading Policy

Two short (3-5 page) essays with required drafts (25% each); End-of-semester research paper (8-10 pages) with draft and oral presentation on a topic of your choice (40%); Short oral presentation (8%); Peer Evaluation (2%)

Texts

Reading packet (available at Jenn's)

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