university of reading€¦ · university of reading department of english language & applied...

University of Reading

Department of English Language & Applied Linguistics

School of Literature and Languages

Part 1 Module Handbook:

LS1ELU ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN USE

2017/8

Contents

Page

Autumn Term Lectures 2-11

Autumn Term Seminars 13-18

Autumn Term Assignment 19

Hand-in cover sheets

Spring term materials will be made available later in the Autumn term

LS1ELU ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN USE

Autumn Term

Language & the Individual

Lectures 1 - 10

Dr. Fraibet Aveledo

Information on LS1ELU Autumn Term – Language in the individual

The essential materials for the course are:

1

1. ELU handbook

The handbook includes the reading you will have to do to prepare before class,

the main concepts introduced and the aims of the lecture.

2. Blackboard

You will be able to download the Powerpoint slides shown in class through the Blackboard site. On Blackboard you will also find additional reading and links to relevant websites.

3. Essential books:

Fromkin, V., Rodman, R. and Hyams, N. 2011. An introduction to Language. 9th Edition. Wadsworth. There is a more recent edition (purple cover), but the two are the same. The page numbers in the handbook refer to the 9th edition. Yule, G. 2010. The study of language. Fourth Edition. CUP.

Crystal, D. 2010. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. Third Edition. CUP.

O’Grady, W. 2005. How Children Learn Language. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press. (available as Ebook)

Saville-Troike, M. (any edition) Introducing Second language acquisition. Cambridge

University Press.

2

Lecture 1: The Origin of Language and the Human Communication System

Readings

Fromkin et al., pp. 284-291; 308-310

Crystal, Sections 49-51

Armstrong, D.F. and Wilcox, S.E. 2007. The gestural origin of language. Oxford University

Press. Chapter 1. (Available as Ebook)

Concepts

Theories of language origin

Features of language

Aims of the lecture

Define language and communication

Overview theories on the origin of language

Describe the properties of the human language communication system

Notes

Lecture 2: Animal Communication

3

Readings

Fromkin et al., pp. 302-307

Yule, chapter 2

Aitchison, J. (various editions) The Articulate Mammal, chapter 2 “Animals that try to

talk”

Armstrong, D.F. and Wilcox, S.E. 2007. The gestural origin of language. Oxford University

Press. Chapter 2. (Available as Ebook)

Concepts

Various forms of animal communication

Aims of the Lecture

Determine whether language is unique to humans

Consider the communication systems of different species

Evaluate research on language development in non-human primates

Notes

4

Lecture 3: Spoken vs Signed languages

Readings

Lee, R. 2004. A beginner's introduction to deaf history. Feltham : BDHS Publications.

Miles, D. 1988. British sign language. A beginner’s guide. pp. 8 to 76. (you are not expected

to learn the signs, but the illustrations are very useful to understand how BSL works)

See other resources on Blackboard.

Concepts

Sign Language

BSL (British Sign Language)

Features of BSL and fingerspelling

Aims of the Lecture

Learn about the differences between spoken and signed English

Understand the way in which members of the Deaf Community communicate

BSL Fingerspelling

Lecture 4: Child Language Acquisition – Theoretical Accounts

5

Readings

Fromkin et al., pp. 298-300; pp. 324-331

Yule, Chapter 13

Concepts

Innateness Hypothesis

Language Acquisition Device / Universal Grammar

Behaviourism

Child directed speech and the poverty of the stimulus

Imitation/ Reinforcement

Aims of the lecture

Introduce some of the most influential theories in language acquisition

Notes

6

Lecture 5: Child Language Acquisition – Development of Vocabulary

Readings

Peccei, J. S. 2006. Language acquisition. A resource book for students, section A3 Lexical

development

Fromkin et al., pp. 332-343

Yule, Chapter 13

O’Grady, W. 2005. How Children Learn Language. Chapters 2 and 3. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press. (available as Ebook)

Concepts

Vocabulary development

Extension (over/under)

Vocabulary spurt

Aims of the lecture

Understand how children build a lexicon / vocabulary

Introduce the milestones in vocabulary acquisition

Notes

Lecture 6: Child Language Acquisition – Grammatical Development

7

Readings

Fromkin et al. pp. 343-357

Peccei, J.S. 2006. Language acquisition. A resource book for students. Sections A4

and A5

O’Grady, W. 2005 How Children Learn Language. Chapters 4 and 5. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press. (available as Ebook)

Concepts

Telegraphic speech

Overgeneralizations/generalizations

Morpheme order

‘Wug’ test

Optionality

Aims of the lecture

Present milestones in the acquisition of morphology and syntax in childhood

Explore how children acquire morphemes, the role of overgeneralizations; present

the ‘wug’ test

Explore how children build sentences and form multi-word utterances

Notes

8

Lecture 7: Issues in child bilingualism. Readings

De Houwer, A. 2009. An introduction to bilingual development. Multilingual Matters.

