LANGUAGE IN THE USA
Anthropology 249.01 (14297)
Oberlin College
Spring 2009
321 King Building
T, Th 9.00-10.50 am
“The United States is a country rich in many things but poor in knowledge of itself with
regard to language.” Dell Hymes 1981
Instructor: Maggie Ronkin
Email: FNdotLNatOberlindotedu
Office and Office Hours: King 320A
MWF 10-11 am and by appointment
Writing Associate: Robert Schuster
Email: FNdotLNatOberlindotedu
Office and Office Hours: To be
announced
COURSE OVERVIEW
This course offers an interdisciplinary and wide-ranging, but selective, survey of language issues and
controversies in the USA. Through a set of common readings and informed discussions, we explore
language variation, and, in particular, consider its historical, sociocultural, and political significance.
The format follows that of the text, which covers topics of theoretical and practical salience in three
sections. Part I is on the origins and varieties of North American English, Part II deals with several
other language varieties in the USA, and Part III is on the sociolinguistic situation in interaction with
relatively recent phenomena within and beyond US borders, including the English-Only and Ebonics
controversies, and languages of adolescents and hip hop artists.
The readings include introductions and bibliographic suggestions. They are authored by leading
scholars of anthropological linguistics, sociolinguistics, English, North American studies, and
communication: Richard Bailey, Edward Finegan, William Kretzschmar, Walt Wolfram, Lisa Green,
Joan Houston Hall, Joshua Fishman, Patricia Nichols, Akira Yamamoto and Ofelia Zepeda, Leanne
Hinton, Ana Celia Zentella, Carmen Silva-Corvalan, Ceil Lucas and, Clayton Valli, Thom Huebner
and Linda Uyechi, Rosina Lippi-Green, John Baugh, John Rickford, Terrence Wiley, Lily Wong
Fillmore, Penelope Eckert, Connie Eble, H. Samy Alim, Marcyliena Morgan, Mary Bucholtz, William
Leap, James Peterson, Cynthia Hagstrom, Denise E. Murray, and Dennis R. Preston.
Each student will keep a Language in the USA journal containing entries on each week’s readings and
other relevant language experiences. The instructor may ask students to respond to specific
questions now and then, but, in general, language journals are students’ own learning aids. They are
private in that only the instructor will see them, although entries should facilitate in-class discussions
and paper writing The instructor may respond to students’ entries with suggestions, request that
they write less or more, and/or perhaps consider topics or debates from different angles.
This component is 20 percent of the course grade.
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Each student also will write a process-based 15-page paper in which s/he launches from the text to
report in greater depth on one of the topics in our survey. The papers are the major determinant of
course grades. Hence, this course is ideal for students who already enjoy academic writing and/or
sincerely wish to hone such writing skills with the help of a writing associate. More information on
the writing process and the criteria used in evaluating papers will be provided by the instructor and
writing associate.
This component is 80 percent of the course grade.
EVALUATION IN A NUTSHELL
Language in the USA Journals
Process-Based 15-Page Course Papers
20% of final grade, assuming 14 entries
80% of final grade distributed across tasks
TEXTBOOK (Required), BLACKBOARD and ADS-L (Required), AND RADIO and WEB
RESOURCES (Optional)
TEXTBOOK
Finegan, Edward and John R. Rickford. 2004. Language in the USA: Themes for the Twenty-first
Century. Cambridge University Press.
The textbook is available as an ebook on Mudd Library’s website, at the Oberlin College Bookstore,
37 West College Street, and from on-line booksellers.
If you opt to buy the textbook, be sure it is a 2004 publication. A 1981 book by the same title, edited
by Charles A. Ferguson and Shirley Brice Heath, is a classic in US sociolinguistics and useful as such.
However, it is not the required textbook for this course.
BLACKBOARD AND ADS-L
Blackboard (designated here as BB) is an electronic bulletin board that provides course materials,
including the syllabus, and other items of interest. All articles on BlackBoard are intended to
supplement assigned ones; they are optional readings unless designated otherwise.
