Culture and Communication

INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF CULTURE THROUGH COMMUNICATION AND THE THEORY OF SIGNS

Fall 2010 Brian Stross ANT 307 (30490), LIN 312 (41630)

MWF 1-2 UTC 3.120

bstross@mail.utexas.edu

Office Hours MW 12-1 & by appointment in EPS 2.204

Web Page: http://www.utexas.edu/courses/stross/ant307_files/ant307.htm

This section is an honors course with a substantial writing component

FINAL EXAM - Monday, December 15, 2:00–5:00 pm Location UTC 3.120

Requirements / Exams and Writing assignments

One midterm exam (25%) and one final (25%).

as well as three written assignments (totaling 18-20 pages) 50% of grade.

Class attendance and participation can affect final grade.

Texts:

Required 1) Tracy Novinger 2001. Intercultural Communication: A

Practical Guide. ISBN: 0-292-75571-6

Required 2) Deborah Tannen 1986. That's Not What I Meant.

ISBN: 0-345-34090-6 (Tannen TNWIM)

Requred 3) Deborah Tannen 2006. You're Wearing That?: Understanding

Mothers and Daughters in Conversation. ISBN ISBN-10: 081297266X

(Tannen YWT)

WEEKS Film info may be revised

1. 8/27, 8/29

Introduction - Culture, Language, Communication, Meaning (notes )

Topics: What are culture, communication, language, ( semiotics and the theory of

signs), ( sociolinguistics ), ethnography of speaking, discourse, reality and its

social construction, seeing the other, the speech act and its functions,

Themes this semester: politics and propaganda;

information and disinformation; (wikipedia)

speech play, verbal art and memory (learning, education);

technology and communication;

Homework: Read - Tannen YWT xi - 61, seeing the other (click on this URL)

Optional Further Background: The Silent Language (Hall),

Beyond Culture (Hall), Portraits of the Whiteman (Basso)

Film on Friday 8/29 A World of Differences (Audio-Visual library video 30 min.),

2. 9/3, 5

Message Form - Sounds, Words, Sentences

Topics: What are (phonemes, morphemes, lexemes, sentences; meaning),

Homework: Read Tannen TNWIM Ch. 1; do Hebrew exercise ;

revisit the phoneme;

study this notes link for the midterm exam.

Informal writing exercise, first assignment (or see Informal exercise) due 9/15

Film on Friday 9/5 A World of Gestures (Audio-Visual library video 28 min.),

3. 9/8, 10, 12

Message Form II - More Sounds, Words, Sentence

Topics: Manual language, nonverbal communication. Documentary film.* Instant messaging.

Homework: read Tannen TNWIM Ch. 2, read online essay on

documentary film

Start thinking about your first second assignment, deciding on one of the alternatives,

(second assignment due on 9/29, final revisions due on 12/5) Writing Help

Film on Friday 9/12 Do You Speak American: Up North

4. 9/15, 9/17, 9/19

Language and Cultural Meaning - The Expression of Meaning

Topics: linguistic determinism/Sapir-Whorf, Moonhawk on Sapir-Whorf,

lexical and semantic components, classification, recoding,

markedness/implicational universals, fuzzy sets, focal meanings and

prototypes, cultural presuppositions, language as a theory of reality,

metaphor and metonym,

Turn in first assignment - due 9/15

Homework: read Novinger Ch. 1, Tannen TNWIM Ch. 3, click White Whine

Film on Friday 9/19 First Contact (dept. video 54 min.)

5. 9/22, 9/24, 9/26

Contextual Components: Ethnography of Communication

Topics: Evolution of language (autonomous, non-autonomous;

rhetorical style; involvement vs non-involvement)

Power and solidarity, performance, respect,

Austin and Searle on speech acts,

gossip (see week 11)

Homework: read Novinger Ch. 2, Tannen TNWIM Ch. 4, Klein (PtheP)

Film on Friday 9/26 The Human Animal – Language of the Body (Desmond Morris)

6. 9/29, 10/1, 10/3

Communicative Interactions

Topics: interactional synchrony

conversational structure, conversational postulates,

(directives and responses), routines (greetings, apologies), politeness,

social networks,* networking,* verbal art*

Homework: read Novinger Ch. 3, Tannen TNWIM Ch. 5

Film on Friday 10/3 Do You Speak American: Down South

Turn in Second Assignment on Monday 9/29 Rewrites, to be based on feedback,

due on 12/5

Hints on how to write goodly.

7. 10/6, 10/8, 10/10

Societal Segmentation and Linguistic Variation: Class & Race

Topics: social stratification (race, class, caste), African American Vernacular English

in the US, the structure of AAVE, settings and contexts, “ebonics”.

Homework: read Novinger Ch. 4, Tannen TNWIM Ch. 6 , and

Black English (click on AAVE link above, & see E-mail).

Film on Friday 10/10: American Tongues (dept. video, 56 min)

Start thinking about your third assignment, deciding on one of the alternatives,

Third assignment due on 11/3, (revisions due on 12/5)

8. 10/13, 10/15, 10/17

Language and Gender: English and English Speakers

Topics: Pronunciation, intonation, grammatical variation,

vocabulary, conversational style, gender bias

Homework: read Novinger Ch. 5, TNWIM Tannen Ch. 7

Midterm exam on Friday of this week 10/17 (covering material

through the 7th week of classes) (sample midterm exam)

9. 10/20, 10/22, 10/24

Cross-Cultural Studies of Language and Gender

Topics: power, complexity of form, linguistic marking of gender,

Gender-exclusive patterns, linguistic and stylistic preferences,

images of gender in linguistic form.

