Languages of America’s Ethnic Minorities
Spring 2011
Syllabus
Professor: Renée Blake
Teaching Assistant: Cara Shousterman
Lectures: V61.0047/V18.0847
Tuesday, Thursday 2:00 – 3:15
Recitations:
Monday, 3:30-4:45
Monday, 4:55-6:10
V61.0047-002
V61.0047-003
Silver 507
Waverly 435
Waverly 435
Office Hours
Renee Blake
email: renee.blake@nyu.edu
Tuesdays and Thursdays 3:30-4:30pm
Linguistics Department, 10 Washington Place, Third Floor
Phone: 998-7946
Wednesdays 5:00-6:00pm
Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, 20 Cooper Square, Room 425
Cara Shousterman
email: cara.shousterman@nyu.edu
Tuesdays 3:30-5:30, or by appointment
Linguistics Department, 10 Washington Place, Third Floor
Phone: 992-7519
Course Description
How speakers see themselves and how they are seen by others are often linked to the
language that they speak and the linguistic choices they make.
In the present course, we will consider the interaction of language and ethnicity. We will
look at the role of language in the construction of identity, particularly ethnic and racial
identity. Further, we will consider in-group and out-group uses of language alike. In
particular, we will look at four sets of ethnic groups in the minority: African Americans,
Asian Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans.
Language, language attitudes, language use – none of these is neutral. We will examine
American language ideology, not only those aspects of it that are widely held among
Americans generally, but also facets that differ from group to group and may be
contested between groups. We will consider the politics of language in America,
including the current school-centered controversies over bilingual education and the
acknowledgement of “Ebonics.” With regard to formal education, we will look at its role
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in language socialization, particularly in the language socialization of children in the
ethnic minority.
Course Requirements
Students are responsible for both the readings and the lectures, for materials presented
formally in class and in the recitations. Every student is expected to come to class and to
the recitations prepared to discuss the scheduled readings. There will be a midterm
examination and a final project. In addition, there will be two short papers on assigned
topics, each due at the beginning of class on the assigned date. Papers should be
typewritten (Times 12 font) and should be double-spaced with one-inch margins on all
sides of paper. The topics will be handed out in advance. The exam and papers will be
based on the readings and lectures.
Note that late papers will not be accepted. Also note that examinations must be taken at
the scheduled time. Examinations that are missed will not be excused unless the student
provides notification prior to or immediately after the examination with appropriate
documentation.
Grading
Performance and Participation in Class and Recitation
Midterm Examination
Final Project
First short paper
Second short paper
15%
25%
40%
10%
10%
100%
Readings
The assigned articles for the course will be available through Blackboard. Schedule is
subject to change.
I
INTRODUCTION
1/25, 1/27
Brooks, David. 2011. Amy Chua is a Wimp. The New York Times. January 17.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/opinion/18brooks.html?_r=2
Chua, Amy. 2011. Why Chinese Mothers are Superior. The Wall Street Journal.
January 8.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754.html?
Roediger, David R. 1999. On Autobiography and Theory: An Introduction. in Wages of
Whiteness, 3-17. London: Verso.
2
Roediger, David R. 2002. All about Eve, Critical White Studies, and Getting Over
Whiteness. in Colored White: Transcending the Racial Past, 3-27. Berkeley:
University of California Press.
II
OVERVIEW
2/1, 2/3, 2/8
Glazer, Nathan. 1994. The Emergence of an American Ethnic Pattern. in Ronald
Takaki, ed., From Different Shores: Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity in
America, 11-23. New York: Oxford University Press.
Fishman, Joshua A. 1988. Language and Ethnicity. in Howard Giles, ed., Language,
Ethnicity and Intergroup Relations, 291-333. New York: Academic Press.
Garcia, Ofelia. 1997. New York’s Multilingualism: World Languages and Their Role in
a U.S. City. in Ofelia Garcia and Joshua A. Fishman, eds., The Multilingual
Apple: Languages in New York City, 3-50. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
III
VOICES OF NEW YORK
2/10
Becker, Kara and Elizabeth L. Coggshall. 2009. The Sociolinguistics of Ethnicity in New
York City. Language and Linguistics Compass 3(3): 751-766.
Blake, Renée and Cara Shousterman. 2010. Second Generation West Indian Americans
and English in New York City. English Today 26(3): 35-43.
Voices of New York Website: http://www.nyu.edu/classes/blake.map2001/
IV
LANGUAGE ATTITUDES, IDEOLOGY, RACE AND ETHNICITY
2/15, 2/17, 2/22
Takaki, Ronald. 1994. Reflections of Racial Patterns in America. in Ronald Takaki, ed.,
From Different Shores: Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity in America, 24-35.
New York: Oxford University Press.
Matsuda, Mari. 1991. Voices of America: Accent, Antidiscrimination Law, and a
Jurisprudence for the Last Reconstruction. Yale Law Journal 100. 1329-1407.
(Optional)
Giles, Howard. 1979. Ethnicity Markers in Speech. in Klaus R. Scherer and Howard
Giles, eds., Social Markers in Speech, 251-289. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
2/22
Group Project Proposal Due
V
ASIAN AMERICAN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
2/24, 3/1, 3/3
3
Wong, Amy Wing-Mei. 2010. New York City English and Second Generation Chinese
Americans. English Today 26(3): 12-19.
Hall-Lew, Lauren and Rebecca L. Starr. 2010. Beyond the 2nd Generation: English Use
Among Chinese Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area. English Today 26(3):
3-11.
Chanethom, Vincent. 2010. Influence of American English on Second Generation Lao
Immigrant Speakers. English Today 26(3): 20-26.
Klein, Wendy L. 2009. Turban Narratives: Discourses of Identity and Difference among
Punjabi Sikh Families in Los Angeles. in A. Lo & A. Reyes, eds., Toward a
Linguistic Anthropology of Asian Pacific America. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Lippi-Green, Rosina. 1994. Accent, Standard Language Ideology, and Discriminatory
Pretext in the Courts. Language in Society 23: 163-197.
VI
HISTORY OF LANGUAGE POLICY AND POLITICS
3/8, 3/10
Nunberg, Geoffrey. 1989. Linguists and the Offical Language Movement. Language
65: 579-587.
Molesky, Jean. 1988. Understanding the American Linguistic Mosaic: A Historical
Overview of Language Maintenance and Language Shift. in McKay, Sandra Lee
and Sau-ling Cynthia Wong, eds., 1988. Language Diversity: Problem or
Resource?, 29-68. Cambridge, MA: Newbury House Publishers.
Heath, Shirley Brice. 1992. Why No Offical Tongue? in James Crawford, ed., Language
Loyalties: A Source Book on the Official English ControversyI, 20-31. Chicago:
The University of Chicago Press.
Hayakawa, S.I. 1992. The Case for Official English. in James Crawford, ed., Language
Loyalties: A Source Book on the Official English ControversyI, 94-100. Chicago:
The University of Chicago Press.
3/10 First Paper Due
—SPRING BREAK MARCH 14-18—
VII
LATINO LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
3/22, 3/24, 3/29, 3/31
Zentella, Ana Celia. 1997. Growing Up Bilingual. Chapters 1-4. Malden, MA:
Blackwell.
3/31
Review for Midterm
4/5
MIDTERM
4/7
Project Work Day
4
VIII
AFRICAN AMERICAN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
4/12, 4/14, 4/19, 4/21
Rickford, J.R. 1999. Phonological and Grammatical Features of African American
Vernacular English (AAVE). African American Vernacular English. 3-11.
Oxford: Blackwell.
Labov, William. 1972. The Logic of Nonstandard English. Chap. 5 of Language in the
Inner City: Studies of Black English Vernacular, 201-240. Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press.
Smitherman, Geneva. 1981. What Go Round Come Round: King in Perspective.
Harvard Educational Review 51: 40-56.
Baugh, John. 1988. Language and Race: Some Implications for Linguistics Science. in
Frederick J. Newmeyer, ed., Language: The Socio-cultural Context, 64-74.
(Linguistics: The Cambridge Survey, Volume IV.) Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Word. The Online Journal on African American English:
http://AfricanAmericanEnglish.com
VIIII NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
4/26, 4/28, 5/3
Basso, Keith H. 1972. To Give Up on Words: Silence in Western Apache Culture. In
Pier Paolo Giglioli, ed., Language and Social Context, 67-86. Harmondsworth,
Middlesex, England: Penguin Books.
Hinton, Leanne. 1994. The First Five Chapters of Flutes of Fire: Essays on California
Indian Languages, 20-69. Chap.1(with Yolanda Montijo): Living California
Indian Languages. Chap.2: Song: Overcoming the Language Barrier. Chap.3:
Coyote Talk. Chap.4: Upriver, Downriver: The Vocabulary of Direction.
Chap.5: Language and the Structure of Thought. Berkeley: Heyday Books.
Meek, Barbara. 2006. And the Injun goes “How!”: Representations of American Indian
English in White Public Space. Language in Society 35(1): 93-128.
(Optional)
Trechter, Sara. 2001. White between the Lines: Ethnic Positioning in Lakhota Discourse.
Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 11(1): 22-35.
4/28
5/5
Second Paper Due
Final Presentations
5