In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. John I.1
You taught me language; and my profit
on ‘t
Is, I know how to curse: the red plague rid you,
For learning me your language!
William Shakespeare, The Tempest
Political language—and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists—is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. George Orwell
“It’s a stupid name enough!” Humpty Dumpty interrupted impatiently. “What
does it mean?”
“
Must a name mean something?” Alice asked doubtfully.
“
Of course it must,” Humpty Dumpty said with a short laugh: “my
name means the shape I am—and a good handsome shape it is, too. With
a name like yours, you might be any shape, almost.”
Lewis Carroll
Linguistics becomes an ever eerier area, like
I feel like I’m in Oz,
Just trying to tell it like it was. Ogden Nash
Focus
The overriding theme of this course is to understand language in play—linguistically,
socially, psychologically, and historically—so, we play with language.
This course examines both oral and print forms of English change through time,
space, technology, and people. Learning more about the phonemic, morphemic,
syntactic, and semantic aspects of English, we explore the language through
linguistic, cultural, historical, and political lenses.
Learning Goals
for Undergraduate Students: Through the readings, assignments,
and class activities in this course, you will
A. understand the cultural, political, linguistic, and technological influences
on the English language and its British and American dialects across time;
B. understand and analyze the different types of language changes operating
in Old, Middle, Early Modern, and Modern Englishes;
C. reflect on your idiolect and language development in relationship to the
evolution of the English language and its British and American dialects;
D. extend your understanding of English's diverse linguistic developments into
various real-world contexts;
E. know the distinctions among dialects, registers, and language varieties;
F. establish relationships between language use, language history and theory,
and language instruction.
Learning Goals
for Graduate Students: Through the readings, assignments, and
class activities in this course, you will
A. understand the cultural, political, linguistic, and technological influences
on the English language and its British and American dialects across time;
B. understand and analyze the different types of language changes operating
in Old, Middle, Early Modern, and Modern Englishes;
C. reflect on your idiolect and language development in relationship to the
evolution of the English language and its British and American dialects;
D. extend your understanding of English's diverse linguistic developments into
various real-world contexts;
E. know the distinctions among dialects, registers, and language varieties;
F. establish relationships between language use, language history and theory,
and language instruction;
G. research, synthesize, and communicate the relationships between British
and American cultures and languages in a specific context, such as gendered
language, dialect variations, electronic discourses, educational language standards,
national and social identity, writing systems, multilingualism, naming, technical
and professional languages, etc.
Readings
Simon Winchester’s The Professor and the Madman. Harper Collins, 1998
David Graddol, Dick Leith, and Joan Swann’s English: History, Diversity
and Change. Routledge, 1996
Online Articles (Available in BlackBoard under Ereserve—listed here in
order of reading)
Stephan Gramley and Kurt-Michael Patzold. “English in America.” A
Survey of Modern English. 2nd ed. NY: Routledge, 2004. 250-271.
Dennis R. Preston. “The Story of Good and Bad English in the United States.” Richard
Watts and Peter Trudgill, eds. Alternative Histories of English. NY: Routledge,
2002. p. 134-151.
Scott McCloud. “From The Vocabulary of Comics.” Visual Rhetoric
in a Digital World: A Critical Sourcebook. Carolyn Handa. Boston: Bedford/St.
Martin’s, 2004. 195-208.
Irit Rogoff. “Studying Visual Culture.” Visual Rhetoric in
a Digital World: A Critical Sourcebook. Carolyn Handa. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s,
2004. 381-394.
James Milroy and Lesley Milroy. “Two Nations Divided by the Same Language?
The Standard Language Ideology in Britain and the United States.” Authority
in Language: Investigating Standard English. 3rd. ed. New York: Routledge,
1999. p. 150-160.
Juanita R. Comfort. “African-American Women’s Rhetorics and the
Culture of Eurocentric Scholarly Discourse.” Clayann Gilliam Panetta,
ed. Contrastive Rhetoric Revisited and Redefined. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum,
2001. p. 91-104.
Jason Jones. “Language and Class.” Language, Society, and Power:
An Introduction. 2nd ed. Linda Thomas et al. NY: Routledge, 2004.134-155.
Online Texts for Exercises and Class Activities (Available in BlackBoard under
Ereserve)
Zora Neale Hurston. “Spunk.” The Complete Stories. NY: Harper Collins,
1995. 26-32.
Nick Cipollone, Steven Hartman Keiser, and Shravan Vasishth, eds. “Language
and Ethnicity: The Case of African-American English” Language Files. 7th ed. Columbus: Ohio State UP, 1998. 386-392.
Attendance: Since your course grade is influenced by your class participation and your preparedness, regular attendance seems the most logical approach. If you cannot make a class, let me know in advance. More than two absences will lower your course grade.
