REQUIREMENTS
NOTE: I can only accept hard copies of all written assignments.
COURSE READINGS
Available online at ERes (Electronic Reserve; the link is also available on the menu bar above). See the course syllabus distributed in class for the ERes password, or email me. See below for the complete list of readings; see the syllabus for the date each is assigned.
COURSE WEBSITE
This website contains the most up-to-date information about the course and links and references to course readings. Additional copies of the syllabus and requirements can be downloaded from the Assignments and materials page; these and other course materials posted on the site are password-protected for copyright purposes (see the handout distributed in class for the class website password, or email me).
In addition to materials distributed in class, you may find the website Resources for Sociocultural Linguistics useful for professional socialization into sociocultural linguistics (the link is also available on the menu bar above). The links for graduate students provide resources as well as tips on a range of professional activities that will be relevant to this course and beyond. Please let me know if there are other topics that you'd like to see addressed on the site.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO DISCUSSION
An important part of your graduate education is the development of your ability to explore ideas with others. It is therefore crucial that you contribute to the discussion during every class period. Don't contribute only when you have a fully worked-out answer in polished form (which is rare for most of us in any case); the classroom is a space where you can try out off-the-wall ideas, ask what you think are stupid questions (but probably aren't), and otherwise take intellectual risks. If group discussion is difficult for you, the reading responses may help you formulate your ideas in advance. If it comes easily to you, please take care not to dominate the floor--make sure others have a chance to participate as well.
READING RESPONSES
Every Tuesday you will hand in short written responses to the assigned readings. Your responses should total no more than 1-2 pages total, typed and double-spaced (12pt). Your responses should include the following elements for each reading, in essay form: (1) a one-sentence summary of the argument; (2) a one-sentence summary of the key theoretical/conceptual issues; (3) a one-sentence summary of the methodology; (4) two or three sentences of response to any aspect of the reading. You may raise a question about something that's unclear, add supporting or challenging evidence for an author's argument, link the reading to ideas you've encountered earlier in the class or other classes, or to your own research. Your response should be written in formal academic style.
Note: You are strongly encouraged to add your responses to the "Notes" field of Endnote in order to have an easily searchable record of each reading. (Endnote is an extremely useful bibliographic program available at a discount for educational purchase to students.)
DATA SESSION
Because theories should always be developed, tested, and revised in light of the real-world evidence of data, you will sign up to present a small piece of linguistic data to the class for collective discussion and analysis in light of the concepts and theories in the assigned readings for that week. Your data will also be used in the data analysis assignments (see below). You should consult with me as you work on identifying appropriate data. More detailed guidelines will be distributed separately.
BOOK REVIEW
You will write an approximately 500-1,000-word review of a recently published book centrally concerned with issues of language, culture, and society. You have the option of submitting your review for publication in an appropriate journal; length depends on journal guidelines. You should consult lists of books available for review from various sociocultural linguistic journals, but you may select another book, with approval. Details will be distributed separately.
DATA ANALYSES
During the course you will carry out two short data analysis assignments (5 to 7 pages each). These are not full-blown papers but exploratory, preliminary analyses focused on a very small set of data. Through these assignments, you will apply some of the theories and analytic methods presented in the course to your own data set. You may already have some existing data or you may collect a small body of data (either from everyday interaction or from the media) for use in the course. Additional information about identifying suitable data and about the data analyses will be distributed separately.
REQUIRED READINGS
Agha, Asif (2005). Voice, footing, enregisterment. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 15(1):38-59.
Bauer, Laurie (2008). A question of identity: A response to Trudgill. Language in Society 37(2):270-273.
Benor, Sarah Bunin (ms.). "We're going to sound so FFB!": Stages in BTs' acquisition of Orthodox speech. Becoming frum: How newcomers learn the language and culture of Orthodox Judaism.
Billig, Michael, & Emanuel A. Schegloff (1999). Critical discourse analysis and conversation analysis: An exchange. Discourse and Society 10(4):543-382.
Bourdieu, Pierre (1977). The economics of linguistic exchanges. Social Science Information 16(6):645-668.
Briggs, Charles L., & Richard Bauman (1992). Genre, intertextuality, and social power. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 2(2):131-172.
Bucholtz, Mary, & Kira Hall (2005). Identity and interaction: A sociocultural linguistic approach. Discourse Studies 7(4-5):585-614.