Chapters 1 to 4.

Concepts

Bilingual First language acquisition

Separate vs Single System Hypothesis

Code-switching

Aims of the lecture

Examine features of bilingual first language acquisition

Understand how children acquire and maintain two languages

Notes

Lecture 8: Issues in second language acquisition

9

Readings


Saville-Troike, M. (any edition) Introducing Second language acquisition.

Cambridge University Press. Chapters 1 and 2.

Concepts

Second language acquisition (SLA)

Theories of SLA

Social and psychological factors affecting SLA

Aims

Become familiar with the terminology and the most relevant findings in the area

of SLA

Notes

Lecture 9: Issues in second language acquisition

Readings

10

Saville-Troike, M. (any edition) Introducing Second language acquisition.

Cambridge University Press. Chapters 3 and 4.

Concepts

Aptitude

Motivation

Cognitive style

Aims

Become familiar with the terminology and the most relevant findings in the area

of SLA

Notes

Lecture 10: Language & the Brain

Readings

11


Yule, chapter 12

Crystal, section 45

Concepts

Brain hemispheres

Cerebral dominance

Corpus callosum

Lobes of the brain: Frontal; Occipital; Parietal & Temporal

Aphasia

Aims

Learn about brain functioning in relation to language

Learn about the brain hemispheres

Learn about aphasia

Notes

12

LS1ELU

ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN USE

Autumn Term

Language & the Individual

Seminars

13

SEMINAR 1: “CHIMP TALK”

Week 3

Seminar 1 is a video presentation to support the second lecture topic. You will watch the BBC Horizon programme Chimp Talk, broadcasted on 21st June 1993, and are then invited to make your comments on the discussion board on Blackboard.

14

SEMINAR 2: Acquisition of vocabulary Week 5

1. Analyse the following dataset in terms of over-extensions and under-extensions.

State the functional or physical feature upon which over-extension appears to be

based. Look also for other reasons for the child’s apparent mislabelling.

(a) Uses dog to refer first to a soft toy dog, then a woollen scarf, a cat, a fur coat.

(b) Uses muffin to refer both to blueberries and to blueberry muffins, but not to

other types of muffins.

(c) Calls the decorated Christmas tree big fow-fow (he had previously used this word

only for flowers).

(d) Uses umbrella to refer to open umbrellas, a large green leaf, kites – but not

closed umbrellas.

(e) Uses bubby to refer first to his brother and then to his 3 year-old boy cousin, the

boy next door.

(f) Uses tick-tock to refer first to clocks then to watches, wallpaper circles with

radiating spikes, a circular road sign, a barometer with a circular dial.

(g) Uses duck to refer first to a duck, then to a cup of milk, a coin with an eagle on

it, a teddy bear’s eye.

(h) Uses bow-wow to refer to the family dog but not to the neighbour’s dog. Later

she will use it to refer to cats and sheep.

2. Semantic fields: Dimensional terms: Given the acquisition order of dimensional

adjectives presented in Table 1, try to explain the results from the ‘Opposite game’

in table 2. In the ‘Opposite game’ children are requested to supply the opposite of

the word that appears in bold in Table 2.

To what extent do they agree with the proposed acquisition order in table 1? What similarities and differences do you observe between the 3 and the 6 year-olds? How do you explain Child B’s response to high and C’s responses to wide and long.

15

Table 1. Acquisition order of dimensional adjectives 1. big-small 2. tall-short, long-short 3. high-low 4. thick-thin 5. wide-narrow, deep-shallow

Table 2. The ‘Opposite game’ with a 3 and 6 year-olds

3 year olds 6 year olds A. male B. female C. male D.

female E. female

F. male

big little small little little little little tall small short small short short short high down up small low small low long small short big short short short wide little thin long thin skinny thin thick little thin small thin thin thin

3. Comment on the following errors that children make with prepositions. Which

constitute errors of omission and which of commission? How can you explain the

commission/substitution errors?

(a) He gave the book for me.

(b) The dog is putting the bone in the plate.

(c) The boy is putting the ball the chair.

(d) The boy is giving the ball at the dog.

(e) The girl is sitting in the stool.

(f) The mother put the bottle up the table.

(g) The boy opened the door his keys.

(h) He gave the book the mother.

Tasks A & B are adapted from Stilwell Peccei, J. (1999). Child Language. 2nd edition. Abingdon, Oxon and New York, NY: Routledge.

16

SEMINAR 3: Issues in child bilingualism Week 8

Questions for discussion in class (a) Think of bilinguals you know in your community. Are they balanced or dominant? In which context and at what age have they acquired the two languages? Can you comment on their proficiency? (b) Consider the case of a Korean-English bilingual child living in London. If the

normal language for interaction at home is Korean, which may be the factors

affecting the family members’ switch to English within the home context?

