ANTH 110 - Speech & Experience: The Anthropology of
Language (3 Credits)
(Spring 2011) TTh
Dr. Jon W. Anderson
Office: Marist 14
Office Hours: W 1-3 or by appointment
Email: anderson@cua.edu
"no one would talk much in
society, if he knew how often he misunderstands others." - Goethe
Language puts names
on things. Linguistics puts names on features of language and communication,
and the anthropology of language examines their social correlates and contexts.
This course is about how to identify the features of communication where
culture, imagination and social experience come together. The course introduces
basic concepts of linguistic analysis, theories of language and the study of
communication in anthropology, including how languages are structured, used in
social relations and provide models for cultural analysis. It focuses on
relations of speech, experience and understanding, and on what those settings
tell about sociability and imagination in everyday behavior.
Nancy Bonvillian. Language, Culture &
Communication. Prentice-Hall, 5th edition
2008.
George Lakoff & Mark Johnson. Metaphors We
Live By.
Deborah
Tannen. You Just Don't Understand!
Additional
material, some required, some for further reading, are on the BlackBoard for this course, in which all registered
students are automatically ‘enrolled’.
Goals/Outcomes
The goals of this
course are to acquaint you with the formal study of language (phonology,
morphology, syntax, semantics), its social use (what
our speech reveals about us), how it shapes imagination and experience, and how
languages change over time. By the end of this course, you will know how
to recognize features of sounds used in languages, how words and sentences are
built, meanings structured, the basics of sociolinguistics and the ethnography
of communication that can be used to analyse
conversations, extended discourse (explanations, narratives, negotiations, etc.),
accounts of feelings and other ways we interact through language, including
systematic failures of communication.
This course is
about the topics covered in Anthropological Linguistics and is one of the
fundamental courses for Anthropology majors. For all others, it fulfills
the Social Science distribution requirement.
Format and Requirements.
This course will be
a mixture of lecture, in-class discussion and application of concepts to
everyday examples of speech, which students will collect in diaries. Graded
work includes the diaries, a mid-term and a final exam.
Diaries are where you record instances of
linguistic usage, speech acts, forms and expressions for feedback from the
instructor. Each week, you should record one or more instances of two phenomena
or concepts discussed in the readings for that week. These must be handed in on
the last class meeting each month. This work will be graded, and the final
(average) grade for diary work will be 30% of your course grade.
The mid-term exam will be
short-answer and identification of concepts, phenomena and terminology in Bonvillian, Lakoff & Johnson
and introduced in class. 30% of your course grade
The final exam will cover all of
the material in the course. 40% of your
course grade
Instead of a final exam, students may
analyze the text of a dialogue using concepts introduced in the course. The dialogue must
be ‘natural’ (recorded, not fictional or authored), chosen in consultation with
the instructor before the end of February, and posted on the Blackboard for the
course, where you will also place your analysis. Note that this is a public
document on which you will be able to receive feedback from others in the
class.
Consistent attendance and timely completion of
assignments is expected. Material
introduced in class that is not in the texts will be on the exams, and late
assignments (the diaries) will be graded down one-half letter grade the first
day, one letter grade thereafter.
