Winter Quarter 2009
M-W 1:30-3:20Office Hours: Tues 1-3 p.m.
Monday, MGH 272
Wednesday, JHN 075
Section A, SLN 13119
Prof. Gail Stygall
Padelford B404
Office Hours: Tues, 1:00-3:00
Office Phone: 685-2384
Cell: 206-852-4120
<stygall@u.washington.edu> (Best way to reach me)
Textbooks:
Finegan, Edward. Language: Its Structure and Use. 5th ed. (Thomson/Wadsworth)
Finegan, Edward and John R. Rickford, eds. Language in the USA. (Cambridge)
Course Description:
This course is an introduction to the formal, scientific and empirical study of language. The emphasis will be on your understanding the linguistic structure of the English language, though we will also work through problems in other languages. After the introduction, we'll begin with the study of the sound system, both through phonetics, the actual sounds, and through phonology, the structuring of sounds. From there, we'll move into lexicon and morphology, the smallest units of meaning, and continue into semantics. Syntax is next—the structure of phrase and clause. Next we'll examine and study larger units of meaning in pragmatics, and information structure, especially the parts closely related to syntax. Along the way, we will read chapters in the collection, Language in the USA, to help illustrate how linguists use each of the levels to analyze language. These linguistic levels—phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics/discourse—constitute the basic linguistic levels and are the basic tools for the linguistic study of all human languages.
The second half of the course will focus on language in use, from dialects of English, including African American Vernacular English (sometimes called “Ebonics”) to the history of English. We will examine regional dialects and registers of use, the situational contexts in which language use changes. We will also study how conversation works and the talk of the classroom. We'll finish with review for the final exam.
The material of the class is critical for living in a multilingual world. For those of you who plan to become teachers, knowledge about the English language and language structures is vitally important. The number of home languages other than English in the Puget Sound is more than 70. Many of you have studied only literature and have little knowledge about how your language actually works, or the knowledge that you do have is more myth than science. Not having knowledge about how your language works can be disastrous in your own future job or classroom and could do actual damage to your business relationships or future students. Research on cross-cultural communication is filled with bad product names and complete misunderstanding of interpersonal protocols based on language and culture. The more you know about language, the better you will be able to function in a range of settings.
Many English students find that ENGL 370 is the hardest course they take as undergraduates. Part of the reason for this is that there are right and wrong answers in linguistics at the basic level. No amount of argument, for example, will convince me that [i] is a back vowel. Much of the thinking behind linguistics is mathematical or philosophical, which is often quite alienating to English majors. Almost all of you will eventually get the hang of it. Those of you who like puzzles may find it exciting. And once you have mastered the basics, we'll study the parts that almost everyone finds interesting—dialects, slang, gender and language, the history of the English language and conversational interactions.
Course Goals:
$ that you will have basic knowledge of the linguistic levels
$ that you can transcribe (with a cheat sheet) the sounds of English
$ that you will know how the sound system works
$ that you will know what morphemes are and how to divide words into morphemes
$ that you will know the constituents of basic English syntax
$ that you will know how meaning systems operate
$ that you will know something of the dialects of English
$ that you know the key points of the history of English and how linguists study language in historical contexts
$ that you will know the basic structure of conversation
$ that you will be able to give examples of how language changes by context
Course Requirements:
Homework and Participation 20%
Reading Questions and Summaries 20%
Midterm 20%
Final Paper 25%
The midterm exam will be wholly an in-class enterprise. The final exam will be divided into two parts, one that you'll take in class and one that you'll do at home and turn in at the same time you turn in your final paper. Homework is due at the beginning of each class.
The final paper will be an empirical study of language in use. The paper should be 8-10 typewritten pages and you will need to include at least two scholarly sources in the paper (no internet sources; some online library sources acceptable). I will introduce the full requirements just after the midterm, but you should be thinking about what you might want to study. You might want to record a conversation between men and women and analyze it. You might want to give your friends a questionnaire about their use of slang. You might want to record a segment of another class and analyze the structure of the classroom discourse. You might want to analyze two news sources. There are thousands of possible topics. I have even had a student record a wine-tasting party and focus on the changes in phonetic sounds in the participants' speech as they increased their alcohol consumption. Any language exchange is plausible for empirical analysis.
Course Policies:
Attendance: I expect your attendance. If you need to miss class, it is your responsibility to contact another class member to find out what you have missed. Please do not email me or come to office hours and say “Did I miss anything important?” If you are ill or have an emergency, you can send an email telling me in advance of class. If you know now that you will need to miss a significant part of class because you have a work assignment that will take you out of town or you are required to attend to family business, you should drop the class.
Cellphones and Earphones: Turn them off for class.
Plagiarism: Though the particular nature of the usual topics for your paper assignment make it more difficult to plagiarize (you will need to produce your data), I have occasionally had students take this path. Don't do it.
Class Participation and Preparation: This class has a good deal of homework and reading. I'll expect you to have done it or read it before class each time. There may be parts that you don't understand, but if you don't try to work the problems or finish reading the chapter, you won't know how to ask the right questions. If you have questions, ask them! Students who actually ask questions in class often represent a larger group of students who also have questions but are afraid to ask.
Email vs. Office Hours: I'll be happy to answer short questions by email, but if you have a complicated question, please come to my office hours.
Students with Disabilities: Please let me know if you are registered with DSS. If you have been tested but have not registered with DSS, you can still talk with me. Nearly 10% of the college student population has one or more invisible disabilities, so I have worked with a range of students who need a variety of approaches to keep the playing field level.
Gail Stygall 2008-2009