| Language, Culture, and Power
(ANTH 3005) Department of Anthropology, University of Minnesota Fall 2005 David Valentine Class Location: Blegan 415 Class Times: Tu/Th 11:15am -12:30pm Class Dates: 9/6/05-12/14/05 Office: 364 HHH Center Phone: 612.626.8692 Office Hours: Wednesday 2-4 Email: [email protected] TA: tba TA Email: TA Office Hours: TA Office: Course Description: The "English Only" movement in the U.S. has been attempting for years to have English recognized as the nation's official language.... On a daily basis, people with non-standard accents are asked where they come from.... In New Guinea, languages which have thrived for centuries are dying out... People claim that they can "tell" if someone is gay or straight by the way they speak. While language is a universal feature of human culture, and a vital resource for humans' ability to describe and relate to the world around them, language is also deeply political in nature. Language, Culture, and Power aims to consider language as a social and political practice from an anthropological perspective which pays close attention to language in its contexts of use. The complex relationship between language, culture, and power raises important questions: how does language shape our view of the world? What relations of power are produced in language use and beliefs about language? How is language used creatively to produce social worlds? What are the politics of using one variety of language over another? This course seeks to explore these and other questions from a variety of perspectives, including language and world view, the use of metaphors in everyday speech, language socialization, language shift, and language and identity. Students will be required to tape-record and transcribe a conversation to be used as the basis for sociolinguistic analysis through the semester. Above all, we will be concerned with the relationships of power that are deeply enmeshed in everyday language use, and consequently, the major themes of this class revolve around the politics of language and language ideologies. Course Requirements: Class work for the semester will consist of the following formal projects: 1. Transcript you will produce from a taped conversation. 2. Two 4-5 page papers, due in class on days noted in syllabus below. 3. One final paper 6-7 pages due in class on 12/13/05 4. Providing one relevant section of your transcript which reflects on class topics for class discussion. 5. Bi-weekly WebCT postings. 6. Classroom participation There will be no in-class exams for this course Class work is due in class on the days noted in the syllabus below. I do not grant extensions other than for exceptional circumstances. If you believe you are embroiled in such a circumstance, I expect you to request an extension at least a day before the paper is due; DO NOT come to class without completed work unless I have granted you an extension. The teaching assistant and I are always willing to look at drafts of your work up until two days before the due date, which you may email us. We will not, however, accept emailed versions of your papers. Policy on Lateness and Attendance: Please pay particular attention to the following: you are, naturally, expected to attend all classes. It is expected that if you have to miss a class for a valid reason (such as illness or family emergency), you will inform me prior to the class, or as soon thereafter as is possible. Since this is a seminar, your attendance and participation in class discussions is a central part of the course. I will take attendance in the first ten minutes of class. If you arrive late for class, you will not have the opportunity to sign the attendance sheet, and this will be noted as an absence. Please note the attendance policy: more than two unexcused absences will result in a reduced grade for this course. Plagiarism and Grading Plagiarism will not be tolerated, will result in a failing grade, and will be reported to the Student Conduct Committee. The university policy on plagiarism is available at: http://writing.umn.edu/tww/plagiarism/definitions_sara.htm The university grading policies can be found at: http://www1.umn.edu/usenate/policies/gradingpolicy.html Assigned Texts: The following books are required for the course and are available at the university bookstore. Basso, Keith (1996). Wisdom sits in places: landscape and language among the Western Apache. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press Duranti, Alessandro (ed.) (2001). Linguistic anthropology: a reader. Cambridge, MA: Blackwells. Kulick, Don (1992). Language shift and cultural reproduction: socialization, self, and syncretism in a Papua New Guinean village. Cambridge: Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lindquist, Julie (2002). A place to stand: politics and persuasion in a working-class bar. