Missouri Western State College
Division of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Department of English, Foreign Languages and Journalism

ENG 232: Language Awareness

Section 01 - TTh 8:00-9:30 -  JGM 119
Fall 2002
Instructor: Dr. Donaher
Office: Eder Hall (aka SS/C) 222 L
Office Hours: 11:30-12:30 and 2:00-3:30 TTh and by appointment
Phone: 816-271-5964
Email: donaher@missouriwestern.edu
URL: http://staff.missouriwestern.edu/~donaher

Course Philosophy and Objectives

 
          "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean--neither more nor less."
          "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."
          "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master--that's all."
-- Lewis Caroll, Through the Looking Glass


The English language is nobody's special property.

-- Derek Walcott, Writers at Work


I love the language, that soft bastard Latin, / Which melts like kisses from a female mouth.

-- Lord Byron, Beppo


"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!"

-- Caliban in Shakespeare's The Tempest

Language is fun. This class is designed to show you just how cool (as in California  kewl ) the study of language can be. Over the course of the semester, we will

Required Materials

Textbook:

Other: Assignments

Commonplace Book
Your Commonplace Book is a language journal in which you reflect casually and briefly on your daily language observations, the language artifacts you are gathering, and your growing appreciation of language fun-ness. Entries will be used and shared in class. Carry it with you or write in it at the end of each day.

Daily Assignments and Quizzes
Our daily assignments begin with the creation of our Star Wars names and include answering questions about the readings, doing field research, learning to divide language into its components, and creating messages to send to other worlds. Some activities will extend beyond class time and require work outside of class. We will also share our insights and growing collection of language artifacts. The questions and activities will highlight the important points from our readings and will help you prepare for the final exam. There will also be a takehome quiz about 1/2 way through the semester to help you review for the final exam.

Short Papers
We will write three one page papers in response to specific course activities and readings:

  • A report on the history of a word in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED)
  • An analysis of fieldwork done in your personal speech community
  • An explanation of your linguistic considerations for the message you created to send out to other worlds .
    • Language Portfolio
    Your Language Portfolio will begin with a one page Language and Literacy Narrative that examines and reflects upon language issues that are important to you. You will include in your portfolio a selection of  five language artifacts gathered during the semester that illustrate some aspect or aspects of language theory and/or that reflect your interests in and concerns about language. For each artifact, you will include an explanation and analysis of the language issue raised.

    Final Exam
    The Final Exam will contain two parts: a knowledge portion drawn from the readings, films, lectures, activities, discussion, and quiz and a short essay portion. You will be given some indication on a day-to-day basis of the kinds of knowledge you will need to retain for the final exam, as well as a study guide late in the semester to help you prepare for the knowledge portion of the exam. The best preparation, though, comes daily, by taking good notes and by reviewing those notes often. You will also be given the essay questions to prepare in advance, and you may choose the questions you feel most comfortable responding to.

    Have Fun
    And I mean it. Don't let academic sounding essay titles like "Developmental Milestones in Motor and Language Development" discourage you! Even the most abstruse essay contains some fascinating bits of language lore that we will enjoy testing, debating, mangling, and dismantling. And while technical jargon will be required learning, really, really, really technical jargon will merely be bandied about in class in the spirit of  "so that's what that's called!" and "hmm, isn't that interesting?" and "geez, who would've thought?"

    Grading

    Over the course of the semester, students will read a variety of essays about language and linguistics. In addition to the readings and quizzes, students will do a number of daily assignments, keep a Commonplace Book, write three short papers, create a Language Portfolio, and take a final exam. In order to pass the course, you complete the papers, submit the language portfolio, and take the final exam. In addition, the quality of your work, the percentage of the work that you complete, and your efforts at participation will determine your final grade.

    Your Final Grade Distribution is as follows:

    Other Requirements

    Attendance and Promptness
    Attendance is mandatory. Regular attendance is an essential part of the student's educational experience and a requirement for an adequate evaluation of student academic progress. You are responsible for material covered or assignments given which you missed because of absence. School functions, illness, and personal crisis do not absolve you from your classroom obligations, so while due consideration is given to the student struck by lightening on the way to class, an absence cannot be designated as "excused" or "unexcused"--it simply "is."  I consider two absences to be reasonable; absences beyond two will affect your final grade, as you are not here to participate or turn in your work. Chronic lateness will count toward this total.

    Participation And Preparation
    You will be expected to make significant contributions to the class in the form of participation and preparation. Participation includes the contributions you make to class discussion and the effort you make to be a part of our discourse community. Preparation includes doing the daily readings and responses as assigned, as well as engaging exuberantly in our activities. Keep in mind that live classroom discussion

  • gives you practice arguing with others respectfully and professionally
  • gives you opportunities to formulate applications of principles
  • gives you prompt feedback on difficult or confusing issues and material
  • increases your retention of material through explaining, summarizing, and questioning.
    • Classroom Courtesy
    Students are expected to be courteous and respectful in all of their exchanges with the instructor and other students. We, as students of language, should be particularly careful to note how tone and language contribute to the overall impression of our words. The college expects all students to conduct themselves so as to maintain an effective environment for learning, to act responsibly in accordance with good taste, and to respect fully the rights of others.

    Student Disability
    Any student in this course who has a disability that prevents the fullest expression of abilities should contact me during the first week so that we can discuss class requirements.