Schedule
Jan
11 Introduction.
What's in a name? The “parts of speech” Bonvillian, ch. 1
I. FORMAL
PATTERNING & SEMANTIC CONTENT
Jan 13-18
Formal properties: phonology, morphology. Bonvillian,
ch. 2
- On the Blackboard (Course Documents):
Points of Articulation in American English, Consonantal Phonemes of
English, Vowel Phonemes of English
Jan
20
Syntax, Semantics & modeling the mind. Bonvillian,
ch. 2
Jan
25
President’s Inauguration. NO
CLASS
Jan 27
Non-verbal communication. Bonvillian, ch. 2
Feb 1
Meaning in Language: Categories & the Linguistics of Labeling. Bonvillian Ch 3. (Diaries
for January due)
Feb 3-8
Meaning in Language: Metaphors, “Extended” Meaning. Lakoff &
Johnson (all)
II. VERBAL
Feb 10-15
From Language to Speech: Doing Things with Words. Bonvillian, ch. 4 – 5
- On the Blackboard (Course Documents): Religious Rhetoric in Political Oratory
Feb 17-24
Sociolinguistics: Language ‘marking’ - class & race. Bonvillian, Ch 6
Feb 22
“Administrative Monday”
NO CLASS
Mar 1
Review (Diaries for February due)
Mar 3
Midterm Exam
Mar 8-10
Spring Vacation
Mar 15-17
Speech to Experience: Gender-marked speech. Bonvillian,
ch. 7, Tannen (all)
Mar 22-24
Expressing Inner States in Social Interaction
- On the Blackboard (Course Documents) “Emotion and Sincerity in Persian
Discourse”
Mar 29-31
Language Learning & Communicative Competence. Bonvillian 9-10 (Diaries for March
due)
- On the Blackboard (Course Documents): Before “like” there was “OK”
Apr 5-7
Narrative Speech / Telling Stories / Folklore
- On the Blackboard (Course Documents): "A sojourner's truth," “In
vain, I tried to tell you”
Apr 12-14
Multilingual Idealities: Speech Communities & Language Ideologies. Bonvillian 11-12
- On the Blackboard (Course Documents): “Language Ideology & Linguistic
Differentiation”
Apr 19
Multilingual Realities: Code-switching, Code-mixing, Creoles
& Pidgins. Bonvillian 12
- On the Blackboard (Course Documents): "Hasta
la vista, baby! Southwest Anglo-Spanish”
Apr 21
Easter Break. NO CLASS
Apr 25
Institutional & Professional Speech Communities: Knowing the Code. Bonvillian, 13
- On the Blackboard (Course Documents): Geekspeak,
Religious Language
Apr 28
Communication in the Information Age: Strangers & Other “Friends” (Diaries
for April due)
- On the Blackboard (Course Documents): Cellphones in
Final Exam, as
scheduled for T 3:35 classes (Diaries for April due)
Expectations and policies
Academic honesty:
Academic
honesty is expected of all CUA students.
Faculty are required to initiate the imposition
of sanctions when they find violations of academic honesty, such as plagiarism,
improper use of a student’s own work, cheating, and fabrication.
The
following sanctions are presented in the University procedures related to
Student Academic Dishonesty (from https://mail.cua.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://policies.cua.edu/academicundergrad/integrityprocedures.cfm):
“The presumed sanction for undergraduate students for academic dishonesty will be
failure for the course. There may be circumstances, however, where, perhaps
because of an undergraduate student’s past record, a more serious sanction,
such as suspension or expulsion, would be appropriate. In the context of
graduate studies, the expectations for academic honesty are greater, and
therefore the presumed sanction for dishonesty is likely to be more severe,
e.g., expulsion. ...In the more unusual case, mitigating circumstances may
exist that would warrant a lesser sanction than the presumed sanction.”
Please
review the complete texts of the University policy and procedures regarding
Student Academic Dishonesty, including requirements for appeals, at
http://policies.cua.edu/academicundergrad/integrity.cfm and
http://policies.cua.edu/academicundergrad/integrity.cfm.
Timely completion of
assignments:
Assignments
are due on the dates and in the
formats indicated, either on paper at the beginning of class or as email
attachments (
In the classroom:
The
Anthropology Department has an established policy regarding behavior in class. Barring emergency, students will remain
seated during class, not getting up to walk out and return. Bathrooms are available for use before and
after class. The use of cell phones or
other electronic devices such as iPods, Playstations, Palm Pilots, Blackberries or game machines is
disruptive, discourteous, and prohibited during class. Kindly turn these off.
Accommodations for students with disabilities:
Any student who feels s/he may need an
accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact the instructor
privately to discuss specific needs. Please contact Disability Support Services
(at 202 319-5211, room 207
(rev: