語言與文化
Език и култура Bahasa dan Budaya
‫زبان و فرهنگ‬
‫לשון ותרבות‬
भाषा और संस्कृति
‫اللغة والثقافة‬
Språk och Kultur
ANT 208 Language & Culture
Fall 2013 TR 11:00–12:15 SB 106
Dr. Bill Alexander, Associate Professor
Office hours: Tues. & Thurs. 3:30–4:30, Wed. 10:00-12:00 or by appointment
Office 100 F (inside archaeology lab) Social & Behavioral Sciences Building
Phone: 962-2227 Email: alexanderw@uncw.edu http://people.uncw.edu/alexanderw/
Language, the system of arbitrary symbols we use to encode our experience of the world and to
relate to one another, is one of the most remarkable features of human culture. This course will
survey key concepts, topics, debates, and controversies in the field of linguistic anthropology.
In studying language as a form of symbolic communication and a primary carrier of important
cultural information, linguistic anthropologists focus on the following dimensions of language use
in culture and society:
Sociolinguistics
Gender
Ethnicity
Social Identity
Region & Social Class
Linguistic Variation
Language Acquisition
& Childhood Development
Communicative Competence
Bilingualism, Multilingualism
Ideology, Power & Politics
Intercultural Communication
Endangered Languages
& Language Revitalization
Environmental Knowledge
Cognitive Structures
& the Human Mind
Language Studies of Non-Human Primates
Required Texts
Susan D. Blum, editor
Making Sense of Language: Readings in Culture and Communication, 2nd ed.
Oxford UK: Oxford University Press (2013)
K. David Harrison
When Languages Die: The Extinction of the World’s Languages and the Erosion of
Human Knowledge Oxford UK: Oxford University Press (2007)
PDFs of eleven articles are also posted on Blackboard
Мова і культура
ภาษา และ วัฒนธรรม
Mál og Menning
Kieli ja Kulttuuri
Lugha na Utamaduni
언어와 문화
Lengua y Cultura
Grading and Requirements
Exam 1, 9/17
Exam 2, 10/24
Exam 3, 12/10
25%
30%
30%
Discussion of When Languages Die
Class exercise on The Linguists video, 11/21
10%
5%
The three exams will be taken in class and will consist of a variety of objective questions (T/F, multiple
choice, fill-in-the blank, short answer, etc.) Exams will not be comprehensive. They will cover material
since the previous exam.
During the 11/12, 11/14/, & 11/19 class meetings, student groups will lead our discussion of the book
When Languages Die. You will be given instructions on forming your groups and preparing your
presentations. On 11/21 the accompanying video “The Linguists” will be shown in class and you will
complete a brief exercise related to it.
You are required to be an active participant in this course. Attending class and taking part in
discussion is expected and is figured into your final grade. Arrive on time and don’t leave early. Use of
phones is not allowed during class. Turn them off and put them away before you enter. Web surfing,
texting, messaging, etc. during class is prohibited.
It’s very important to complete each meeting’s assigned reading so that we can discuss it during
class. Lectures will clarify the texts, but you will have difficulty if you haven’t kept up with the reading.
Taking good notes is also necessary as I will often present material not in the books. I encourage you
to visit me during office hours whenever you feel the need. If you can’t come during office hours, we
can set an appointment.
Academic dishonesty, cheating, and plagiarism of any kind will not be tolerated and will result in a
failing grade (or worse…) Please familiarize yourself with the university’s academic honor code:
http://www.uncw.edu/fac_handbook/responsibilities/teaching/honor_code_print.htm
and the University Learning Center’s definition of and tips to avoid plagiarism:
http://www.uncw.edu/stuaff/uls/Writing-plagiarism.htm
Student Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this course, you will:
Identify trends of globalization that have led to the rapid disappearance of much of the world’s
linguistic diversity
Understand the methods and motivations of those working to preserve endangered local languages
Recognize what is lost when such languages disappear: local knowledge embedded in language that
has importance for all of humankind (for example, environmental knowledge, inventories of the world’s
biodiversity, and unique cognitive systems that expand our understanding of the human mind)
Demonstrate knowledge of the ways in which intercultural communication presents potential
misunderstandings, conflicts, and problems between members of different speech communities
Recognize how an understanding of these differences in linguistic-based cultural frames of reference
and styles of communicative competence can overcome such challenges and make intercultural
communication an opportunity for conflict-resolution both within multi-lingual societies and across
national borders
Identify and analyze the ways in which gender norms, roles, and expectations are expressed,
reproduced, and resisted through language use and language ideology
Recognize and think critically about how ethnic identification is expressed through language and
positioned in support of or in opposition to dominant ideology or public policies regarding the use of
language
Understand the social and political origins, functions, and consequences of linguistic diversity at the
regional level within nation-states
Appreciate how a relativistic view of this global diversity in gender, ethnicity, and region promotes
acceptance and tolerance of language-based cultural differences.
Course Schedule
Thur. 8/22
Introduction to the Class
COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE & LANGUAGE AS SOCIAL ACTION
Tues. 8/27
Blackboard: Cheryl Wharry “Amen and Hallelujah Preaching: Discourse Function in
African American Sermons” Language in Society (2003) 32:203-225; Yanrong
Chang Courtroom Questioning as a Culturally Situated Persuasive Genre of Talk”
Discourse and Society (2004) 15(6): 705-722
Thur. 8/29
Blum: Guy Cook and Tony Walter “Rewritten Rites: Language and Social Relations
in Traditional and Contemporary Funerals” pp. 502-517; Katharine Young “Narrative
Embodiments: Enclaves of the Self in the Realm of Medicine” pp. 518-525
LANGUAGE IDEOLOGY & INSTITUTIONAL ENCOUNTERS
Tues. 9/3
Blum: Benjamin Bailey “Communication of Respect in Interethnic Service
Encounters” pp. 527-543; Chaise LaDousa “On Mother and Other Tongues:
Sociolinguistics, Schools, and Language Ideology in Northern India” pp. 544-558
Thur. 9/5
Blackboard: Don Kulick “Anger, Gender, Language Shift, and the Politics of
Revelation in a Papua New Guinean Village” (425-434)
Tues. 9/10
Blackboard: Rosina Lippi-Green “Accent, Standard Language Ideology, and
Discriminatory Pretext in the Courts” Language in Society (1994) 23: 163-198;
Laura Polich “Orality: Another Language Ideology” (451-457)
Thur. 9/12
Blum: Keith H. Basso “’To Give Up on Words’: Silence in Western Apache Culture”
pp. 559-567
Blackboard: Richard Bauman “Let Your Words Be Few: Speaking and Silence in
Quaker Ideology” (458-465)
Tues. 9/17
EXAM #1
REGION & SOCIAL CLASS
Thurs. 9/19
Blum: William A. Kretschmar Jr. “Regional Dialects” pp. 357-371
Tues. 9/24
Blum: William Labov “Social Stratification of (r) in New York City Department Stores”
pp. 333-346
Thurs. 9/26
Blackboard: Dennis R. Preston “They Speak Really Bad English Down South and
in New York City” (227-233)
Blum: Deborah Tannen “New York Jewish Conversational Styles” pp. 347-356
RACE & ETHNICITY
Tues. 10/1
Blum: John R. Rickford “Suite for Ebony and Phonics” pp. 372-377
Thur. 10/3
Blackboard: Mary Bucholtz “The Whiteness of Nerds: Substandard English and Racial
Markedness” Journal of Linguistic Anthropology (2001) 11(1):84-100
Blum: H. Samy Alim “Hip Hop Nation Language” pp. 378-390
Tues. 10/8
Blackboard: Rusty Barrett “Language Ideology and Racial Inequality: Competing
Functions of Spanish in an Anglo-Owned Mexican Restaurant” Language in Society
(2006) 35:163-204
Blum: Richard Rodriguez “Aria” pp. 391-400
Thurs. 10/10
FALL BREAK
GENDER
Tues. 10/15
Blum: William M. O’Barr and Bowman K. Atkins “ ‘Women’s Language’ or ‘Powerless
Language’? “ pp. 305-311; Scott Fabius Kiesling “Power and the Language of Men”
pp. 317-327
Thur. 10/17
Blum: Kira Hall “ ‘Unnatural’ Gender in Hindi” pp. 418-433; William Leap “Language,
Socialization, and Silence in Gay Adolescence“ pp. 434-442
Tues. 10/22
Blum: Alexandra D’Arcy “Like and Language Ideology: Disentangling Fact from
Fiction” pp. 443-458; Scott Kiesling “Dude” pp. 459-472
Thur. 10/24
EXAM #2
THE MIND: LANGUAGE, CULTURAL MEANING, ETHNOSCIENCE
Tues. 10/29
Blum: Ferdinand de Saussure “Nature of the Linguistic Sign” pp. 16-19; Benjamin Lee
Whorf “The Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior to Language” pp. 43-54
Thurs. 10/31
Blackboard: Dorothy Lee “Codifications of Reality: Lineal and Nonlineal” (84-91)
Blum: George Lakoff and Mark Johnson “Metaphors We Live By” pp. 55-57
Tues. 11/5
Blackboard: Steven Pinker “How Language Works” (25-35)
Thur. 11/7
Blum: Stephen C. Levinson “Language and Mind: Let’s Get the Issues Straight” pp. 58-68
Harrison: When Languages Die Chapter 1 “A World of Many (Fewer) Voices” pp. 3 - 21
LANGUAGE ENDANGERMENT AND REVITALIZATION
Tues. 11/12
Harrison: Chapter 2 “An Extinction of (Ideas about) Species”; Case Study:
Vanishing Herds and Reindeer Words ; Chapter 3 “Many Moons Ago:
Traditional Calendars and Time-Reckoning” Case Study: Nomads of Western
Mongolia
Thur. 11/14
Harrison: Chapter 4 “An Atlas of the Mind”; Case Study: Wheel of Fortune
and a Blessing; Chapter 5 “Silent Storytellers, Lost Legends” Case Study:
New Rice versus Old Knowledge
Tues. 11/19
Harrison: Chapter 6 “Endangered Number Systems: Counting to Twenty on
Your Toes”; Case Study: The Leaf-Cup People, India’s Modern “Primitives”;
Chapter 7 “Worlds Within Worlds”
Thur. 11/21
in-class exercise and viewing of “The Linguists” (video about the work of
Harrison & his research partner) Dr. Alexander will be at the American
Anthropological Association (AAA) annual meeting in Chicago
LANGUAGE SOCIALIZATION, EDUCATION, & MULTILINGUALISM
Tues 11/26
Blum: Elinor Ochs and Bambi B. Schieffelin “Language Acquisition and
Socialization: Three Developmental Stories and Their Implications” pp. 7195; Shirley Brice Heath “What No Bedtime Story Means: Narrative Skills at
Home and at School” pp. 96-114
Thurs 11/28
THANKSGIVING
Tues. 12/3
Blum: Edwin L. Battistella “Bad Language—Bad Citizens” pp. 217-228; Y.
Immaculada M. García-Sánchez “Serious Games: Code-Switching and
Gendered Identities in Moroccan Immigrant Girls’ Pretend Play” pp. 260-279
EXAM # 3 Tuesday December 10th 11:30