Oral and Written Requirements
The grades for the course for undergraduate students break out as follows:
Notebook/Exercises/Class Offering --- 40%
Personal Language Essay --- 30%
Individual Statement on Histories and Englishes --- 30%
The grades for the course for graduate students break out as follows:
Notebook/Exercises/Class Offering --- 25%
Personal Language Essay --- 25%
Individual Statement on Histories and Englishes --- 25%
Group Presentation --- 25%
Notebook/Exercises/Class Offering
The objective of the notebook is to add your specific perceptions, reactions,
and analyses to the readings, the handouts, and your class notes. It is due
no later than Tuesday, 25 November. You can do this as a print document (like
keeping a journal/scrapbook), an electronic document that you save on a memory
key or CD, or an online document that you save in your UNCG network space.
Section
I—Reading Language: For each week’s reading assignments
and for the graduate student presentations, you will be responsible for reflecting
on issues of the readings and class time. Each week’s entry should be
at least 400 words. You may respond to discrete aspects of the assigned texts
or larger issues; you may include personal experiences or explore the topics
through a series of questions you work to answer. Moreover, as you read and
reflect, include in this part your observations of language use around you.
While language play is acceptable and necessary in these responses, thoughtful
and engaged reflection is the purpose. During the weeks of the presentations,
you should respond to all aspects of them to the content and its means of presentation,
the handouts or online materials, the activities, the annotated bibliography,
etc. What did you learn; how did the material reinforce or contradict what
you already knew; how did it extend or relate to other information you learned
in this course across the semester; what is your reaction to that information
and why? You can address each presentation individually for 200 words each
or write about both of them together.
Section II—Language Exercises: For many class periods, we will be engaging
in language activities. Sometimes these will be finished outside of class or
done in preparation for the next session. Finishing what we start and offering
a short written response explaining what you discovered is the objective of
this section. There are 8 exercises assigned in the schedule, and you can find
the directions for each in our BlackBoard course under Assignments.
Section III—Class Offering: Each class period will begin and end with
one of you offering no more than a 5-minute segment on some aspect of language
and/or language play. You will offer the example, explain it, and tell us why
you chose it. It may be a short poem, a comic strip, an advertisement, a word
and its etymology, a language story, etc. You may want to tie your offering
to the reading material of the previous or current week, but it is not necessary.
These segments are to remind us of the reciprocity between language and people.
In this section then, you will include your Class Offering, along with your
written statement as to what it means and why you chose it.
Personal Language Essay
On 21 September, you will present a four-to-six page, word-processed text that examines, analyzes, and reflects on your practices and attitudes about language use, abuse, reuse, and/or excuse. On 31 August, we will discuss this in detail and generate ideas. On 14 September, we will share drafts/outlines/written notes and plans for the essay. You might want to watch for an attitude, belief, or metaphor that strikes you about your understanding of language in oral, print, imagistic, or electronic forms. On 21 September bring two print copies to class and attach your Word file in the BlackBoard Discussion Forum entitled “Personal Language Essay,” using your essay title as the header for your thread.
Individual Statement on Histories and Englishes
The course will conclude with your individual statement that captures your understanding of the histories and Englishes you have encountered across this course. You can see this statement as a comprehensive view of the course (all that you want to remember), a synthesis of your learning across the semester, or as an in-depth examination of some aspect of the history of the English language. What it should represent is how you see the relationship between this course and your use of language and future plans in English and/or education. In other words, what is the value for you in knowing about these histories and Englishes? This may be a personal statement or a professional one. No new research needs to be done for this assignment, but cite the sources you include in your statement. This statement may take the form of an essay/article, a series of PowerPoint slides, a website, a teaching unit, a letter, a series of focused diary entries, a comic book, a long poem or series of poems, a speech that you either audio or videotape, a Flash presentation, etc. However, graduate students may not just write up their presentations.
We will discuss this assignment on 5 October, and by 6 pm on 30 November you should attach your statement to the BlackBoard Discussion Forum entitled “Statements on Histories and Englishes.” Also, on 30 November, bring to the dinner party some aspect of the statement to share by reading, explaining, or showing.
Group Research and Presentation (Graduate Students Only)
During the second half of the semester, in groups of three, the graduate students will be making 45-60 minute, interactive presentations on the bi-directional influences of language and culture, particularly as these influences apply to English, its histories and dialects. Topics include dialectology, dialect variations, AAE or Ebonics, gendered language, electronic discourses, educational language standards, national and social identity, writing systems, multilingualism, onomastics/naming, technical and professional languages, English before 1607 CE, World English, the future of English, etc. Your purposes are to inform, to teach, and to delight, so you will have control over the organization, activities, and research of this presentation/workshop. Although you will have some choice over your topics, you will need to include a history component.