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. Assigned books will be available at the reserve library. Additional course readings listed below will be available via e-reserve. Course Outline Part 1: Language as an Object of Anthropological Investigation 1. Introduction to the course (9/6/05) 2. Language as an Object of Anthropological Investigation I (9/8/05) Readings: Duranti, Alessandro 2001 Linguistic anthropology: history, ideas, issues. In Linguistic anthropology: a reader. Alessandro Duranti (ed). pp. 1-38. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. 3. Language as an Object of Anthropological Investigation II (9/13/05) Readings: Boas, Franz 1889 On alternating sounds. American Anthropologist 2 (3): 47-53. Boas, Franz 1974 [1911] Introduction to the handbook of American Indian languages. in Language, culture and society: a book of readings. Ben G. Blount (ed). p. 12-31. Cambridge, MA: Winthrop. Saussure, Ferdinand de 1985 [1916] The linguistic sign. In Semiotics: an introductory anthology. Robert E. Innis (ed.) pp28-46. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 4. Nuts and Bolts: How Anthropologists Transcribe Talk I (9/15/05) Readings: Bonvillain, Nancy 2000 Language, cultural, and communication: the meaning of messages. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall. 3rd Edition. (chapters 4 and 5 ). Atkinson, J.M. and J. Heritage (eds.) 1989 Transcript notation. In Structures of social action: studies in conversation analysis. pp. ix-xiii. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Edwards, Jane A. 1989 Transcription in discourse. In Oxford International Encyclopedia of Linguistics. W. Bright (ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. **Begin Transcription project this weekend** Part 2: Language and World View 5. The "Whorfian Hypothesis" and "Habitual Thought" I (9/20/05) Readings: Whorf, Benjamin Lee 2001 [1939] The Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior to Language. In Linguistic anthropology: a reader. Alessandro Duranti (ed). pp. 363-381. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. Orwell, George 1983 [1949] Appendix: the principles of Newspeak. In Nineteen Eighty Four. Pp. 257-268. New York: Penguin. Traugott, Elizabeth Closs and Mary Louise Pratt 1980 The Whorfian hypothesis. In Linguistics for students of literature. pp. 106-110. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 6. The "Whorfian Hypothesis" and "Habitual Thought" II (9/22/05) Readings: Reddy, Michael J. 1979 The conduit metaphor: a case of frame conflict in our language about language. In Metaphor and thought. Andrew Ortony (ed.) pp.284-324. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Cohn, Carol 1996 Sex and death in the rational world of defense intellectuals. In Gender and scientific authority. Barbara Laslett et al (eds). Chicago: Chicago University Press. 7. Organizing our Worlds Through Language (9/27/05) Film: Darmok Readings: **Transcription Project Due in Class** Bulmer, R. 1973 Why the cassowary is not a bird. In Rules and meanings: the anthropology of everyday life. Mary Douglas (ed.) pp. 167-193. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Basso, Keith 1988 "Speaking with names": language and landscape among the Western Apache. Cultural Anthropology 3(2):99-130. 8. Language and World View: A Review (9/29/05) Readings: Review Reddy, Cohn, Whorf , and Basso. Part 3: Speech Acts, Speech Communities 9. Communicative Competence (10/4/05) Readings: Hymes, Dell 2001 On Communicative competence. In Linguistic anthropology: a reader. Alessandro Duranti (ed). pp. 53-73. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. Bailey, Benjamin 2001 Communication of respect in interethnic service encounters. In Linguistic anthropology: a reader. Alessandro Duranti (ed). pp. 119-146. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. 10. Speech Acts and Speech Events (10/6/05) Readings: **1st discussion of class transcription projects** Mitchell-Kernan, C. 2001 Signifying and Marking: Two Afro-American Speech Acts. In Linguistic anthropology: a reader. Alessandro Duranti (ed). pp.151-164. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. Sacks, Harvey 1974 An analysis of the course of a joke's telling in conversation. In Explorations in the ethnography of speaking. Richard Bauman and Joel Sherzer (eds.) pp. 337-353. Cambridge: Cambridge 11. Speech Communities I (10/11/05) ** Darmok Paper Due in Class ** Readings: **2nd discussion of class transcription projects** Gumperz, John 2001 The speech community. In Linguistic anthropology: a reader. Alessandro Duranti (ed). pp. 43-52. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. Morgan, Marcyliena M. 2001 The African-American Speech Community: Reality and Sociolinguistics. In Linguistic anthropology: a reader. Alessandro Duranti (ed). pp. 74-94. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. 12. Speech Communities II (10/13/05) Readings: **3rd discussion of class transcription projects** Jackson, Jean 1974 Language identity of the Vaup�s Indians. in Explorations in the ethnography of speaking. Richard Bauman and Joel Sherzer (eds). London ; New York: Cambridge University Press. Gal, Susan 1984 Peasant men can't get wives: language change and sex roles in a bilingual community. in Language in Use: Readings in Sociolinguistics. J. Baugh and J. Sherzer, eds. pp.292-304. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Part 4: Language and Identity 13. Language and Landscape I (10/18/05) Readings: Basso, Keith 1996 Wisdom sits in places: landscape and language among the Western Apache. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press 14. Language and Landscape II (10/20/05) Readings: Basso, Keith 1996 Wisdom sits in places: landscape and language among the Western Apache. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press 15. Language and Landscape III (10/25/05) Readings: Basso, Keith 1996 Wisdom sits in places: landscape and language among the Western Apache. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press 16. Language and Gender: Is There a "Woman's Language?" (10/27/05) Readings: Tannen, Deborah 1990 You just don't understand: women and men in conversation. New York: Morrow. (selections) . O'Barr, William M. and Bowman K. Atkins 1980 "Women's language" or "powerless language"? in Women and language in literature and society. Sally McConnell-Ginet et al (eds). pp 93-110. New York: Praeger. 17. Language and Gender as Performance (11/1/05) Readings: **4th discussion of class transcription projects** Cameron, Deborah 1997 Performing gender identity: young men's talk and the construction of heterosexual masculinity. In Language and masculinity. Sally Johnson and Ulrike Hanna Meinhof (eds). pp.47-64. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. Gal, Susan 2001 Language, gender, and power: an anthropological review. In Linguistic anthropology: a reader. Alessandro Duranti (ed). pp. 420-430. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. 18. Language and Class I (11/3/05) Readings: **5th discussion of class transcription projects** Lindquist, Julie 2002 A place to stand: politics and persuasion in a working-class bar. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. (chapters 1-2) 19. Language and Class II (11/8/05) Film: American Tongues Readings: **Paper 2 Due in Class** Lindquist, Julie 2002 A place to stand: politics and persuasion in a working-class bar. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. (chapters 3-4) 20. Language and Class III (11/10/05) Readings: Lindquist, Julie 2002 A place to stand: politics and persuasion in a working-class bar. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. (chapters 5-6) 21. Language and Class IV (11/15/05) Readings: **6th discussion of class transcription projects** Lindquist, Julie 2002 A place to stand: politics and persuasion in a working-class bar. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. (chapter 7) Part 5: Socialization, Literacy, and Social Change 22. Language Socialization (11/17/05) Readings: Ochs, Elinor and Bambi Schieffelin 2001 Language Acquisition and socialization: three developmental stories and their implications. In Linguistic anthropology: a reader. Alessandro Duranti (ed). pp. 263-301. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. Heath, Shirley Brice 2001 What no bedtime story means: narrative skills at home and school. In Linguistic anthropology: a reader. Alessandro Duranti (ed). pp. 318-342. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. Philips, Susan U. 2001 Participant structures and communicative competence: Warm Springs children in community and classroom. In Linguistic anthropology: a reader. Alessandro Duranti (ed). pp. 302-317. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. 23. Language Socialization and Language Shift I (11/22/05) Readings: Kulick, Don 1992 Language shift and cultural reproduction: socialization, self, and syncretism in a Papua New Guinean village. Cambridge: Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Thanksgiving Break: 11/24/05 24. Language Socialization and Language Shift II (11/29/05) Readings: **7th discussion of class transcription projects** Kulick, Don 1992 Language shift and cultural reproduction: socialization, self, and syncretism in a Papua New Guinean village. Cambridge: Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 25. Language Socialization and Language Shift III (12/1/05) Readings: Kulick, Don 1992 Language shift and cultural reproduction: socialization, self, and syncretism in a Papua New Guinean village. Cambridge: Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Part 6: Conclusion: Language and Social Power 26. English Only (12/6/05) Readings: **8th discussion of class transcription projects** Crawford, James 1992 Guardians of English. In Hold Your Tongue: Bilingualism and the Politics of English Only. Addison-Wesley. Peterson, Mark Allen 2003 American warriors speaking American: The metapragmatics of performance in the nation state. In At war with words. Mirjana N. Dedaic and Daniel N. Nelson (eds.) Pp. 421-448. Mouton de Gruyter. 27. Verbal Hygiene (12/8/05) Readings: Cameron, Deborah 1995 Dr. Syntax and Mrs. Grundy. In Verbal hygiene. New York: Routledge. 28. Course Review (12/13/05) **Final Paper Due in Class** |