Fall 2009
LANGUAGE IN CULTURE and SOCIETY
Introduction to the Study of Language
in Culture and Society
ANT 325m (30495), LIN 373 (41535)
MWF 11-12 UTC 3.110
Instructor: Brian Stross
bstross@mail.utexas.edu
Office Hours WF 12-1 & by appointment in EPS 2.204
Teaching Assistant:
Amber O’Connor
Office Hours M – 3:30 – 4:30 &
W - 10 – 11
in the Graduate Linguistic Anthropology Lab
Web Page: http://www.utexas.edu/courses/stross/ant325m_files/ant325m.htm
Instead of Blackboard, this
course will utilize the current webpage (above) along with e-mail for syllabus,
notices and student support
FINAL EXAM - Wednesday, December 9, 7:00–10:00 pm. location TBA
Goals - The goals of
this course are to introduce students to the study of language use from a
sociocultural perspective and to develop skills (through fieldwork and data
analysis) in analyzing the role that language plays in the structure and
interpretation of human interaction. Students will collect language data from a
"speech community" in a setting of their choice, and will use this
data: 1) collectively as a basis for examining and questioning concepts
discussed in lectures and readings, such as
ethnicity, identity, power, and gender as they are constructed through
language, and 2) individually as a basis from which to generate an analytical
paper, which shows an understanding of the major ideas covered in the course
but which is specific to student interests.
Description - This course is an upper division introduction to topics in
linguistic anthropology. Languages,
like other communication systems, are adapted to new and different environments
in which they are spoken, creating and maintaining social realities,
reproducing cultural traditions, and conveying messages in a complex interplay
of new and old information, sometimes necessary and sometimes frivolous,
packaging meaning in various ways that generally conform to standards that can
be articulated, As speech is an important mode of human communication,
we start by outlining basic concepts allowing for the description of linguistic
form, In the end we will focus as much
on language use as on language structure, and in the process we will examine
various expressive speech genres, metaphors that we live by, the power of
language, gender preferences in communication, language learning, proverbs,
jokes, and multilingualism, among other topics. We will examine these forms,
processes, and contexts in an effort to deliver the tools necessary for
describing and understanding the multiple ways in which language, culture, and society
interact.
Requirements
/ Exams, Paper, Attendance
The course grade will be
based on two midterm exams (25% each), a 10 page analytical paper
based on fieldwork due on the last class day (25%), and one final exam
(25%). The final is comprehensive.
No penalty for one unexcused
absence, but further such absences can lower one’s course grade by two and a
half percentage points for each instance.
Exams include information from lectures, readings, and
films.
Texts:
Required: Susan Blum 2009. (ed.) Making sense of Language. Oxford
WEEKS
Film info may be revised
WEEK 1. 8/26, 8/28
Introduction -
Culture, Language, Communication, Meaning (notes )
Topics: culture, communication, language, ( semiotics
and the theory of signs),
(sociolinguistics),
ethnography of speaking, discourse, reality and its social construction,
the
speech act and its functions,
Homework: Read Blum
1-4, seeing the other
(click on this URL)
Optional Further Background: The Silent Language (Hall),
Portraits of the Whiteman (Basso)
Film on Friday 8/29
A World of Differences (Audio-Visual
library video 30 min.),
WEEK 2. 8/31, 9/2, 9/4
Message Form - Sounds, Words, Sentences
Topics: What are (phonemes, morphemes,
lexemes, sentences;
meaning),
Homework: read
Blum 5-8;
revisit the phoneme;
study this notes
link for the midterm exam.
Film on Friday 9/5 Secrets of
Body Language (100 minutes ˝
shown)
WEEK 3. 9/9,
9/11
Message Form II - More Sounds, Words,
Sentence
Topics: Manual language, (nonverbal communication.
Documentary
film.*)
IM-ing.
