California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
Academic Senate Report
AS-2241-067/GE
ANT 353, LANGUAGE AND CULTURE – INTERDISCIPLINARY SYNTHESIS
COURSE – AREA C4
Academic Senate Action:
Adopted: 5/16/07
Final Disposition:
Transmitted to President: 5/23/07
AS-2241-067/GE, ANT 353, LANGUAGE AND CULTURE – INTERDISCIPLINARY
SYNTHESIS COURSE – AREA C4
Recommendation:
The Academic Senate recommends for approving this course.
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AS-2241-067/GE, ANT 353, LANGUAGE AND CULTURE – INTERDISCIPLINARY
SYNTHESIS COURSE – AREA C4
GENERAL EDUCATION UPPER DIVISION COURSE PROPOSAL
EXPANDED COURSE OUTLINE
AREA C.4 HUMANITIES SYNTHESIS
ANT 353 LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
Submitted by: Dorothy D. Wills
I. Catalog Description
ANT 353 Language and Culture (4) Human communication in its social and historical context, the expressive
dimension of culture. Topics include nonverbal communication; dialects and social variation in speech
communities; pidgins and creoles; multilingualism, language planning; language and socialization of children;
semantics, social interaction and communicative ritual; discourse, writing, and technology. 4 hours seminar.
Pre-requisites: Lower Division GE Areas A and C.
II. Required Background or Experience
Lower Division GE Areas A and C.
III. Expected Outcomes
This course synthesizes information on language and culture, human communication, thought and creativity,
literary expression, social and historical diversity. It bridges the humanities field of linguistics and aspects of
history, literature, philosophy, and the performing arts.
Students will:
1. Compare and contrast distinctive features of languages and dialects in addition to Standard English.
2. Develop appreciation for the acquisition of other languages at any level of fluency and for communicative
achievements in prose, poetry, and other performance.
3. Demonstrate connections between language and the broad phenomena of culture, social life, political
relations, and personal experience.
4. Find practical applications (and/or career uses) for language arts, linguistic sciences and foreign language
skills.
5. Compare, with sensitivity, usage differences in literary and vernacular language.
6. Synthesize knowledge gained about the fine and performing arts, philosophy and civilization, and literature
and foreign language.
Students will participate in brainstorming specific objectives for the course on the first day of class.
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AS-2241-067/GE, ANT 353, LANGUAGE AND CULTURE – INTERDISCIPLINARY
SYNTHESIS COURSE – AREA C4
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IV. Text and Readings
Texts: (many other possibilities are available)
Basso, Keith, Portraits of “The Whiteman”: Linguistic Play and Cultural Symbols among the Western Apache.
Cambridge University Press, 1979.
Bonvillain, Nancy, Language, Culture, and Communication. The Meaning of Messages. Upper Saddle River:
Prentice Hall, 2000.
Hickerson, Nancy Parrott, Linguistic Anthropology 2nd ed. Orlando, FL: Harcourt College Publishers, 2000.
Rymer, Russ, Genie: A Scientific Tragedy. New York: Harper-Collins, 1994.
Supplementary Readings: (there is a lot of literature related to this subject)
Linguistic Anthropology
Bonvillain, Nancy, Language, Culture, and Communication. The Meaning of Messages. Upper Saddle River:
Prentice Hall, 2000.
Eschholz, Paul, Alfred Rosa, and Virginia Clark, eds., Language Awareness. New York: St. Martin’s, 1990.
Hickerson, Nancy Parrott, Linguistic Anthropology 2nd ed. Orlando, FL: Harcourt College Publishers, 2000.
Language and Social Groups
Abwunza, Judith M., Women’s Voices, Women’s Power. Dialogues of Resistance from East Africa. Ontario,
Canada: Broadview Press, 1997.
Cortés, Carlos E., The Children are Watching. How the Media Teach about Diversity. New York: Teachers
College Press, 2000.
Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., ed., “Race,” Writing, and Difference. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1985.
Lashgari, Deirdre, ed., Violence, Silence, and Anger. Women’s Writing as Transgression. Charlottesville:
University Press of Virginia, 1995.
