ALDS 2701A Language in Society
Winter 2011, Mon/Wed 7:30-9:00, 201PA
Office hours: TBA
Instructor: Devon Woods; Office: 243PA Email: devon_woods@carleton.ca
COURSE OBJECTIVES
1. to learn about the major topics, research methods and findings in the study of language in society;
2. to investigate the relationship of theoretical concepts to language in daily use;
3. to explore and refine your own areas of interest and expertise for possible future academic research;
4. to develop your analytic skills for collecting data and for recognizing and synthesizing patterns and
results, and to develop your writing skills for describing and reporting research in an effective manner.
TEACHING/LEARNING METHODOLOGY
During this course you are going to become a full-time observer of language: you will keep an on-going
record of your observations of language being used around you, which you will relate to the concepts
discussed in class and in the readings. The samples will come from overheard conversations, spoken,
written or texted interactions you were involved in, written texts you read or saw; they can be live or
recorded (on TV or radio or tape, in books, in games, in ads, wherever language is used). You can also
include introspective data - samples that you remember or things that you thought or were about to say
but didn't. In addition to recording the speech events that occur, you will record your reflections and
thoughts about the events. You will keep a record on an on-going basis of raw data (keep it anonymous)
and reflections – these will later become part of your assignments. Classes will include lectures, class
discussions and group work related to the course content and assignments discussed below.
READING
There will be two textbooks for this course.
Holtgraves, T. (2002) Language as Social Action. Mahwah NJ: Laurence Erlbaum.
Montgomery, M. (2008) An Introduction to Language in Society 3rd edition.
These books are available at Haven Books on Sunnyside Ave.
ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT
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Attendance and Team Participation: 15%.
Data Collection and Mini-Papers: 40% (4 X 10%)
Editing one mini-paper submission 10%.
Annotated websites: 10%.
Take home exam: 25%.
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ASSIGNMENT DETAILS
1. Attendance and Team Participation: 15%.
You are required to attend each class and participate in exchanges with your team. You
will be placed in a team of four students (or five) for the duration of the course. Your team will
meet at the beginning of the Monday class to share the data (two “data sets” related to the topic of
the week) that you have collected during the previous week with your team members. At the
beginning of the Wednesday class, you will share your ideas/feedback on your group’s minipaper submission for that week. In other words, you MUST come to class AND be on time for
these aspects of the course. One point will be deducted for each class that you miss or team
meeting that you are late for. (Your absence will only be excused with a doctor’s note.) Your
degree of enthusiastic participation and contribution to your team’s assignments will affect your
overall attendance and participation mark.
2. Data Collection and Mini-Papers: 40% (4 X 10%) + 10% for the Editor of each submission.
Four times during the term your team of four will have to submit a mini-paper on a major
topic area of the course. For each topic area (which consists of two weeks), you must observe and
collect data each week; on each of the following Mondays, you will have to bring a “data set”,
with an accompanying discussion of the concepts or ideas that each exemplifies. Each data set
and analysis will be one to two pages (no more). You will submit this to your chosen editor for
that mini-paper, as well as to the instructor at the beginning of each Monday class. Once during
the term, you will take the role of editor, whose job it will be to compile the data and put it into an
organized mini-paper, with introduction and conclusion. You will include one example (the best)
from each team member for each mini-paper.
Each contributing member of the team will receive a mark out of 10 for their section
(minus 25% for each day that your submissions are late to the instructor and the editor). The
editor will receive a mark out of 10 for the overall mini-paper (minus 25% for each day the paper
is submitted late to the instructor). More details on how to observe and collect data for each of the
individual topics, as well as the rhetorical structure of the mini-papers, will be provided in class.
Length of each mini-paper: about six to eight pages double-spaced.
Due dates for mini-papers: Fridays, Feb. 3rd; Feb. 17th; Mar 16th; Mar 30th. Emailed as Word
attachments, by midnight. The filename and subject line of the message must be in the following
format, using the number of the minipaper and the name of the editor: MP1_firstname_lastname.
3. Annotated websites: 10%
For each class (other than the first and last), in addition to the required readings, you will
have to search the internet for two websites or webpages related to the concepts that we are
studying that week, and write a two paragraph annotation (each paragraph can be 5-10 sentences).
The first paragraph should be why you liked the website, and the second should outline what you
discovered or learned from it (or vice versa). You will refer to these sources in the data sets and
analyses that you give to your editor. In the last class, you will submit your annotations for the
whole term. Due date: Monday, April 2.
4. Take home exam: 25%
The take home exam will require you to produce a paper which outlines the 8 main areas
taught in the course and presents the data sets taken from your group’s mini-papers to illustrate
them. The submission will basically be a revision of the collection of mini-papers done over the
term. Due date: Monday, April 9.
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COURSE TOPICS
The following topics will be covered during the course; however, individual topics will vary in length and
there is overlap among them. Other readings and relevant websites will be introduced as the course
progresses. In addition, you will be responsible for exploring each of the course topics and key concepts
on the internet. Be sure to check for announcements in class.
Jan 9-11. Introduction: Language as code versus language as discourse
Montgomery, “Introduction” (pp. 1-8)
Holtgraves, “Introduction” (pp. 1-8)
TOPIC AREA 1: LANGUAGE VARIETIES
Jan. 16-18. Regional and social varieties: Language, dialect, accent.
Montgomery, ch. 3: “Language and regional variation” (pp. 73-88)
Holtgraves, ch. 3 (first part): “Social variation” (pp. 64-69)
Jan 23: Bring data set on regional and social varieties
Jan 23-25. Situational varieties: Register and (in)formality.
Montgomery, ch. 6: “Language and situation” (pp. 123-148)
Holgraves, ch. 3 (second part): “Language styles or registers” (pp. 70-74)
Jan. 30: Bring data set on situational varieties
MP1 due: Fri. Feb. 3
TOPIC AREA 2: LANGUAGE VARIATION
Jan 30-Feb 1: Societal multi-lingualism: Standards, prescriptions and languages in contact.
Montgomery, ch. 5: “Language and subculture” (pp. 113-123)
Montgomery, ch. 7: “Language and social class” (pp. 159-169)
Montgomery, ch. 8 (first part): “Language and gender” (pp. 173-184)
Montgomery, ch. 4: “Language and ethnicity” (pp. 95-106)
Feb 6: Bring data set on societal multi-lingualism
Feb 6-8. Individual multi-lingualism: Multi-lingual contact and code-switching
Holtgraves, ch. 3 (third part): “Stylistic variation” (pp. 74-80).
Feb 13: Bring data set on individual multi-lingualism
MP2 due: Fri. Feb 15.
Feb 13-15. Language in thought and culture
Montgomery, ch. 11: “Language and representation” (pp. 249-283)
Holtgraves, ch. 6: “Language and social thought” (pp. 150-176)
Feb 20-22. Winter Break
TOPIC AREA 3: LANGUAGE AS ACTION AND INTERACTION
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Feb. 27-29. Language as social action: Functions, intentions and speech acts.
Montgomery, ch. 10: “Language and social interaction” (pp. 217-242)
Holtgraves, ch. 1: “Speech acts and intenstions” (pp. 9-36).
Mar 5: Bring data set on speech acts
Mar 5-7. Language as social interaction: Conversation and turn-taking
Holtgraves, ch. 4: “Conversational structure” (pp. 89-120)
Holtgraves, ch. 3 (fourth part): “Conversational rule violations and impressions” (pp. 81-88)
Mar 12: Bring data set on conversational analysis
MP3 due: Fri. Mar. 16.
TOPIC AREA 4: LANGUAGE, IDENTITY, POWER AND UNDERSTANDING
Mar 12-14. Discourse, identity and power relations
Holtgraves, ch. 2: Face management and politeness” (pp. 37-63)
Montgomery, ch. 8: “Language and gender”, second part (pp. 184-198)
Mar 19: Bring data set on face, identity and power
Mar 19-21. Discourse, misunderstandings and perspective-taking
Holtgraves, ch. 5: “Conversational perspective-taking” (pp. 123-149)
Mar 26: Bring data set on misunderstandings
MP4 due: Fri. Mar. 30.
Mar 26-28. Acquisition of language and discourse
Montgomery, Part 1: “Language Development” (pp. 13-70)
Apr 2-4. Review
Holtgraves, ch. 7: “Language as social action” (pp. 177-200)
OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Requests for Academic Accommodation for Students with Disabilities
Students with disabilities needing academic accommodations are required to contact a coordinator at the
Paul Menton Centre to complete the necessary letters of accommodation. The student must then make an
appointment to discuss their needs with the instructor at least two weeks prior to the first class or ITV
test. This is to ensure sufficient time is available to make the necessary accommodation arrangements.
Requests for Academic Accommodation for Religious Observance
Students requesting academic accommodation on the basis of religious observance should make a formal,
written request to their instructors for alternate dates and/or means of satisfying academic requirements.
Such requests should be made during the first two weeks of class, or as soon as possible after the need for
accommodation is known to exist, but no later than two weeks before the compulsory academic event.
Accommodation is to be worked out directly and on an individual basis between the student and the
instructor(s) involved. Instructors will make accommodations in a way that avoids academic
disadvantage to the student. Students or instructors who have questions or want to confirm
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accommodation eligibility of a religious event or practice may refer to the Equity Services website for a
list of holy days and Carleton’s Academic Accommodation policies, or may contact an Equity Services
Advisor in the Equity Services Department for assistance.
Requests for Academic Accommodation for Pregnancy
Pregnant students requiring academic accommodations are encouraged to contact an Equity Advisor in
Equity Services to complete a letter of accommodation. The student must then make an appointment to
discuss her needs with the instructor at least two weeks prior to the first academic event in which it is
anticipated the accommodation will be required.
Writing Tutorial Service:
Students who wish to get strategic assistance on their written assignments can make an appointment with
the Writing Tutorial Service, 215PA. The tutor can also contact me to get more information on the nature
of the major project for this course.
Plagiarism:
It is not permitted, under any circumstances, for students to take wordings directly from another source
(for example, from the internet, from a published article, or from another student’s work) and include
them in your own writing without explicitly acknowledging (with quotation marks and a reference to the
source) where you got them from. This is considered a serious instructional offense. If you are concerned
about being able to write a completely original paper for this course, please see me before being tempted
to plagiarize.
FIPPA and Ethical Practices:
The Freedom of Information and Privacy Act requires that we be respectful of others’ wishes for personal
privacy. This means that we will be careful in doing and reporting research, making sure that we inform
the participants of what we are doing and get their consent. It also means that I would will request you
written consent on the attached form to use material and papers that you produce in this class to
potentially show, in a positive and respectful light, to future classes. You may feel free to specify
precisely the aspects that you will permit or not permit without any consequences in terms of course
evaluation.
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