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The Politics of Language

  • Syllabus Information
  • Schedule and Readings
  • Major Assignments
  • Language Preservation Project

Syllabus Information

English 270: The Politics of Language

 Time: Tues/Thurs 2:30-3:50

Location: Kauke 039

Office Hours: M/W 2pm

___________________________________________________________________________

What we will be exploring:

How do grammar and language norms reflect social, racial, and national identities? How and why are some forms of English privileged over others?  How do speakers and writers use language to delineate social and political groups?  This course will seek to answer these questions by examining the connections between language, power, identity, and culture.

Learning Outcomes:

Students will be introduced to foundational theories in sociolinguistics and social theories of discourse.

Students will examine a range of scholarship on: the teaching (and policing) of grammar and style, discourse communities and the relationship between usage and identity, and studies of world Englishes.

Students will explore their own languages, and language use and performance in writing.

 

Attendance and Late Work:

We will read and explore many interesting (I hope!) and important texts in this class. However, the course itself will in many ways revolve around your contributions. You will not only be participating in discussions, but will also help determine what we will discuss: the work and research you do in and out of class will formulate the basis for the content of the class. For this reason, active participation and regular attendance is vital, and will be worth 25% of your grade (see below). Being absent from class will mean that you lose points for whatever informal work was due or was done in class that day. A single absence will not hurt your grade – further absences will. Further, missing more than 3 classes will be grounds for a failing grade.

Late work will also not be accepted. All of the projects for this class will go through drafts and will be eligible for revision for a new grade. (See Revision Policy.) As such, there should be no reason a student could not turn in a completed project at the appropriate due date.

Please feel free to contact me about any circumstances or illnesses that may jeopardize your attendance and participation in class.

 

What we will be doing:

Accents and Stereotype in Media: 15%

Language and Discrimination (mid-term): 20%

Grammar Police Project: 10%

Language Preservation Project: 30%

Participation, Voices Discussion, and Reading Quizzes: 25%

The work that you do in preparation for class and during class time is incredibly important, and as such is worth a significant portion of your grade.  Expect to write, work on group projects, and participate in discussions in every class.  In preparation for class, you will also occasionally be contributing to our class Voices page. We will also have regular reading quizzes on course material. This work is graded on a complete/fail basis, and cannot be made up.  If you are absent from class, you do not get credit for the work that day. 

 

Schedule:

 

Week: 1: Introduction to Sociolinguistics and Language Identity

Tuesday, Jan 16: Jamila Lyiscott TEDtalk

 

Thursday, Jan 18: Chapters 1 and 2 of Language, Society, and Power

 

Week 2: Accent and Identity

Tuesday, Jan 23: Chapter 9 in Language, Society, and Power and Lippi-Green, “The Myth of the Non-Accent” (Voices)

 

Thursday, Jan 25: Lippi-Green, “Teaching Children How to Discriminate” (Voices)

 

Week 3: Accent and Identity

Tuesday, Jan 30: Lippi-Green, “Hillbillies, Hicks, and Southern Belles” (Voices)

 

Thursday, Feb 1: Julie Sedivy, “Votes and Vowels: A Changing Accent Shows How Language Parallels Politics”

Jeff Guo, “Donald Trump’s Accent Explained” and Ali Elkin, “Tracking Hilary Clinton’s Use of Every American Accent East of the Mississippi” (Voices)

 

Week 4: Accent, Identity, and Racism

Tuesday, Feb 6: Accents in Social Media project due

 

Thursday, Feb 8: READING CHANGE!

Alim and Smitherman, Chapter 1 of Articulate While Black: “Nah, We Straight,” (Voices) AND SMITHERMAN INTERVIEW (VOICES). CANCELED READING: Chapter 7, Language, Power, and Society

 

Week 5: Language and Racism

Tuesday, Feb 13: Alim and Smitherman, Chapter 2: “Articulate While Black” (Voices)

 

Thursday, Feb 15: Alim and Smitherman, Chapter 6: “Change the Game” (Voices)

 

Week 6: Language and Racism, and Gender

Tuesday, Feb 20: Chapter 6 of Language, Society, and Power

 

Thursday, Feb 22: Keren, “Language of Gender Violence” and Anne Pauwels, “Linguistic Sexism and Feminist Linguistic Activism” (Voices)

 

Week 7: Language and Gender

Tuesday, Feb 27: Style Guides

 

Thursday, March 1: Mid-term

           

Week 8: Bilingualism, Imperialism, and World Englishes

Tuesday, March 6: Chapter 10 in Language, Society, and Power

 

Thursday, March 8: Betsy E. Evans, “English as Official State Language in Ohio: Economy Trumps Ideology” and Jenkins, “English as a Lingua Franca” (Voices)

           

Week 9: Language, Imperialism, and World Englishes

Tuesday, March 27: Lippi-Green, “Ya basta!”(Voices)

 

Thursday, March 29: Lippi-Green, “Defying Paradise: Hawai’i” (Voices)

 

Week 10: Language, Imperialism, and World Englishes

Tuesday, April 2: Flutes of Fire, pg 155-187 (Voices)

 

Thursday, April 5: Flutes of Fire, pg 221-233 and Perely, “Silence Before the Void” (Voices)

 

Week 11: Language, Imperialism, and World Englishes

Tuesday, April 10: Language Preservation Research

 

Thursday, April 12: Williams, “Phenomenology of Error” (Voices)

 

Week 12: The Grammar Police

Tuesday, April 17: Hairston, “Not All Errors Are Created Equal” and NCTE “Students Right to Their Own Language” (Voices)

 

Thursday, April 19: Wooster’s “Phenomenology of Error” research

 

Week 13: The Grammar Police

Tuesday, April 24: Dawkins, “Teaching Punctuation as a Rhetorical Tool” (Voices)

 

Thursday, April 26: Grammar Police project due

 

Week 14: Language Preservation Projects

Tuesday, May 1: Final Project Research: Rough draft of essay due

 

Thursday, May 3: Final Project Research: Rough draft of presentation due

 

Exam Time: Final Presentations (May 10th at 9am)

 

 

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