(from Bee Chin, N. and Wigglesworth, G. 2007. Bilingualism: an advanced

resource book. Routledge)

(c) See in Table 1 the characteristics of elective and circumstantial

bilinguals. Find two examples for each type of bilingual. Can an individual

move from one group to the other? Can you be a member of both groups

at the same time? How? Try to give an example of a person who would be

considered to be both an elective bilingual and a circumstantial bilingual

(assuming that this person is at least trilingual) Would you yourself

qualify for membership of one of the groups? Which one?

Table 1. Characteristics of elective and circumstantial bilinguals

Elective bilinguals Circumstantial bilinguals

Characteristic of individuals Characteristic of groups

Choose to learn another language Second language required to meet

needs of new circumstances

Communicative opportunities

usually sought artificially (e.g. in

classroom)

Communicative needs may relate to

survival, or success; communicative

needs will vary across individuals

First language will usually remain

the dominant language

Two languages will play a

complementary role and the stronger

language may vary depending on the

domain

(d) Watch the first 5 minutes of the Interview in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW_qpta6zb4 discuss the observation of

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW_qpta6zb4

17

the researchers in relation to: the main difference between children and

adults learning a second language; what happens in the brain when the child

is learning language?

18

Seminar 4: Issues in SLA

Week 10

1. Match the following terms to their definitions:

Target language Has not immediate ore necessary

practical application, might be used

later for travel or be required for

school

Second language The aim or goal of language learning

First language An officially or societally dominant

language (not speakers’ L1) needed for

education, employment or other basic

purposes

Foreign language Acquired during childhood

2. List all of the languages that you can use. First classify them as L1 and L2, and

them further classify the L2(s) as “second”, “foreign”, “library”, “auxiliary” or

“for special purposes”. Finally, distinguish between the ways you learned each

of the languages: through informal exposure, formal instruction, or some

combination of these.

3. Do you think you are (or would be) a “good” or a “poor” L2 learner? Why do

you think so? Consider whether you believe that your own relative level of

success as a language learner is due primarily to linguistic, psychological or

social factors (for example contexts of learning or attitudes toward the L2). 4. One feature of interlanguage grammars is the apparent existence of temporary

rules that don’t match the rules of either the L1 or the L2. The following

examples are from a speaker whose L1 is Arabic. Can you describe the rule(s)

he seems to be using for the use of plural –s in English?

(a) How many brother you have?

(b) The streets are very wide.

(c) I finish in a few day.

(d) Here is a lot of animal in the houses.

(e) Many people live in villages.

(f) There are two horses in the picture.

(g) Both my friend from my town.

(h) Seven days in a week.

5. What is the difference between positive and negative transfer?

19

LS1ELU

English Language in Use

Autumn Term Assignment

Assignment 1 (Language in the Individual)

Write between 1200 and 1500 words on ONE of the following topics:

1. Chimpanzees can use signs, but do they have language?

2. Describe the characteristics of the development of syntax and morphology in

children aged 18 to 36 months.

3. Second language acquisition can be inhibited or facilitated by many social

and individual factors. Explain how aptitude and motivation can affect the

outcome of second language acquisition.

You should refer to at least FIVE different sources (i.e. books or journal articles) in your assignment. Wikipedia or other websites should not be used. Assignments should be word-processed using the font Times New Roman 12 point, and double line-spaced. Appropriate referencing conventions must be used. Marking Criteria

Demonstration of understanding of the literature on the chosen topic

Ability to integrate information from various sources (books, journals, etc.)

Clarity of discussion

Coherence of assignment, especially organisation and division into sections

and paragraphs;

Presentation, especially correctness of referencing, and quality of writing.

A hard copy of the assignment should be submitted via the drop boxes in the Edith Morley Support Centre by 12 noon on Wednesday of Week 10 of the Autumn Term, together with ONE completed coversheet. Assignments should be word processed unless otherwise stated. We do not accept assignments by e-mail.

LS1ELU

ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN USE

Spring Term

Language and Culture

Lectures 11 - 20

Jan Trebacz

LECTURE 11 (Week 1)

Language and the family

Reading:

*Cook-Gumperz, J. & Kyratzis, A. (2005) Child Discourse. In D. Schriffrin, D. Tannen,

& H. Hamilton (eds), The Handbook of Discourse Analysis. Oxford: Blackwell

Publishing. Pp. 590-611

Heath, S. B. (1983) Ways with words: Language, life and work in communities and

classrooms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Key concepts:

Contextually situated learning

Language Socialization

Communicative competence

Family discourse

Language socialisation across cultures

Cultural norms/rules of appropriateness

Aims of the lecture

To approach language development as a process of socialisation

Discuss communicative competence

To examine language use in the family and its effect on early childhood

language development

To examine the implications of particular family practices for the individual

and society: early childhood socialization- a cross-cultural approach

Lecture 12 (Week 2)

Language and education

Readings:

*Mesthrie, R., Swann, Deumert, A. & Leap, W. (2000) Introducing Sociolinguistics.

Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. (Chapter 11)

Philips, S. (2007) A Comparison of Indian and Anglo Communicative Behaviour in

Classroom Interaction. In S. Kiesling & C. Bratt Paulston (eds) Intercultural

Discourse and Communication. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. (Chapter 19)

Temple, Adger, C. (2005) Discourse in Educational Settings. In D. Schiffrin, D. Tannen

& H. Hamilton (eds) The Handbook of Discourse Analysis. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

*Wardhaugh, R. (2006/2010) An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. (3rd edition). Oxford:

Blackwell (Chapter 14)

Concepts:

Educational sociolinguistics

Classroom interaction

Elaborated/restricted code

Linguistic disadvantage

African American Vernacular English (AAVE)

Aims of the lecture:

To introduce the field of ‘Educational Sociolinguistics’

To discuss the effects of disparity between home/community language and

classroom

To discuss the potential consequences of such disparity

Exercise

Observe the classroom interactions below. What is the role(s) of the teacher? What is the role

of the students?

Extract 1

Leap (1993) presents language use in a third-grade classroom on the northern Ute reservation

(Native American community in USA). The teacher was born in the US Midwest and moved to

Utah as an adult. She is a native speaker of Standard English spoken in the Midwest and speaks

no Ute. Frank, the student, is an 8-year-old member of the Ute Indian Tribe. His grandparents

speak Ute, but he does not speak it himself. He is a native speaker of a distinctive variety of

English used in the reservation.

The conversation starts when the students work on a long-division problem.

1 Teacher: What is 9 x 9?

2 Frank: 90

3 Teacher: No, that is too big. We know that 9 x 9 is 81. What is 9 x 9?

4 Frank: 81

5 Teacher: 81. You know that 9 x 9 is 81. Can you get a 9 out of here? (Motions to the 90

on the board)

6 Frank: Yes

7 Teacher: OK, if we take 9 out of here, what do we have?

8 Frank: 81

9 Teacher: What about 83 divided by 9?

10 Frank: (Without hesitation) 10

11 Teacher: (With irritation) 10?

(Leap, 1993, p. 219; in Mesthrie et al, 2000, p. 346)

Extract 2

This example is taken from Dorr-Bremme (1984) in an elementary school classroom in San

Diego (California). The conversation begins during a ‘show and tell’ time, when, at the

teacher’s request, the student (Nancy) began to describe a recent family outing.

1 Nancy: I went to Old Ironsides at the Ocean. [She explains that Old Ironsides is a boat and

that it’s old] We also spent our dollars and we went to another big shop.

2 Teacher: Mm. ‘N what did you learn about Old Ironsides?

3 Nancy: [Brief description of the furnishings and the guides’ costumes] I also went to a

fancy restaurant.

4 Teacher: Haha. Very good.

5 Nancy: And I had a hamburger, french fries, lettuce and a _

6 Teacher: [interrupts] OK. All right what’s – Arthur has been waiting and then Paula, OK?

(Dorr-Bremme, 1984; cited in Mesthrie et al 2009, p. 347)

Extract 3

Solomon (1995) reports a conversation in a combined 4th/5th grade classroom in a bilingual

(English and Spanish public school in Washington, DC. The teacher is a Hispanic woman, who

was born in Venezuela. She is fluent in English and Spanish. The student, Roberto, comes

from a working-class Hispanic family. His first language is Spanish and he learned English as

a second language through the ESL program at school. The extract centers around the activity

of replying to pen-pals.

1 Teacher: OK now here’s the problem. This letter goes back to [the pen-pal] right? If you

answer the questions here – like you put ‘No dog’ or ‘yes’, she won’t know the

answer to this question because it’s not on this letter. You need to answer her

letter. Do you understand? OK. So what we need to do is we need to change these

into sentences so she’ll know the answers to these questions.

[The student goes back to work. Several minutes later, the teacher returns and

the exchange continues]

2 Teacher: [looking over Roberto’s letter] Good OK, and what do you put at the end of your

sentence? ‘Do you have pets at home?’ And you wrote what?

3 Roberto: Yes a [unclear]

4 Teacher: Yes

5 Roberto: A monkey

6 Teacher: OK why don’t you explain that to her?

7 Roberto: I said, ‘Yes, a [unclear]’

8 Teacher: So what sentences are you going to write?

9 Roberto: ‘Yes I do.’

10 Teacher: ‘I do’ what?

11 Roberto: ‘I do have…’

12 Teacher: ‘Have…’ have what?

13 Roberto: ‘A dog’

14 Teacher: ….All right the important thing is that you understand that when you’re writing

back to your pen pal you have to answer the questions in your letter, right.

(Solomon, 1995, p. 58-9; cited in Mesthrie et al 2009, p. 348-49)

Lecture 13 (Week 3)

Language and migration

Readings:

Broeder, P. & Extra, G. (1999) Language, ethnicity and education: Case studies on

immigrant minority groups and immigrant minority languages. Clevedon:

Multilingual Matters. (Section 3.2.4 on Educational Experiences in Great Britain)

Extra, G., Spotti, M., & van Avermaet, P. (eds.) (2009) Language testing, migration and

citizenship: Cross-national perspectives on integration regimes. London & New

York: Continuum. (Chapters 4, 10, 11 and 12 for case studies related to English

language)

Concepts:

Ethnic majority/minority

Bilingualism

Language policy

Integration

Immigration acts and language


To introduce issues of inequality when it comes to migration, culture and ethnicity

To investigate language and migration in the domain of education

To become aware of immigration acts in relation to language

Lecture 14 (Week 4)

Language shift

Readings:

*Holmes. J. (2013) An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. (4th edition). Oxon: Routledge

(Chapter 3)

*Mooney, A. & Evans, B. (eds.) (2015) Language, society and power. (4th edition) Oxon:

Routledge. (Chapter 5.1-5.3)

Concepts:

Language shift

Migrant minorities

Non-migrant communities

Migrant majorities

Linguistic landscape

Factors contributing to language shift


To examine language shift in different communities

To examine factors that can affect the survival/spread of a language

To become familiar with cases of language shift

To understand how to create a linguistic landscape of a speech community

Exercise

Assuming the direction of shift remains constant, add another two rows (H & I) to the table predicting a possible

pattern of language use for 10-year-olds in Oberwart for columns 1-6 (G = German; Hu = Hungarian)

Speaker Age of

speaker

1. To God 2. To older

peasants

(grandparents’

generation

3. To parents 4. To Friends

and

workmates of

same age

5. To

children

6. To doctor

and

government

officials

A 63 Hu Hu Hu Hu G Hu G

B 61 Hu Hu Hu Hu G Hu G

C 58 Hu Hu Hu GHu G Hu G

D 52 Hu Hu Hu GHu G Hu G

E 27 Hu Hu GHu G G G

F 25 Hu Hu GHu G G G

G 22 Hu Hu G G G G

H

I

Table 1. Choice of language in Oberwart (Adapted from Gal, 1979)

Lecture 15 (Week 5)

Language death

Readings:

Crystal, D. (2000) Language Death. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Dorian, N. (1989) Investigating obsolescence: studies in language contraction and

death. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.


(Chapter 3)

Nettle, D. & Romaine, S. (2002) Vanishing voices. Oxford: Oxford University Press .

Trudgill, Peter (1984) Languages in the British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press. (for case studies on Manx, Cornish, Welsh and Scottish Gaelic)

Concepts:

Language death

Language maintenance

Language revitalisation/revival

Aims:

To outline the potential consequences of language shift

To understand the difference between language shift and language death

To examine language revitalisation methods

To become familiar with successful cases of language revitalisation

Enhancement Week (Week 6)

The exercise in this section is designed to enhance your understanding on the topic

language shift, maintenance and death. You can do this exercise on your own time

during week 6. You may decide to work independently, or alternatively, you can work

in small groups (this will allow you to share ideas!).

Exercise 1

If you have a friend or acquaintance who belongs to an ethnic minority with a distinct

language, they may be willing to share their family history with you. It is very

important to be polite and not to put any pressure on someone who is reluctant,

however. They may have a good reason to feel unwilling to share experiences which

may have been painful. If they are willing to talk to you, find out whether they

themselves migrated to the county you live in, or whether it was their parents or

grandparents who made the journey. When did they arrive, and why did they come?

Try to trace the language history of each generation. What languages do their

grandparents/parents/brothers and sisters speak in different domains? Does your

friend still speak the ethnic language? If so, who to and in what contexts?

Lecture 16 (Week 7)

Language planning

Reading:


(Chapter 3)

Wardhaugh, R. (2006/2010) An introduction to sociolinguistics. Oxford: Blackwell.

(Chapter 15)

Concepts:

National and official languages

Nationalism

Policy of assimilation

Multilingualism

Status/Corpus Planning

Haugen’s (1966) language planning steps


To understand the difference between national and official language

To explore language planning in multilingual countries

To explore in which countries around the world English is the official language

To understand the difference between status and corpus planning

To understand the four planning steps, proposed by Haugen in 1966

Exercise 1

Can you fill in the following table?

9 9

Exercise 2

Can you identify which of the following words have been borrowed into Maori

from English and guess the reasons for their borrowings?

a) neke ‘snake’

b) weka ‘native woodhen’ (kind of bird)

c) parau ‘plough’ (farming tool)

d) pihikete ‘biscuit’

e) whare ‘house’, ‘hut’

f) pia ‘beer’

g) wai ‘water’

h) pahi ‘bus’

i) kuia ‘old woman’

j) kümara ‘sweet potato’

Lecture 17 (Week 8)

Language, culture and thought

Readings:


(Chapter 13)

*Mooney, A. & Evans, B. (eds.) (2015) Language, society and power. (4th edition) Oxon:

Routledge. (Chapter 2)

*Wardhaugh, R. (2006/2010) An introduction to sociolinguistics. Oxford: Blackwell.