Bucholtz, Mary, & Kira Hall (2008). All of the above: New coalitions in sociocultural linguistics. Journal of Sociolinguistics 12(4):401-431.
Coupland, Nikolas (2001). Dialect stylization in radio talk. Language in Society 30(3):345-375.
Coupland, Nikolas (2008). The delicate constitution of identity in face-to-face accommodation: A response to Trudgill. Language in Society 37(2):267-270.
Duranti, Alessandro (2003). Language as culture in U.S. anthropology: Three paradigms. Current Anthropology 44(3):323-347.
Eckert, Penelope (2003). The meaning of style. Proceedings of the eleventh annual Symposium about Language and Society--Austin ( Texas Linguistic Forum 47 ):41-53.
Gaudio, Rudolf P. (2003). Coffeetalk: Starbucks TM and the commercialization of casual conversation. Language in Society 32(5):659-691.
Goodwin, Charles (1994). Professional vision. American Anthropologist 96(3):606-633.
Heritage, John, & Geoffrey Raymond (2005). The terms of agreement: Indexing epistemic authority and subordination in talk-in-interaction. Social Psychology Quarterly 68(1):15-38.
Hill, Jane H. (2008). Covert racist discourse: Metaphors, mocking, and the racialization of historically Spanish-speaking populations in the United States. In The everyday language of white racism. Malden, MA: Blackwell. 119-157.
Holmes, Janet, & Paul Kerswill (2008). Contact is not enough: A response to Trudgill. Language in Society 37(2):270-273.
Hymes, Dell (1974). The scope of sociolinguistics. In Foundations in sociolinguistics: An ethnographic approach . Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 193-209.
Irvine, Judith T. (2001). "Style" as distinctiveness: The culture and ideology of linguistic differentiation. In Penelope Eckert & John R. Rickford, eds., Style and sociolinguistic variation . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 21-43.
Irvine, Judith T., & Susan Gal (2000). Language ideology and linguistic differentiation. In Paul V. Kroskrity, ed., Regimes of language: Ideologies, polities, and identities . Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press. 35-84.
Johnstone, Barbara, Jennifer Andrus, & Andrew E. Danielson (2006). Mobility, indexicality, and the enregisterment of "Pittsburghese". Journal of English Linguistics 34(2):77-104.
Kiesling, Scott F. (2005). Variation, stance and style: Word-final -er, high rising tone, and ethnicity in Australian English. English World-Wide 26(1):1-42.
Kitzinger, Celia (2008). Developing feminist conversation analysis: A response to Wowk. Human Studies 31:179-208.
Mendoza-Denton, Norma (2002). Language and identity. In J. K. Chambers, Peter Trudgill, & Natalie Schilling-Estes, eds., The handbook of language variation and change . Oxford: Blackwell. 475-499.
Mufwene, Salikoko S. (2008). Colonization, population contacts, and the emergence of new language varieties: A response to Peter Trudgill. Language in Society 37(2):254-258.
Ochs, Elinor (1990). Indexicality and socialization. In James W. Stigler, Richard A. Shweder, & Gilbert Herdt, eds., Cultural psychology: Essays on comparative human development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 287-308.
Rampton, Ben (2003). Hegemony, social class and stylisation. Pragmatics 13(1):49-84.
Schegloff, Emanuel A. (1997). Whose text? Whose context? Discourse and Society 8(2):165-187.
Schneider, Edgar W. (2008). Contact is not enough: A response to Trudgill. Language in Society 37(2):262-267.
Silverstein, Michael (2003). Indexical order and the dialectics of sociolinguistic life. Language and Communication 23(3-4):193-229
Slembrouck, Stef (2001). Explanation, interpretation and critique in the analysis of discourse. Critique of Anthropology 21(1):33-57.
Trudgill, Peter (2008). Colonial dialect contact in the history of European languages: On the irrelevance of identity to new-dialect formation. Language in Society 37(2):241-254.
Trudgill, Peter (2008). On the role of children, and the mechanical view: A rejoinder. Language in Society 37(2):277-280.
Tuten, Donald N. (2008). Identity formation and accommodation: Sequential and simultaneous relations. Language in Society 37(2):259-262.
Woolard, Kathryn A. (1999). Simultaneity and bivalency as strategies in bilingualism. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 8(1):3-29.
Woolard, Kathryn A. (2008). Why dat now?: Linguistic-anthropological contributions to the explanation of sociolinguistic icons and change. Journal of Sociolinguistics 12(4):432-452.