Twitter. Walling (facebook)
Homework: ,
Read Blum 9-12; read online essay on documentary
film
Film on Friday 9/12 Do You Speak American: Up
North
WEEK 4. 9/14, 9/16, 9/18
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 and focal meanings,
cultural presuppositions
(D. Jensen), language as a theory of
reality (S. Pinker),
metaphor and
metonym,
Homework: read Hotchkiss,
Children & Conduct (e-mailed PDF),
Frake, How to Ask
for a Drink (e-mailed PDF)
Film on Friday 9/19 Do You Speak American:
Down South
WEEK 5. 9/21, 9/23, 9/25
Contextual Components:
Ethnography of Speaking
Topics: Evolution of language
(autonomous, non-autonomous;
rhetorical style; (involvement vs non-involvement)
Participants: Power and solidarity, performance,
respect,
gossip
Homework: Read Ervin-Tripp, Interaction of language,
topic, listener
(e-mailed PDF), Youssouf et al, Greetings in the desert (e-mailed PDF),
First Midterm Exam on Friday 9/25
WEEK 6. 9/28, 9/30, 10/2
Communicative
Interactions
Topics: interactional synchrony; conversational structure, conversational
postulates,
(directives and responses),
routines (greetings, apologies), politeness,
social
networks,* networking,* verbal
art*
Homework: read Blum 23-25,
Start thinking about the topic of your 10 page analytical paper, due the last day of class,
December 4, 2009
Film on Friday 10/3 Do You Speak American:
Out West
WEEK 7. 10/5, 10/7, 10/9
Societal Segmentation and Linguistic Variation: Language and Class
Topics: social stratification (class,
caste); phonology, morphology, syntax
Homework: read Blum 26-29 , and Labov (see E-mail).
Film on Friday 10/10: American Tongues
(dept. video, 56 min)
WEEK 8. 10/12, 10/14, 10/16
Societal Segmentation: Language and Race:
Topics: Black English in
the US, the structure of AAVE,
settings and
contexts.
Homework: read Blum 30-34
Film
on Friday
10/16 To Make the Balance (Audio-Visual library,
33 min)
WEEK 9
10/19, 10/21, 10/23
Societal Segmentation: Language and Gender
Topics: : English
and English Speakers: Pronunciation, intonation,
grammatical variation, vocabulary,
conversational style, gender bias
Cross-Cultural: power, complexity of form, linguistic
marking of gender,
gender-exclusive vs preference
patterns, linguistic and stylistic preferences,
images of gender in linguistic form.
Homework: read Blum
35-37
Film on Friday 10/23 Gender
Issues
WEEK 10.
10/26, 10/28 , 10/30
Language Learning and Language change
Topics: language acquisition, LAD, rule vs. rote, sequences in
sounds, grammar, vocabulary, speech
socialization, change
feral children (1, 2),
Homework: read Blum 38-40,
(Are there "bad" words)
Second Midterm Exam on Friday 10/30:
WEEK 11. 11/2, 11/4, 11/6
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: Blum 13-15, 20, 21
Watch: learning from advertising - think what can be learned from this?.
Film on Friday 11/6 Teaching
Sign Language to the Chimpanzee Washoe (48
min)
WEEK 12. 11/9, 11/11, 11/13
Societal Multilingualism
Topics: linguistic diversity, language
standardization, language minorities,
code switching, attitudes
towards other languages and speakers,
bilingual education,
indigenous/native languages, Creole languages.
Homework: read Blum 16-19, 22
Film on Friday 11/14:
First Contact
(dept. video 54 min.)
WEEK 13. 11/16, 11/18,
11/20
Individual Multilingualism
Topics: language change (contact,
innovation), language use in
bilingual speech communities,
bilingual conversational strategies,
language revitalization,
language shift, interethnic miscommunication.
Homework: read
Blum 41-45;
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, and this URL
Film on Friday 11/20: I'm British, but...
(dept. video, 30 min.)
WEEK 14. 11/23, 11/25 (Thanksgiving
holiday 11/26-28)
Language and Institutional Encounters
Topics: language labels and status,
institutional contexts. Literacy
(education, health, law, the
military).
Homework: Watch the
video at this link (“Spin”)
and come to class prepared
to discuss the language ideology that it reveals. Watch the video at this link and
come prepared to discuss it in class.