(Chapter 9)

Concepts:

Culture

Whorfian Hypothesis (Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis)

Linguistic relativity

Linguistic determinism

Kinship terms

Time concepts

Colour


To explore the relation between language, culture and thought

To introduce the Whorfian Hypothesis

To explore how English differs from other cultures and languages around the

world

Dyirbal noun classes

I BAYI

(Human males; some animals)

II BALAN (human females, birds, water, fire, fighting) III BALAM

(non-fresh

food)

IV BALA

(all else)

m. anim. myth f. Fire water Fight myth danger veg & fruit residue

man Kangaroo rainbow woman Fire water fighting

spear

bird stone fish veg tree

Possum moon

Coals river shield sun garfish food

Snake storm

fire

stick

swamp

star stinging

nettle

Fish

fishing

line

Unexplained

exceptions:

dog, bandicoot,

platypus, echidna

Lecture 18 (Week 9)

Sexism in English language

Readings:


(Chapter 12 – Sexist language)

*Talbot, M. (2010) Language and Gender. Cambridge: Polity Press. (Chapter 12)

Concepts:

Sexist language

Gendered stereotypes

Political correctness


To explore whether the English language is sexist

To discuss how stereotypes about men and women are represented in language

To introduce the concept of political correctness

LECTURE 19 (Week 10)

Spoken and Written English

Key reading:

*Crystal, D. (2003) The Cambridge encyclopaedia of English language. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press (Chapter 19, pp. 291-294)

Key Concepts:

Typical features of spoken language

Typical features of written language

Speech-writing continuum

Aims of session:

To consider the key similarities and differences between speech and writing.

To examine how speech and writing are interdependent and overlap, and how

they can be regarded as a continuum

Exercise 1: In pairs / small groups, consider the following:

(1) How do these two texts (examples of discourse) differ?

(2) Make a list of linguistic and - if there are any - non-linguistic features which differentiate the two texts

Text 1: Description of a university sickness scheme: An employee is able to insure himself or herself for up to 75% of gross income, less the Single Person’s Allowance, at present £1781. Should an employee suffer long-term sickness or injury, he or she would receive this amount beginning 26/52 weeks, according to the waiting period selected, from the date of becoming unable to work up until reaching the normal retiring date. Text 2: Conversation between 2 lecturers

1 A: [picks up book] Jack’s this here is Jack’s

2 B: Yes he gave it to me last week (.) he was clearing out (.)

3 A: Oh (.) well I don’t know whether to check through the references right now or just leave it (.) for you to do

4 B: Don’t leave anything else for me to do (.) can’t you do it

5 A: Will the editors mmh check (.) go over the references

6 B: They should do

7 A: I think someone should mmh go through before anyway to check the photocopies of all the quotations (.) can you do that?

8 B: Yeah (.) OK [takes photocopies]

9 A: OK I think that’s everything then

10 B: Right

11 A: OK see you then

12 B: See you

(.) = brief pause

Exercise 2 Read through the email exchange (from Johnstone, 2008, pp. 192-193). In pairs / small groups, discuss and note down:

features which resemble speech

features which would not occur in speech / are more like writing

Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 09:09:14 - 5000 (EST) From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Friday PageMaker Quiz Yyyy, How was the party? I’ve got to mail that woman. I don’t need the quiz grades until March 4th. And as for meeting, this week it’s going to be crazy. I have the [conference] thing in the works and oh so much more ):, but I do want to talk about your concerns tieh PagMarker and the class. Could I call you toning or tomorrow evening. I don’t want you to run your phone bill up and I already pay for service to [the city]. So, send me your number and a good time to call. Thanks, Xxxx

LECTURE 20 (Week 11)

Non-verbal communication

Key Reading:

Pease, A. (1984) How to read others’ thoughts by their gestures. London: Sheldon

press.

Key concepts:

Decoding/Encoding

Static/Dynamic NVC

Proxemics: Space and distance

Kinesics: Movement

Vocalics: Voice

Haptics: Touch

NVC and culture


To understand what is non-verbal communication

To explore how non-verbal communication works, and what work goes into

communication

To understand the elements of non-verbal communication, and how they

interconnect

To explore cultural aspect of non-verbal communication

Spring Term

Language and Culture

Seminars

SEMINAR 5 (Week 3)

Language and Education

BACKGROUND

In Lecture 12 we discussed studies investigating the disparity between a child’s

home/community language and that of the School. Most of these studies were in the USA.

Today we’re going to consider a study closer to home, in the UK.