Homework: read Novinger Ch. 6, Tannen TNWIM Ch. 8

Film on Friday 10/24 Gender Issues

10. 10/27, 10/29 , 10/31

Language Learning

Topics: language acquisition, LAD, rule vs. rote, sequences in

sounds, grammar, vocabulary, speech socialization (instructional strategies).

feral children (1, 2),

Homework: read Novinger Ch. 7, Tannen TNWIM Ch. 9 ,

(Are there "bad" words)

Film on Friday 10/31: Do You Speak American: Out West

11. 11/3, 11/5, 11/7

Acquisition of Communicative Competence

Topics: Learning communicative styles (functional categories,

politeness, expressing feelings, disputing), learning status and

role, learning the rules of conversation (turn taking, affirmations,

narration), speech play & verbal art, gossip (see week 5),

Homework: read Novinger Ch. 8, Tannen TNWIM Ch. 10 ,

learning from advertising.

Turn in Third Assignment on 11/3 revisions due 12/5

Film on Friday 11/7 Teaching Sign Language to the Chimpanzee Washoe

(dept. video, 48 min.)

12. 11/10, 11/12, 11/14

Multilingual Nations

Topics: linguistic diversity, language standardization, language minorities,

code switching, attitudes towards other languages and speakers,

bilingual education, indigenous/native languages, Creole languages.

Homework: read Novinger Ch. 9, Tannen YWT 62-137

FILM on Friday 11/14: I'm British, but... (dept. video, 30 min.)

13. 11/17, 11/19, 11/21

Bilingual Communities

Topics: language change (contact, innovation), language use in

bilingual speech communities, bilingual conversational strategies,

language revitalization, language shift, interethnic miscommunication.

Homework: read Tannen YWT 138-191. Rewrite your lecture notes.

Think about an encounter you've had recently in an Educational,

Media, Legal, or Medical institutional framework and come prepared

to discuss it in class. Watch video at this URL or this one

FILM on Friday 11/21: To Make the Balance (Audio-Visual library, 33 min)

14. 11/24, 11/26 (Thanksgiving holiday 11/27-29)

Language and Institutional Encounters

Topics: language labels and status, institutional contexts. Literacy

(education, health, law, the media, the military).

Homework: Analyze the discourse in this link: George Galloway & Congress

& come to class prepared to discuss one element of this speech act, or discuss the

power of TV media illustrated by Wallace’s emmy winning interview. Or see

this pizza order and come prepared to discuss its context.

15. 12/1, 12/3, 12/5

Communication and the Senses

Topics: use of furniture and arrangement, space and distance, time, silence.

Review of semester.

Homework: Tannen YWT 193-248

Turn in revised assignments on or before 12/5 (you can e-mail them as attachments)

Final Exam will be held at scheduled time (Final is Monday, December 15, 2:00–5:00 pm Location UTC 3.120).

(sample final exam)

This course will have one Midterm Exam and one Final Exam. Each will count for 25% of your

course grade. In addition there will be 3 written homework assignments, together counting 50%

of your grade (10% + 20% + 20%). The exams will cover lectures and homework assignments

from the textbooks. Attendance and participation are expected, of course, and can affect your

course grade as well.

The following books will be useful to those who would like to pursue

some of the course topics in more depth.

BOOK RESOURCES

S. Beebe and J. Masterson. Communicating in Small Groups. (7^th ed. 2003)

J. Blumler, J. McLeod, and K. Rosengren (eds) 1992. Comparatively Speaking

P 91 C563 1992 pcl stacks

Donal Carbaugh 1990. Cultural Communication And Intercultural Contact

P 91 C85 1990 pcl stacks

Kristine Fitch Speaking Relationally. HM 132 F576 1998 pcl stacks

Cynthia Gallois and Victor Callan. 1997. Communication And Culture: A Guide for Practice. Wiley.

Ulf Hannerz Transnational Connections. CB 428 H365 1996 pcl stacks

Steven Johnson Interface Culture. T 58.5 J64 1997 pcl stacks

M. Lustig and J. Koester. Intercultural Competence: Interpersonal Communication

Across Cultures (4^th ed. 2003).

L. Malandro and L. Barker 1983. Nonverbal Communication.

S.U. Philips, S. Steele & C. Tanz. 1987. Language, Gender & Sex in Comparative Perspective.

L. Samovar, R. Porter and L. Stefani 1998. Communication Between Cultures,

3rd Edition. Wadsworth 0-534-52218-1 P 94.6 S26 1998 pcl stacks

Stella Ting-Toomey Communicating Across Cultures. GN 345.6 T56 1999

pcl stacks

Anna Wierzbicka. 1997. Understanding Cultures Through Their Key Words.

Julia T Wood. 2004. Communication Theories in Action: An Introduction.

VIDEO RESOURCES

That's Not What I Meant (AV library video VIDCASS 9706 )

The Iron Chef

Unforgivable Blackness The Rise & Fall of Jack Johnson

Joe Leahy's Neighbors (dept. video 90 min.)

(update on Joe Leahy) (long review of First Contact, Joe Leahy's Neighbors, and Black Harvest

in Visual Anthropology Review Vol 10, no. 2 [1994])