Students are required to subscribe to ADS-L, the discussion list of the American Dialect Society
(ADS). ADS is the scholarly association dedicated to the study of the English language in North
America, and of other languages influencing or influenced by it. They publish a useful journal,
American Speech, and are an interdisciplinary, enjoyably quirky, and student-friendly group. Since
1990, ADS has held a popular word-of-the year election; “subprime” won in 2007, while in 2008,
“bailout” won and “maverick” topped the new subcategory of election-related words.
The ADS discussion list runs on LISTSERV at The University of Georgia. To subscribe to the list,
send “SUB ADS-L YOUR NAME” as the complete body of an email message from the email
account at which you’d like to subscribe, to listserv@listserv.uga.edu
RADIO AND WEB RESOURCES
Students are encouraged to follow A Way with Words, public radio’s language show with Martha
Barnette and Grant Barett. Information is on the show’s website at:
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www.waywithwords.org
Students are encouraged to draw on optional web resources, especially articles with bibliographies on
American dialects and varieties and language prestige and prejudice, from PBS’s Do You Speak
American? at:
http://www.pbs.org/speak/
http://www.pbs.org/speak/articles/
Optional web resources for linguistic and sociocultural anthropology students are on the instructor’s
wiki site at:
http://culturalanth.pbwiki.com/Web-resources
Web resources are invaluable stimuli for further exploration and reading. However, in general, web
references are not preferred over standard reference works and scholarly articles.
EXPECTATIONS AND POLICIES
Students are required to attend class meetings. Attendance will be taken using a sign-in sheet. Each
student is allowed two absences for any reason whatsoever. After that, only absences under the
heading SPECIAL ACCOMMODATIONS will be excused; all others will lower course grades by
one-half (a final grade of A will become an A-, an A- will become a B+, etc.). One student asking
another to sign in him or her is cheating and therefore violates the honor code.
Students are required to participate in a scheduled orientation to resources for their research with
Megan Williams at Mudd Library.
Classes begin at 9.00 am. Please arrive on time and turn off cell phones. Inattention to these
courtesies, if repeated, may be counted as absences.
Students are required to complete the reading for each meeting before class. Regular participation
based on common readings and other on-topic explorations, aided by journal entries, is expected.
OBERLIN COLLEGE HONOR CODE: Please pay close attention to information on the Honor
Code. Suspected violations will be referred to the student-run Honor Code Committee as stipulated
by rules of the College. Students found to be in violation of the Honor Code will be subject to the
Committee’s sanctions. The instructor also will give an automatic ‘F’ in the course to violators.
Applications of the Honor Code will be discussed in class. If anything is unclear about expectations
of the Honor Code, ask. Detailed student regulations, policies, and procedures in the Honor Code
and Honor System are at:
http://www.oberlin.edu/students/links-life/honorcode.html
POLICY ON SPECIAL ACCOMMODATIONS: Please notify the instructor of documented
disabilities in order to facilitate reasonable accommodations in the first two weeks of the semester.
Students observing recognized religious holidays on class days should give prior notice of absences.
Students in Conservatory performances and student-athletes should give prior notice of and
document absences. Written assignments are due on due dates. Students should provide written
certification of serious illnesses, family emergencies, and other dire circumstances that may warrant
late submissions of written assignments.
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POLICY ON ‘BAD’ LANGUAGE: Please be advised that the instructor’s policy mirrors that of
ADS:
… discussion of … language … may lead us to any word or phrase, “good” or “bad”,
“dirty” or “clean”. We generally take a descriptivist approach: all subject matter is fair
game. This can include pejoratives, curse words, euphemisms for bodily functions and
body parts, and other potentially offensive language. Sometimes it’s quite colorful, but
always academic and enlightening.
SCHEDULE OF TOPICS AND READINGS (Subject to change)
WEEK 1
Feb 3
INTRODUCTION/AMERICAN ENGLISH
Introductions
Syllabus, Materials, and Course Format (requirements, assignments, meetings, etc.)