    Late Work
    All assignments are due at the beginning of the hour on the due date, unless otherwise specified. Learning is a cumulative process and each assignment in this course is designed to build on the last assignment; therefore, late work disrupts this important aspect of the learning process. Except for the formal papers, no late work will be accepted. Papers will not be discounted if turned in within 24 hours of the due date. Otherwise, they will be discounted one letter grade for every class period past the due date. No work will be accepted after the last class day before the final exam.

    Computer Usage
    You will be called upon to read materials online, use Webboard, and to use computers in and outside of class time. We will post some of our materials to Webboard so that we may more fully share our ideas and increase our interchanges. Further, the final papers and portfolio for this course must be word processed.

    Plagiarism

    . . . it is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation. -- Herman Melville
    Plagiarism is literally the stealing of others' words and ideas and using them as your own. Make every effort to give credit where credit is due, and if you are not sure of "how"--ask. Students are responsible for proving that all work turned in for grading is their own original work. Papers with evidence of plagiarism will receive a zero.

    Final Thoughts
    Life is unpredictable--at least it appears so. I recognize that at times your outside life may interfere with your classroom life. It is up to you to set your priorities and to realize that "doing it all" is not always possible or even desirable. If you are feeling stressed about all you have to accomplish, remember that sometimes you can mess up without it affecting your grade unduly. If, however, what should be an occasional problem completing your work becomes a chronic problem, come see me. If I understand what is going on in your life, I can more easily help you achieve your goals.

    Course Schedule

    Introduction to Language

    August

    20 (T)

     22 (Th)
    Reading for Class: Owner's Manual pp 31-44
    Film: Discovering the Human Language
    27 (T)
    Reading for Class: Daniels' "Nine Ideas About Language"pp 43-60


    History of Language
    29 (Th)

    Film: The Story of English, Part Two: The Mother Tongue
    Assign OED Report
    September

    3 (T)

    Reading for Class: Owner's Manual pp 139-166
    5 (Th)
    Meet in Library to work on OED Reports
    10 (T)
    Reading for class: Hughes' "Language and Writing" pp 705-722


    Language and Culture

    12 (Th)

    Readings for class: Owner's Manual pp 277-306 and Shuy's "Dialects: How They Differ" pp 292-312
    Assign Speech Community Fieldwork Assignment
    17 (T)
    OED Reports Due
    Film: American Tongues
    19(Th)
    Readings for class: Roberts' "Speech Communities" pp 267-276 and  Smitherman's "'It Bees Dat Way Sometime': Sounds and Structures of Present Day Black English" pp 328-343
    24 (T)
    Reading for class: Pfeiffer's "Girl Talk-Boy Talk" pp 357-364 and Tannen, "'I'll Explain It to You': Lecturing and Listening" pp 365-377


    Language Acquisition

    26 (Th)

    Film: Acquiring the Human Language
    October

    1 (T)

    Reading for Class: Moskowitz's "The Acquisition of Language" pp 529-555 and Lenneberg's "Developmental Milestones in Motor and Language Development" 556-559
    3 (Th)
    Speech Community Field Work and Analysis Due
    Reading for Class: Aitchison's "Predestinate Grooves: Is There a PreOrdained Language 'Program'?" pp 560-579


    Sounds and Structures in Language

    8 (T)

    Reading for class: Owner's Manual pp 50-57 and Callary's "Phonetics" pp 113-133
    10 (Th)
    Reading for class: Ohio State University Language Files' "The Minimal Units of Meaning: Morphemes" pp 134-143
    15 (T)
    Reading for class: Jacobs and Rosenbaum's "What Do Native Speakers Know About Their Language?" pp 183-188
    17 (Th)
    Reading for class: Heny's "Syntax: The Structure of Sentences" pp 189-224
    21 (T)
    Reading for class: Owner's Manual pp 215-237
    24 (Th)
    Take Home Quiz Due
    Reading for class: Emmorey's "Sign Language" pp 79-95
    Constructing and Constructed Languages

    29 (T)

    Francis' "Word-Making: Some Sources for New Words" pp 154-165 and Owner's Manual pp 248-257
    31 (Th)
    Commonplace Books Due - 50 Entries
    Reading for class: Owner's Manual pp 248-25
    Web reading for class: "An Introduction to the Klingon Language" at http://www.uni-duisburg.de/SCHULEN/GDM/schueler/stpage/klingon.htm


    Symbolic Language and Communicating with Extraterrestrials

    November

    5 (T)

    Film: Star Trek Next Generation: Darmok
    Assign ET Messages and Linguistic Explanation
    7 (Th)
    Reading for class: Pinker's "The Tower of Babel" pp 240-256
    Interplanetary Messages - Inclass readings to be assigned
    12 (T)
    Creation of  interplanetary messages


    Animal Communication (Bonus points to anyone who can sing the theme song from Dr. Doolittle)

    14 (Th)

    Film: Signs of the Apes, Songs of the Whales
    19 (T)
     Reading for class: Kemp and Smith's "Signals, Signs, and Words: From Animal Communication to Language" pp 658-680 and Ohio State University Language Files' "True Language?" pp 74-77
    21(Th)
    Messages and Explanation of Linguistic Considerations Due
    Film: A Conversation with Koko
    26 (T)
    Work on finishing Language Portfolios
    28 (Th)
    Thanksgiving Holiday
    December

    3 (T)

    Language Portfolios Due
    Review for Final Exam
    10 (T)
    Final Exam 8:30-10:20 pm