WEEK 15. 11/30, 12/2, 12/4
Language and Institutional
Encounters 2
Topics: language ideology and institutions - the media ; Review of semester
Homework (suggestion):
Rewrite your lecture notes as an aid to study for
the final exam. (this is only a
suggestion)
Make
sure you have the 10 page analytical paper ready to turn in on 12/4/09
Final Exam will
be held at scheduled time (Final is Wednesday,
December 9, 7:00–10:00 pm.
Location To Be Announced). (sample
final exam)
The exams will
cover lectures, reading
assignments, and films. Participation is appreciated, attendance is
expected, and both can affect the 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
Keith Basso. 1979. Portraits of the Whiteman. ISBN:
0-521-29593-9
Deborah
Tannen 1986. That's Not What I Meant ISBN: 0-345-34090-6
Deborah Tannen 1998. The Argument
Culture
Nancy Bonvillain. Language, Culture, and Communication.
Joel Sherzer 2002. Speech Play and Verbal
Art.
Zdenek Salzmann. 2007 Language,
Culture, and Society.
Robin Lakoff 1990.
Talking Power: The politics
of Language
Robert L. Young. 1999. Understanding Misunderstandings.
Phil
Agre Information
Studies (home page)
S.U. Philips, S. Steele & C.
Tanz. 1987. Language, Gender & Sex
in Comparative Perspective.
VIDEO RESOURCES
That's
Not What I Meant
(AV library video VIDCASS
9706 )
The
Human Animal – Language of the Body (Desmond Morris)
The Adventure of
English (Melvyn Bragg)
INTERNET RESOURCES
WEBSITES (for the curious)
VARIOUS Modes of
Communication, how to:
Teach someone
something technical
Design effective e-mail
action alerts
The
following information comes from official UT policies
Please, read carefully
Academic Integrity
Although I encourage you to work together,
you are expected to do your own work and acknowledge use of anyone else’s work
or ideas. Academic dishonesty includes: (a) copying another student’s work or
letting another student copy your work and (b) copying passages or ideas
directly from another source and passing them off as your own; that is, without
properly referencing them. When scholastic dishonesty is suspected, I am
required to notify you and possibly turn the matter over to the Dean of
Students office. Penalties for academic dishonesty include a failing grade on
the assignment or in this course and possible expulsion form the university. If
you have specific questions about these issues, contact the Office of the Dean
of Students in FAC 248. [During
examinations, you must do your own work. Talking or discussion, comparing
notes, and copying from others are not permitted during examinations. Any such
behavior will result in failure of the exam, and may lead to failure of the
course and University disciplinary action.]
Accommodations
for students with disabilities
In compliance with the UT
Austin policy and equal access laws, I am available to discuss appropriate
academic accommodations that may be required for student with disabilities. Requests
for academic accommodations are to be made during the first three weeks of the
semester, except for unusual circumstances, so arrangements can be made.
Students who require special accommodations need to get a letter that documents
the disability from the Services for Students with Disabilities area of the
Office of the Dean of Students (471-6259- voice or 471-4641 – TTY for users who
are deaf or hard of hearing). This letter should be presented to the
instructor in each course at the beginning of the semester and accommodations
needed should be discussed at that time. Five business days before an
exam the student should remind the instructor of any testing accommodations
that will be needed. See Web site below for more information: http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/ssd/providing.php
University Electronic Mail Notification Policy
All students should become familiar with the University's official
e-mail student notification policy. It is the student's responsibility to
keep the University informed as to changes in e-mail address. It is
recommended that e-mail be checked daily, but at a minimum, twice per week. The
complete text of this policy and instructions for updating your e-mail address
are available at
http://www.utexas.edu/its/policies/emailnotify.html.
In this course e-mail will be used to communicate with students.
You are responsible for checking your e-mail regularly for class announcements.
The University of Texas Honor Code
The
core values of The University of Texas at Austin are learning, discovery,
freedom, leadership, individual opportunity, and responsibility. Each member of
the University is expected to uphold these values through integrity, honesty,
trust, fairness, and respect toward peers and community.
Religious Holidays
It is the policy of The University of Texas at Austin that you must
notify each of your instructors at least fourteen days prior to the classes
scheduled on dates you will be absent to observe a religious holy day. If
you miss an examination, work assignment, or other project due to the
observance of a religious holyday you will be given an opportunity to complete
the work missed within a reasonable time after the absence.