SHELDONISD - C.E. King High School - Foreign Language Department
Cultural Linguistics Course
Syllabus
School Year 2014 – 2015
Teacher Mr. Abdel Moumen Moulay
Course Overview
This course focuses on language as an aspect of human culture, the impact of language in
modern social relationships, and modern media and technology. Lectures will cover the
processes of language acquisition, multilingualism, and linguistics culture. Throughout the
course, as we look at studies of men’s and women’s language in different countries, we will look
for reading and discussing about evidences that men and women speak differently, that one or
the other gender is badly served in their culture by language
Objectives: This course aims to provide abundant and important information for students:
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To acquire knowledge of the relations between language and culture from a linguistic
perspective.
To examine critically the interaction of language and culture, including gender, values,
customs, beliefs, religion, demography, and characteristics of the population.
To learn how a language functions and differs across cultures and how anthropologists
have interpreted topics ranging from the origins of humans to language phenomena in the
present day.
To establish a clear difference between “language and culture” and “linguistic culture”
this one taken as the sum of ideas, values, beliefs, attitudes, prejudices, myths, religious
strict bonds, and all thinkable cultural insides people are used to bring about when using
their heritage ways of talk.
Class Meetings
Monday to Friday (according to school year schedule)
Required learning material
Readings will be available online. Websites are main references for course material, including
short readings, newspaper and magazine articles, essays, and projects that are available online to
public free access. Web links will be provided in class.
Course Requirements
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Participation: Regular attendance and active participation in class
Readings: Reading of all assigned material before or in class
Assessment: For each reading material there will be formative assessments through
which students should illustrate their understanding of course content. The assessments
are due on time, and may be hand-written or typed. If you must handwrite your questions,
make sure they are very neat and legible, and on a clean paperwork.
Homework Assignments: Will be at teacher’s discretion or maybe set as projects (time
and outline of projects will be determined and instructed)
Final exam: May be an exam or a project that will include a presentation in class
Extra credit: Extra credit will be offered periodically throughout the course.
Note: No late work will be accepted.
Grading: According to School grading scale
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Daily grades are given for: participation, engage in active learning, collaborative
attitude, and respectful treatment to all in class.
40%
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Major grades (projects and progress report assessments)
60%
Contents
The course will begin with a general overview of how to study culture, how to define culture,
including cultural beliefs and values, what constitutes a language, and how culture, customs,
beliefs and values are related to the founding of language. We will then turn to examine different
approaches to identify the nature and specific aspects of the relationship between language and
culture.
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Introduction to the subject area language, culture, and linguistics
Language and social relations
Spoken vs written language
Language contact.
How to study cultures
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How beliefs and values define a culture
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How social organizations define a culture
Cultural Awareness (daily life, Hispanic cultures, cultural skills, Latin American vs Spanish
culture, the Spanish speaking world)
Countries to be studied
Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Argentina, Mexico (may be changed for another hispanic
country)
Location, Capital, Climate (temperature, seasons, rain, humidity, and land surface
characteristics), Population: (data and demography), Ethnic Make-up (composition and origin
of inhabitants), Religions (religion shared and distribution), Government, Official language.
Country family values
Countries culture, customs, manners, etiquette, values and how to understand people better.
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The family and the social.
Family and education, especially advanced education.
The structure and the size of the family and the variation in size. Short vs extended
family.
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Familial networks links changes.
Men vs women
Gender stereotypes (Machismo vs Feminismo)
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“Machismo” is the word for male dominance, while “feminismo” is not exactly the
opposite but females has proper influence in social relationships. Changes.
Social differences or social equity.
In what ways do men’s and women’s speech differ in language communities throughout
the world? What
do these differences mean? To what extent do these differences reflect cultural values?
To what extent do differences in the speech of men and women reflect cultural ideas of
power or dominance?
To what extent do the differences in speech of men and women reflect differences in
upbringing within cultural contexts?
How do men and women use language to reflect cultural expectations of masculinity and
femininity? How do we “perform” our gendered identity through language?
Religion
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Predominant religion, different religious beliefs. Acceptance or rejection.
Changes and interchanges of several religions.
Traditions manifest as cultural event in contrast with religious ones.
Holy events and social outfits connected with, many participants of the processions wear
peaked, black hats as the sign of a penitent and walk barefoot, carrying a burden of some
kind.
Etiquette & Customs
Meeting Etiquette - formal and informal ways to greet- (shake hands or not, embrace, pat, kiss,
female and male greet, male and male, female and female, titles –don, doña, first or last name
uses
Dining Etiquette (how do you show yourself to a dinner invitation and what to bring to please
hosts)
Cultures Comparison: Similarities and differences
1. Compare and contrast five locations and cultures developed by their groups(countries
with different language and long distant from each other)
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Education,
Common Occupations,
Social and recreational preferences,
Political affiliations,
Age and religion.
Government type
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Values (passed by family, social groups, institutions, and other influential
organizations) and beliefs
2. The expression of ideas and performing arts shared by those cultures.
3. Ways to obtain goods and food.
4. Religious differences and shares
5. Tools and modes of transportation
Table manners. What to do at the table when invited to a meal. What could be the occasion?
What the hosts do? And what does the guest do?
Protocol of Relationships & Communication
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The Hispanic heritage people prefer to communicate with those they know and trust.
It is important that you spend sufficient time letting your friends and classmates get to
know you.
Face-to-face or cell-phone contact are welcome always and sometimes preferred to
written communication.
The way you present yourself is of critical importance.
It is best to display modesty when describing your achievements and accomplishments.
Communication is formal to non familiar persons and follows rules of protocol.
Avoid confrontation if at all possible. Hispanic people dislike very much to publicly
admit that they are incorrect.
Trust and personal relationships are the cornerstone of serious communication.
Hispanic people, like many other social groups, are concerned that they look good in the
eyes of others and try to avoid looking foolish at all times.
Dress Etiquette
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Business dress is stylish yet, conservative.
Dress as you would like is not the rule.
Elegant accessories are important for both men and women.
Expectations
On completion of the course, the student should be able to identity and describe different types
of social and cultural aspects of linguistic meaning including the ability to discuss the similarities
and differences found in the linguistic expression of social and cultural phenomena, discuss and
critically analyze the concepts: language, culture, linguistic culture, and meaning differences,
and review and present current research in the subject area.
Since discussion of daily readings is an integral part of how the course is conducted, every
student should prepare for class and participate in discussion with some degree of enthusiasm
and knowledge.
Note: Your classes are your job at this point in your life, so please act professionally. Please turn
off cell phones and refrain from texting or other distracting behavior during class.
Readings are from hand outs and material searched online and students are expected to build
ownership of their learning by pursuing themselves toward the appropriate habits of enthusiastic
search online, good use of laptops, handouts, and other media, as well as being prepared to
discuss their findings in class on dates specified along the course.
Homework, assignments, quizzes, short writings, and class-work must be turned in neat and well
organized.