Viv Edwards’ paper (in Coupland, N. & Jaworski, A. (1997) Sociolinguistics: A Reader and

Coursebook. London: MacMillan Press) is one of the seminal papers in ‘Language, Education

& Disadvantage’. She discusses the use of Patois (Creole speech) used by Afro-Caribbean

children in English schools in the City of Birmingham in the UK. She discusses interactional

contexts and the consequences of using Patois, in addition to the user’s perceptions about its

use and value.

One of the main themes of this paper is the need to confront the stereotype held in

Britain that Patois speakers are ‘young, disaffected, academically underachieving’

(p.410) individuals and that the variety is a ‘plantation English which is socially

unacceptable and inadequate for communication’ (p.409).

PREPARATION BEFORE CLASS

Read Edwards’ paper and identify the key issues and findings of this study and note

them down. Also note anything that you do not understand. Bring your notes to the

seminar.

In class activities:

Discuss with fellow students the key issues and findings of this study.

Also consider the following questions for discussion as a group.

(This might be useful for revision purposes so keep your notes!).

1. How does the case of Patois in Britain compare with the situation of AAVE in the USA?

2. What factors appear to determine Black pupil’s shifting between Patois and the local

dialect of English?

3. What is meant by the assertion ‘that for any given situation there will be marked and

unmarked language choices’ (p.410)?

4. How is the use of Patois interpreted by the teacher/educational authorities and what are

the consequences?

5. To what extent do you think educational authorities and Governments should

accommodate to the needs of the minority – at least to ‘help them on their way’ to

learning the standard? What cultural/social/political/economic considerations have to

come into play? Can you think of any other minority groups in the UK for whom

accommodation is necessary?

6. Beyond informing policy, in studying educational disadvantage, sociolinguists are also

interested in examining culture-bound perceptions and attitudes towards one’s own and

other groups’ linguistic and socio-cultural status. How might we investigate this as

linguists?

SEMINAR 6 (Week 5)

Language Shift, Maintenance and Death

PREPARE EXERCISE 1 BEFORE COMING TO THE SEMINAR

Exercise 1

1. Walk down the main street in Reading and observe all the material which you

think contributes to the linguistic landscape of this town. How many different

linguistic varieties/languages have you identified during your walk? Which

ones? Are the different material official or unofficial?

2. Make some notes and take photos of the different material/signs that you have

identified and bring them to class. In groups discuss your findings.

3. With the whole class discuss what these findings suggest about the community

in Reading. Are the different languages that you have identified in Reading

likely to be maintained by their speakers or do you think the speakers will shift

to English? Why?

Exercise 2

Watch the following video clip on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA0a62wmd1A&feature=share

1. Where was Yu Ming from?

2. What language was mainly used when he arrived to Ireland?

3. Why did Yu Ming have difficulties communicating with people in Ireland?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA0a62wmd1A&feature=share

Exercise 3

Read the text on Language Revival (next page). List the different kinds of institutional support which can be sought by a community of people, who want to maintain their minority language within a society where English is the language of majority. Source: Holmes. J. (2013) An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. (4th edition). Oxon: Routledge (Chapter 3)

SEMINAR 7 (Week 8)

Language, Culture and Thought

BEFORE COMING TO THE SEMINAR YOU MUST PREPARE EXERCISES 1 AND 2.

1. English (especially British English) has many words to refer to woods and

woodlands. Here are some:

woodlot, fen, grove, heath, holt, lea, shaw, coppice, scrub, spinney, copse, brush,

bush, bosquet, bosky, forest, timberland, thicket

a. How many of these words do you recognise?

b. Look up these words in the dictionary. Many of these words are obsolete, so

if your dictionary does not have them, try the Internet.

c. Think about the differences in meaning. Do you think that English speakers

have a richer concept of woodlands than speakers whose language has fewer

words? Why or why not?

2. Pirahã is a South American indigenous language spoken by approximately 420

individuals near the Maici River in Brazil’s Amazonas state. Research this language

on the internet – Google would be a good start – identify certain characteristic

features and try to explain them in relation to the Pirahã culture.

3. Terms such as uncle, father, mother, sister, brother, son and cousin are sometimes used

outside the English kinship system. Describe these uses and try to account for

them.

4. Try to account for the often reported finding that, for English at least, males

usually display less ability than females in dealing with matters having to do with

colour, including the actual use of colour terminology.

5. All of the following expressions can be said to be euphemistic:

Pest control officer, building engineer, comfort station, socially deviant behaviour, culturally

deprived children.

a. Try to explain why such expressions arise. Do they have any useful social

function to perform?

b. Do you know any other similar expressions?

Seminar 9 (Week 10)

Sexism in Language

BEFORE COMING TO THE SEMINAR YOU MUST READ THE EXTRACT BY SARA

MILLS (2006). WRITE DOWN YOUR IDEAS ON SEXISM IN LANGUAGE.