Video: American Tongues
Feb 5
American English: Its origins and history by Richard Bailey
WEEK 2
AMERICAN ENGLISH
Feb 10
The distinctiveness of American English by Edward Finegan
Feb 12
Regional American dialects by William Kretzschmar
Feb 14
Social varieties of American English by Walt Wolfram
WEEK 3
AMERICAN ENGLISH
Feb 17
African-American vernacular English by Lisa Green
Feb 19
The dictionary of American regional English by Joan Houston Hall
WEEK 4
OTHER LANGUAGE VARIETIES IN THE USA
Feb 24
Multilingualism and non-English mother tongues by Joshua Fishman
Feb 26
Creole languages in the United States: forging new identities by Patricia Nichols
WEEK 5
OTHER LANGUAGE VARIETIES IN THE USA
March 3
Native American languages by Akira Yamamoto and Ofelia Zepeda
Language loss and revitalization in California: Overview by Leanne Hinton (BB)
March 5
WORKSHOP ON COURSE PAPERS (1 hour)
Mudd Library Orientation with Anthropology Librarian Megan Mitchell (50 minutes)
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WEEK 6
OTHER LANGUAGE VARIETIES IN TE USA
March 10
Spanish in the northeast by Ana Celia Zentella
OR
Bilingualism en casa by Ana Celia Zentella (BB)
March 12
Spanish in the southwest by Carmen Silva-Corvalan
WEEK 7
OTHER LANGUAGE VARIETIES IN THE USA
March 17
American sign language by Ceil Lucas and Clayton Valli
Video: ASL Poetry created and directed by Clayton Valli
March 19
Asian American voices by Thom Huebner and Linda Uyechi
March 21March 29
SPRING BREAK
WEEK 8
THE SOCIOLINGUISTIC SITUATION IN THE USA
March 31
Language ideology and language prejudice by Rosina Lippi-Green
April 2
Ebonics and its controversy by John Baugh
Suite for ebony and phonics by John R. Rickford (BB)
WEEK 9
THE SOCIOLINGUISTIC SITUATION IN THE USA
April 7
Language policy and English-only by Terrence G. Wiley
Ohio English: A modest but more specific and patriotic proposal than the one offered
recently by US English by Roger Shuy (BB)
April 9
Language and education by Lily Wong Fillmore
What no bedtime story means: Narrative Skills at home and school by Shirley Brice
Heath (BB)
WEEK 10
THE SOCIOLINGUISTIC SITUATION IN THE USA
April 14
Slang by Connie Eble (and others)
April 16
Adolescent language by Penelope Eckert
The whiteness of nerds: Superstandard English and racial markedness by Mary Bucholtz
(BB)
WEEK 11
THE SOCIOLINGUISTIC SITUATION IN THE USA
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April 21
Rap and hip hop by H. Samy Alim
“Nuthin but a G thang”: Grammar and language ideology in hip hop identity by
Marcyliena Morgan (BB)
Video: Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme directed by Kevin Fitzgerald
April 23
Language, gender, and sexuality by Mary Bucholtz
OR
Gay men’s English: Cooperative discourse in a language of risk by William Leap (BB)
WEEK 12
THE SOCIOLINGUISTIC SITUATION IN TE USA
April 28
Language and identity in American literature by James Peterson
April 30
The language of doctors and patients by Cynthia Hagstrom
OR
Accent, standard language ideology, and discriminatory pretext in the courts by Rosina
Lippi-Green (BB)
WEEK 13
THE SOCIOLINGUISTIC SITUATION WTHIN/BEYOND THE USA
May 5
The language of cyberspace by Denise E. Murray
May 7
Language attitudes to US speech by Dennis R. Preston
Video: Nalini by Day, Nancy by Night by Sonali Gulati
WEEK 14
THE SOCIOLINGUISTIC SITUATION WITHIN/BEYOND THE USA
May 12
Wrap up Conversation
Please note: There is no final exam in this course. Course papers are due at 2.00 pm on Thursday,
May 14. This is the final exam slot for the course and subject to change by the Oberlin Registrar.
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