Lim, Shirley Geok-Lin and Norman A. Spencer, One World of Literature. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993.
Moerman, Michael, Talking Culture, Ethnography and Conversation Analysis. Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press, 1988.
Variation in Language Use
Basso, Keith, Portraits of “The Whiteman”: Linguistic Play and Cultural Symbols among the Western Apache.
Cambridge University Press, 1979.
Baugh, John and Joel Sherzer, eds., Language in Use. Readings in Sociolinguistics. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice
Hall, 1984.
Beale, Paul, ed., Partidge’s Concise Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English from the Work of Eric
Partridge. New York: MacMillan, 1989.
Fasold, Ralph, The Sociolinguistics of Society. New York: Basil Blackwell, 1984.
Fasold, Ralph, The Sociolinguistics of Language. New York: Basil Blackwell, 1990.
Ingram, David, First Language Acquisition. Method, Description and Explanation. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1989.
Randolph, Vance and George P. Wilson, Down in the Holler. A Gallery of Ozark Folk Speech. Norman:
University of Oklahoma Press, 1970.
Symbolism, Meaning and Performance
Burke, Kenneth, Language as Symbolic Action. Essays on Life, Literature, and Method. Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1966.
Derrida, Jacques, Of Grammatology. Trans. G. C. Spivak. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1974.
Gardner, John and John Maier, Gilgamesh, translated from the Sin-Lezi-Unninni Version. New York: Vintage
Books, 1985.
Jablow, Alta, trans., Gassire’s Lute. A West African Epic. Prospect Heights: Waveland Press, 1971.
Steiner, George, After Babel. Aspects of Language and Translation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975.
Tedlock, Dennis, trans., Popol Vuh. The Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life and the
Glories of Gods and Kings. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1985.
Worsley, Peter, Knowledges. Culture, Counterculture, Subculture. New York: The New Press, 1997.
AS-2241-067/GE, ANT 353, LANGUAGE AND CULTURE – INTERDISCIPLINARY
SYNTHESIS COURSE – AREA C4
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Language and History
Bickerton, Derek, The Roots of Language. Ann Arbor: Karoma.
Bickerton, Derek, Language and Species. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990.
Coward, Rosalind and John Ellis, Language and Materialism. Developments in Semiology and the Theory of the
Subject. Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1970.
Dalby, David, ed., Language and History in Africa. New York: Africana, 1970.
Fleming, William, Arts and Ideas, 8th ed. Ft. Worth: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1991.
Foucault, Michel, The Order of Things. An Archaeology of the Human Sciences, a translation of Les Mots et les
Choses. New York: Vintage, 1970.
Habermas, Jurgen, trans. Thomas McCarthy. Communication and the Evolution of Society. Boston: Beacon,
1976.
Rymer, Russ, Genie: A Scientific Tragedy. New York: Harper-Collins, 1994.
This is by no means an exhaustive list. Books may be supplemented by journal articles, Internet sources, and
videos. Numerous titles are available on and off campus.
V. Minimum Student Material
Students should have access to email and Internet. They should be prepared to conduct field assignments.
VI. Minimum College Facilities
Smart classroom.
AS-2241-067/GE, ANT 353, LANGUAGE AND CULTURE – INTERDISCIPLINARY
SYNTHESIS COURSE – AREA C4
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VII. Course Outline
Day Topic/Activity
1
2
3
4
5
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INTRODUCTION
Introduction to linguistic anthropology and the study
of language and culture. What is language? Some
myths (narratives) and misconceptions about
language, linguistics, and human communication.
Course overview.
A broad perspective on human and animal
communicative behavior. Body language
(proxemics and kinesics).
Hypotheses about the origin of language.
Discussion of readings and project topics.
Development and forms of writing (orthography).
LANGUAGE STRUCTURE
The structure of language: universals, similarities,
and differences. Meet the International Phonetic
Alphabet. Presentation of two broad project
concepts: 1. language extinction, 2. language and
the internet, within which individual projects will be
defined (with instructor input and approval).