Exercise 1

Job adverts in New Zealand may not specify the gender of the required employee

unless aspects of the job require the attributes of a particular gender. Do you think

that the suffix –man could be regarded as generic in such adverts, or is it an example

of sexist language? Consider postman, milkman, fireman, salesman, fisherman,

warehouseman.

1. What alternatives would you suggest?

2. Do you consider phrases like master plan and master key to be sexist? Why (not)?

Exercise 2

The following examples are based on material from textbooks and a newspaper. What

is your reaction to them?

(a) Alone among the animals man uses language to communicate.

(b) ‘Speech’ wrote Benjamin Lee Whorf ‘is the best show man puts on’… Language

helps man in his thinking. The average student might hear 100,000 words a

day. If he has a modest reading speed he would cover 90,000 words a day. He

could easily increase that if he wanted.

(c) Man has been civilised for centuries. He no longer needs to hunt for food for

his women and children.

(d) The pioneers, who established the farms of this country, who toiled together

with their wives and children to break the land, know little of what was

happening in the towns.

1. Can you rephrase the sentences above using non-sexist terms?

2. What strategies did you use?

Exercise 3

For homework you should have read the extract by Sara Mills (2006). Based on this

text and the notes that you prepared discuss the following:

Is Cameron right to suggest that the use of non-sexist language can simply mask

sexist attitudes?

Exercise 4

The histories of words sometimes reveal a good deal about the social organisation and

values of speech communities and how different uses of language can express

information about users’ attitudes towards others, and about how they perceive

society to be organised.

Consider the words in the table below, showing historical developments for each of

them. The dates refer to the first attestation of the word being used in this way or the

period when this meaning was the primary sense for the word (data from the OED):

gay (adj.) (persons)

full of joy

and mirth

(1310)

addicted to

social

pleasures

and

dissipations

(1637)

(woman)

leading an

immoral life

(1825)

homosexual

(1935)

bad quality/

stupid

(1980s)

girl (n.) a child of

either sex

e.g. knave

girl (1290)

a female

child,

unmarried

woman

(1530)

a

sweetheart,

lady-love

(1648)

a prostitute

or mistress

(1711)

a Black

woman

(1835)

queen (n.) a king’s

wife,

woman of

high rank

(893, 900)

A term of

endearment

to a woman

(1588)

An attractive

woman, a

girlfriend

(1900)

A male

homosexual

(1924)

1. What can you infer about the social values of the speech communities realising

these changes?

Spring Term Assignment

Language endangerment and death

Write an essay between 1350-1500 words presenting a case of language endangerment. You

may choose to look at the case of Welsh, Scots Gaelic, Cornish, Irish or Manx (choose only

ONE language). Discuss the reasons of language shift and also any language maintenance

and revitalisation efforts.

You should refer to at least THREE different sources (i.e. books or academic journal articles)

in your assignment. Wikipedia is not recognised as a reliable academic source and therefore

should not be used.

All assignments must be uploaded via Turnitin as well as one hard copy submitted via the

Drop Boxes in the Edith Morley Student Support Centre by 12 noon on Wednesday Week 10.

For Turnitin submission, there will be two links: formative (draft) and summative (final). The

purpose of the formative version is so that you can check your draft and obtain an

originality report. Formative submission links will open 4 weeks before the deadline and

close 2 days before the deadline. The link for the final summative submission will open 3

weeks before the deadline and will close at 12 noon on Wednesday week 10.

You will find more information about submission (e.g. how to entitle the document,

dates, etc.) in the Spring Term 2017 folder on the Assessment page on Blackboard.

Marking Criteria

Demonstration of understanding of how the English language is used in social

contexts and its effect on minority languages;

Clarity of discussion;

Ability to integrate information/quotations from various sources (books) as a starting

point for discussion, as examples, and to support your discussion;

Coherence of assignment, especially organisation and division into sections and

paragraphs;

Presentation, correctness of referencing, and quality of writing.

Please note:

Assignments should be word processed, using Times New Roman 12pt. Lines should be double spaced throughout the assignment. Single space is not

acceptable.

Page numbers should be at the bottom of every page (including List of References). You may use headings if you wish, but don’t overdo it! Avoid using the first person singular in your assignment. Check your Handbook for guidelines for correct referencing practice. Do not write your name or registration number on the pages of your assignment.

You should make sure you keep a copy of your assignment. List of References do not count towards the word limit. Quotes, tables and anything

presented within the text does count towards word limit.

You have a flexible word limit (i.e. 1350-1500 words) which means that you are not entitled of an additional ±10% margin. Indicate the exact word count at the end of your text and before the List of References.

The List of References should start on a new page. Questions about the assignment should be posted on Blackboard. Make sure your

read the assignment rubric, the relevant lecture handouts AND other posts on the Discussion Board before posting questions. Tutors will not respond to questions by email.

university of reading€¦ · university of reading department of english language & applied...

Documents