LANGUAGE AND CULTURE                                                       ANT 315

2:00 to 2:50 MWF – SJ211                                                              Winter 2006

 

Dan Miller, Ph.D.                       

Office: SJ411                    

Hours: 3 - 5 Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays               

Phone:  229.2430                               

e-mail: Dan.Miller@notes.udayton.edu

http://academic.udayton.edu/DanMiller/    

 

Language and Culture is an introduction to the scientific study of the social and cultural dimensions of language.  We will study how language affects thought, perception, reality, behavior, culture and society.  Beginning with the biological and evolutionary bases of language and culture we will then discuss various theories and methodologies that have developed to study and understand language and language use.  Specific topics addressed include: language development, pragmatics, nonverbal behavior, totalitarian language, language and gender, language and disadvantage, and speech pathologies.

 

Texts and Readings

 

Ottenheimer, Harriet. THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF LANGUAGE (2006)

Ottenheimer, Harriet. THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF LANGUAGE: WORKBOOK & READER

Tannen, Deborah. YOU JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND: WOMEN AND MEN IN CONVERSATION (2001)

 

Additional readings will be assigned throughout the course.  These readings will be available either as e-mail attachments or through electronic reserve from Roesch Library.  The password and instructions for accessing these readings will be distributed in class.  The syllabus and readings are not set in concrete.  Invariably, changes will be made.

 

Course Requirements and Evaluation

 

Your final grade will be assessed from your performance on four 40 point written exams and eight workbook exercises, each worth 5 points – for 200 total points.  The material covered on the exams will be drawn both from lectures and readings. 

 

Final grades will be distributed along the following guidelines:

 

200 – 190 = A           179 – 173 = B+          159 – 150 = C+        129 – 110 = D

189 – 180 = A-          172 – 166 = B           149 – 140 = C          109 –      = F

                          165 – 160 = B-          139 – 130 = C-

 

 

Course Outline

Assigned readings and exam dates are listed in the following outline.  Both are subject to change. Study guides will be distributed in class at least a week before each exam. The numbers on the following outline are not indicators of weeks in the semester.  Rather, they merely note sequence.  

 

  1. Introduction to and History of Anthropological Linguistics and Sociolinguistics

Readings:     Chapter 1 in Ottenheimer and Reading 1.0 in the Workbook

 

  1. Biological, Evolutionary, and Behavioral Theories of Language

Readings:     Hockett and Ascher – Speech and the Human Revolution

          Chapter 8 in Ottenheimer and Reading 8.0 in the Workbook

 

  1. Language, Perception, Thought, and Reality

Readings:     Whorf – The Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior to Language

                   Chapter 2 in Ottenheimer and 2.0 in the Workbook

                   Sapir-Whorf and What to Tell the Students

 

Test 1 – January 27th

 

  1. Components of Language

Readings:     Chapters 3 and 4 in Ottenheimer and 4.0 in the Workbook

 

  1. The Ethnography of Communication

Readings:     Chapter 5 in Ottenheimer and Reading 5.0 in the Workbook

                             Watzlawick, Beavin, and Jackson – Some Tentative Axioms of

                                      Communication

 

  1. Pragmatics of Communication

Readings:     Tannen, Deborah – YOU JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND

                   Brown and Gillman – Pronouns of Power and Solidarity

                   Tannen – The Relativity of Linguistic Strategies: Rethinking Power

                             And Solidarity in Gender Dominance

                   Meltzer and Musolf – Have a Nice Day.

Mills, Sara – Rethinking Politeness, Impoliteness, and Gender Identity

 

Test 2 – February 24th

 

  1. Non-verbal Behavior and Kinesics

Readings:     Chapter 6 in Ottenheimer and Reading 6.0 in the Workbook

                   Hall – Silent Assumptions in Social Communication

 

  1. Totalitarian, Politically Correct, and Euphemistic Language

Reading:       Carlin – On Euphemisms (handout)

 

  1. Writing, Literacy, and Culture

Readings:     Chapter 7 in Ottenheimer and Reading 7.0 in the Workbook

 

  1. Language Change: Dialects, Pidgins, Creoles, and Bilingualism

Readings:     Chapter 9 in Ottenheimer and Reading 9.0 in the Workbook

 

Test 3 – March 24th

 

  1. Language, Race, and Social Class

Readings:     Chapter 10 in Ottenheimer and Reading 10.0 in the Workbook

Bernstein – Social Class, Language, and Socialization

                   Labov – The Logic of Nonstandard English

                   Woods, Keith – The Language of Race

 

  1. Speech Pathologies

Readings:     Johnson – Stuttering: How the Problem Develops

                   Goldstein – Speech and Thinking

 

  1. Language and Technology: Telephones, Computers, Cell Phones, and the Rest

Readings:     Class Handouts

 

Final Examination - Thursday, May 4th at 10:10 a.m.