Levels of structure: Phonetics, phonology, and
morphology. Wild children, chimps, and grammar.
Syntax, semantics, and pragmatics (language in
context). Transformational generative grammar
(Chomsky’s theory).
Outcome or
goal for student
learning.
Reading/Assignment
Open perspective.
Reading assignments from
texts or handouts will be
provided.
Examine
linguacentrism.
Informal (ungraded) listening
assignment.
End
linguacentrism.
Be prepared to discuss
listening assignment.
Identify major
structural features
of language.
Select topic for #1.
Recognize skills
related to
structural levels.
Understand issues
of language
differences.
Handouts provided.
Select project topic.
AS-2241-067/GE, ANT 353, LANGUAGE AND CULTURE – INTERDISCIPLINARY
SYNTHESIS COURSE – AREA C4
Day Topic/Activity
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
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LEARNING LANGUAGE
Language acquisition: the first (child)
language. Biological basis. Language in
relation to maturation and cognitive
development.
General sequence of linguistic development:
phonology, morphology, syntax.
Cross-cultural case studies in child
language. Wolof, Hausa, English, bilingual
families. Methodological issues in language
acquisition research.
Context of acquisition. Socialization and
parental speech (baby talk).
Second language acquisition. The
phenomenon of ‘accent’. Dialectology and
code-switching.
LANGUAGES IN CONTEXT
Bi- and multi-lingualism in history and the
modern world. How languages change.
Translation theory.
Languages in contact. Lingua francas,
pidgins and creoles. Diglossia.
Bickerton’s hypothesis. How creolization,
language acquisition by children, and the
origin of language are related.
Outcome or goal for
student learning.
Reading/Assignment
Understand main theory of
the process of child
language acquisition.
Assignment #1 (foreign
language) due.
Identify problems in
acquisition.
Find subject for Ass. #2
(child).
Handouts provided.
Handouts provided.
Increase skill in
communicating with
children.
Awareness of role of input.
Sharpen parental
communication skills.
Improve receptivity to new
language acquisition.
Improve facility with
language learning.
Assignment #2 (child
language) due.
Greater awareness of the
nature of linguistic variety.
Compare theories of
language development.
Find subject for Ass. #3
(adult SL learner).
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AS-2241-067/GE, ANT 353, LANGUAGE AND CULTURE – INTERDISCIPLINARY
SYNTHESIS COURSE – AREA C4
Day Topic/Activity
15
16
17
18
19
SOCIAL USE AND VARIATION IN
LANGUAGE
The ethnography of speaking. Language
in society. Gender, sub-cultures,
stigmatized groups (e.g., queer identity or
community, African-Americans),
professions.
Native American attitudes to language.
Typical ‘Whiteman’ attitudes. Background
on Apache culture. Speech events and
speech acts.
Language as performance: joking, ritual
speech, insults, taboos, poetic speech,
glossolalia …
Social stratification in relation to language
behavior. Case study of Wolof people.
Beliefs about language.
Speech styles, idiolects, and situational
code-switching. Slang, jargon, argots, and
secret languages.
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Outcome or goal
for student
learning.
Reading/Assignment
Relate language to
social phenomena.
Attend language performance
(lecture, sermon, spoken word,
poetry reading … )
Understand contact
relationship between
Native and White.
Assignment #3 (adult learner) due.
Participate in dramatic
interpretation of ‘Whiteman’ joking.
Improve ability to
monitor oral
performance.
Place linguistic
phenomena in social
framework.
Identify idiosyncrasies
of personal speech.
Handouts provided. Literary
reading assignment.
Select topic for Ass. #4 (country
language policy).
Project statement due.
AS-2241-067/GE, ANT 353, LANGUAGE AND CULTURE – INTERDISCIPLINARY
SYNTHESIS COURSE – AREA C4
Day
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
Topic/Activity
LANGUAGE, INDIVIDUAL, AND
COMMUNITY
Language planning and policy. The
classification and distribution of modern
languages.
Educational policy and administration in a
multilingual context. The case of Nigeria.