Each group member will be responsible for 10 sources, which per person may include no more than 2 websites, 2 media sources, and 2 interviews/lectures. However, those numbers can increase if the person has the minimum number of sources. Think of print and electronic sources as articles, essays, and chapters of books, not entire books; moreover, the texts for this course may be used for and in the presentations, but will not be considered part of the 30 sources. The 30 sources will be compiled in a comprehensive annotated bibliography (attached in BlackBoard). At the time of the presentation, one print copy of the bibliography will be given to me, and it should be posted in the BlackBoard Discussion Forum entitled “Presentation Materials.” If you do a PowerPoint Presentation or use websites as examples/activities, those should also be attached in that Discussion Forum. You will need to make 26 copies of your handouts and print exercises, and to let me know at least one class period in advance about any audio-visual technology you wish to use including a computer lab so that I can make arrangements.
At 8:15 pm on 21 September, we will set the groups and topics, (bring a list of your three top choices/interests), discuss the annotated bibliography, and do a brief overview of how to research linguistics and language topics. At 9 pm on 12 October, we will set dates for the presentations and make audio-visual requests that you are aware of. The presentations are two a week from 26 October to 9 November with one group on 16 November.
Schedule for English 513: History of the English Language
17 August: Communicating Englishes
Course Overview, About You, Food, Communications, and Offerings Sign Up Sheets,
BlackBoard Materials and Instruction
Exercise 1: Three Hears
24 August: Recording Englishes
Readings: The Professor and the Madman
2 Class Offerings
Exercise 2: Dictionary Madness in the Jackson Library
31 August: Americanizing Englishes
Readings: English, Reading A, Crystal p.29-32, Reading B, Webster, p.91-94,
and p. 198
online—Stephan Gramley and Kurt-Michael Patzold. “English in America.” A
Survey of Modern English. 2nd ed. NY: Routledge, 2004. 250-271.
2 Class Offerings
Titillating and Tempestuous Terms or Juggling Jargon (print out from BlackBoard
under Course Information)
Personal Language Essay discussion
Exercise 3: Dialects
7 September: Judging Englishes
Readings: English, Chapter 9 only
online—Dennis R. Preston. “The Story of Good and Bad English in
the United States.” Richard Watts and Peter Trudgill, eds. Alternative
Histories of English. NY: Routledge, 2002. p. 134-151.
2 Class Offerings
Exercise 4: Attitudes or Realities?
14 September: Historicizing Englishes
Readings: English, Chapter 3 and Reading A also p. 3-7
2 Class Offerings
Drafts/Outlines/Written Notes or Plans for Language Essay due for group response
21 September: Personalizing Englishes
Personal Language Essay due
2 Class Offerings
Set Graduate Presentation Groups and Topics (Bring 3 choices on paper)
Researching Language and Linguistics and Doing Annotated Bibliographies
28 September: Writing Englishes
Readings: English, Chapter 2 and Reading A
2 online—Scott McCloud. “From The Vocabulary of Comics.” Visual
Rhetoric in a Digital World: A Critical Sourcebook. Carolyn Handa. Boston:
Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2004. 195-208.
—Irit Rogoff. “Studying Visual Culture.” Visual Rhetoric
in
a Digital World: A Critical Sourcebook. Carolyn Handa. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s,
2004. 381-394.
2 Class Offerings
Exercise 5: Image Nation
5 October: Nationalizing Englishes
Readings: English, Chapter 4 and
Readings A & B
2 Class Offerings
Individual Statement Discussion
Exercise 6: Questioning History
12 October: Colonizing Englishes
Readings: English, Chapter 5 only
online— James Milroy and Lesley Milroy. “Two Nations Divided by
the Same Language? The Standard Language Ideology in Britain and the United
States.” Authority in Language: Investigating Standard English
2 Class Offerings
Set Group Presentation Dates
Exercise 7: Delineation and Creoles
19 October: Juggling Englishes
Readings: English, Chapter 7 p. 270-283, Chapter 8 p. 310-324
2 online— Juanita R. Comfort. “African-American Women’s Rhetorics
and the Culture of Eurocentric Scholarly Discourse.” Clayann Gilliam
Panetta, ed. Contrastive Rhetoric Revisited and Redefined. Mahwah: Lawrence
Erlbaum, 2001. p. 91-104.
—Jason Jones. “Language and Class.” Language, Society,
and
Power: An Introduction. 2nd
ed. Linda Thomas et al. NY: Routledge, 2004.134-155.
2 Class Offerings
Exercise 8: Codeswitching vs Borrowing vs Variation
26 October: Presenting Englishes
Group Presentation 1:
Group Presentation 2:
2 Class Offerings
2 November: Presenting Englishes
Group Presentation 3:
Group Presentation 4:
2 Class Offerings
9 November: Presenting Englishes
Group Presentation 5:
Group Presentation 6:
2 Class Offerings
16 November: Presenting
Englishes
Group Presentation 7:
2 Class Offerings
Course Evaluations
22
November: Tuesday—final
due date for notebooks
23 November: Feasting Englishes—Thanksgiving Break
30 November: Sharing and Celebrating Englishes
Statements Posted in BlackBoard by 6 pm
Dinner Party at Nancy’s home—Bring an aspect of your statement
to share (read, explain, show, perform).