Political language and the politics of language.
Propaganda and disinformation. Advertising.
Cognition, perception, speech pathology, and
disordered communication (e.g., schizophrenic
speech).
MEANING
Language and culture. World view, metaphor,
and meaning. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.
Ethnographic semantics. Color terms, names
for diseases, ‘snow’ in Eskimo.
The demise of the diversity of languages. A bit
on recent language history and the current
situation. Public (mis)information and the
demise of ‘tribal’ languages.
Discourse analysis and ethnomethodology
(social interaction theory). Goffman’s
dramaturgical model of ‘face’.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
Modern language use and social
communication. Discussion of gossip project.
We will meet for discussion, assessment, debriefing.
Synthesize course activities and learning.
Outcome or goal for
student learning.
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Reading/Assignment
Apply linguistic analysis to
community development.
Apply linguistic analysis to
classroom/teaching.
Identify underlying themes of
public communication.
Apply linguistic analysis to
individual differences.
Handouts. Another
short story or poem.
Assignment #4
(language policy) due.
Begin research for
Ass. #5 (gossip).
Able to ask meaningful
questions about meaning
itself.
Refine concept of how
language maps reality.
Develop educational tools on
language survival.
Project outline and
bibliography due.
Creative writing
exercise.
Competent to design
research on feature of
sociolinguistic behavior.
Develop directions for
implementing change.
Wisdom and success!
Assignment #5
(gossip survey) due.
Projects due.
AS-2241-067/GE, ANT 353, LANGUAGE AND CULTURE – INTERDISCIPLINARY
SYNTHESIS COURSE – AREA C4
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Student Requirements
Students have five homework projects assigned, out of which four are required for evaluation. The five projects
are (a) a mini- study of a foreign language, (b) a child language acquisition study, (c) a life history interview and
linguistic analysis of an adult English-learner, (d) a developing country language planning exercise, and (e) a
gossip survey and interview. One assignment must be a written report and the others may employ multimedia
(web page, video…) as well as or instead of a written report. In addition, students will do a longer, written,
individual project on a topic or theme of interest to them in the general field of language and culture. Students
receive a list of sixty possible topics for research.
VIII. Instructional Methods
Seminar-style discussion and lecture will be supplemented by in-class reading, writing, and drama. Several
assignments require field exploration.
IX. Evaluation of Outcomes
A. Grading of Student Performance and Assessing Educational Outcomes
Work for the quarter will comprise a portfolio of research and reading. Pre-, mid- and end of quarter
assessments will also provide information as to progress toward objectives. Students are encouraged to
turn in drafts of their projects and homework exercises for feedback. Some peer evaluation and student
self-evaluation will be done on writing exercises. Learning goals of specific lectures, readings, or activities
will be assessed through student self-reporting and evaluation of written work. Students are expected to
show progress in articulating their ideas, relating language studies to other fields of the humanities, and
involving themselves in appreciation of a broad spectrum of communicative and expressive activity.
B. Assessment of the Course
Outcomes assessment will be carried out through course portfolio evaluation, in addition to other methods
applied specifically to the following outcomes:
1.
Assessment of Expected Outcomes
Outcome 1: Comparative analysis of structural features of languages and dialects. This can be
assessed through in-class or take-home exercises.
Outcome 2: Appreciation of communicative achievements. This can be assessed through
written essays, oral presentations, or other reports, presented in portfolio, in class, or at
intervals.
Outcome 3: Demonstration of connectedness of language to domains of culture, politics,
science, etc. This outcome can be assessed by test questions requiring textual analysis.
Outcome 4: Applications for linguistics and languages. This can be assessed in class
discussion, oral presentation, essay, or test.
Outcome 5: Evaluation of usage. Students can demonstrate this outcome through reflective
essays.
2. Assessment as a GE Synthesis Course
Outcome 6: Synthesize knowledge gained about the fine and performing arts, philosophy and
civilization, and literature and foreign language. This can be assessed through portfolio
evaluation.
Submitted by: Dorothy D. Wills