This course
explores the relationship between language and Nationalism, building on
theories of the sociology of language discussed in the companion
course. It
examines a series of case studies in history of nationalist attitudes
toward
language and language planning, applying sociolinguistic theories to
theories
of nationalism. The course takes case studies from Ukrainian, German,
Chinese,
Vietnamese, Slovak and Norwegian and African language planning. This
course is
intended as a research seminar, students will be expected to produce an
original piece of work based on self-chosen research. The final week of
the
course will be devoted to student presentations of their own work.
Class Requirements: Students
will
write a research paper and present it to class.
Paper (70% of grade) 15 pages long, not counting
bibliography and diagrams/illustrations. Times New Roman, 12 pt double
spaced,
default margins. This paper must present primary sources, a theoretical
concept
that the sources illustrate or call into question, and discuss the
applicability of sources and theory to each other.
Students must present their findings to the
class in conference-style format, then answer questions from the class.
Students must find a journal which they believe might hypothetically
publish
their paper, and write their paper in conformity with the style sheet
of that
journal. Each student will be assigned a commentator who will be
responsible
for leading discussion and managing the question-answer session for the
presenter. Students presenting Monday will be responsible for asking
questions
on Thursday, and vice-versa.
Final (30% of grade) will ask
students to define
key terms or explain the significance of key concepts discussed in the
class.
Attendance is mandatory. At the instructor’s discretion, outstanding participation or absence from class may raise or lower your final grade.
Week 1
Intoduction to class, course
requirements
Terminological Questions: Language, Dialect, Variety
Sociolinguistics
as
a scholarly discipline.
Ammon,
Sociolinguistics vol. 1,
Choose
presentation
topics. Handout on world languages.
“Language
- Variety/Standard Variety - Dialect” 316-335 (28
pages)
Ausbau- and Abstandsprachen,
standardization
William
Dawnes Language and Society “A
Tapestry in Time and Space.”
16-45
Week
2
Language
as
an icon of group identity
Labov:
empirically documenting linguistic affiliation
Joshua
Fishman In Praise of the Beloved Language, 1-60.
William Labov
“The Social Motivation
of a sound change”
Group
affiliation
to linguistic markers. The poverty of folk
Sociolinguistic Patterns 1-42 =
42
pages. Methodological
linguistics.
techniques
for studying linguistic patterns.
Dialect and Language –
overview of research
Introduction to conversation
analysis
Dawnes Language and Society “Rhoticity” and “At
the inter-
James, Clarke
“Women, Men and Interruption” from Tannen, ed
Section
of Social
Factors” 133-232.
Gender and Conversational
Interaction
231-274.
Week
4
Linguistic
Diversity as Cultural Wealth
Hierarchy
and Language: Motives for Language Shift
Suzette
Elgin The Language Imperative: The Power of Lang.
Laponce Languages
and their Territories “Language territory,
to Enrich your
Life and Expand your Mind, 27-71 = 44 pages.
Hierarchy,”
53-93 = 40 pages
Linguistic
diversity, language death.
The
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: Introduction
Sapir-Whorf:
Evidence
John
Lucy Language Diversity and Thought: A
Reformulation of
John Lucy
Grammatical Categories and Cognition: A
Case Study
the Saphir-Whorf
hypothesis Words
Whorfianism:
The
quest for evidence.
(skim
it until you figure out the argument)
Week
6
Werzbicka
and
Linguistic Universals
Gender
marking in English, Feminism and anti-Feminism
Anna
Werzbicka Understanding Cultures Through their Key
Dale Spender Man Made Language ch. 5, 6 “Language and
Words Introduction 1-30, “Freedom”
125-154 = 59 pages
Reality” 138-162; Johnson, Meinhof Language and Masculinity
Linguistic
universals as a solution to Whorfianism?
“Performing
Gender Identity” 47-64
Week 7
Feminist Language Planning
Reforming
the English Language
Bodine
“Androcentrism in prescriptive grammar”
Feminist
D. Baron “The
Word That
Failed” Grammar andGender:
190-216. (40 pages)
Critique of Lang 124-38 = 14 pages, D. Spender
Epicine
Pronoun
_____________________________
Man Made
Language “Politics
of Names” 162-90
Shaw
Alphabet_______________________________
Basic
English ________________________________
Week 8
Utopian Language Planning
Voluntary
Language Planning
Class
presentations: non-presenting students should also look at the web
resources
for each week.
Esperanto
Sindarin
Loglang
Slovio
Lojban
“Speaking Forsoothly”
Láadan
Klingon
Week
9
Dreaming
of
Perfect Languages: Religion
Dreaming of Perfect Languages:
The Enlightenment
Umberto
Eco The Search for the Perfect Language “The
Sophia
Rosenfeld A Revolution in Language Chapter
4
Mongenetic
hypothesis,” “Perfect language of Images”
123-180
(57 pages) Non-linguists as language planners.
73-116,
144-177.
(76 pages).
(for
further reading: Richen Language,
Anthropology, and
Also look at http://www.khm.de/~timot/Sentences.html
Philosophy in the Enlightenment
Week
10
Language
and
Nationalism – The Ideological Approach
Language and Nationalism –
Marxist Structuralism
M.
Olender The Languages of Paradise 1-50 (if you
do French
B. Anderson: Imagined Communities, “Origins of
National
History,
also read
to page 81) See also Excerpt from Herder
Consciousness,” 37-46. Otto Bauer
“The
Nation” in Woolf, ed
Philosophy of
History of Mankind,
online at
Nationalism
in Europe (a reader) 61-73.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1784herder-mankind.html
See also Ernest Gellner Nations and Nationalism “A
Typology of Nationalism”
88-109.
Week
11
Planning
the
Chinese Character script.
Vietnamese:
Dispensing with Characters
DeFrancis
DeFrancis
The Chinese Language Fact and Fantasy
Marr: Vietnamese Tradition on
Trial, 136-189 = 56 pages
“Singlish
Affair,”
1-22, “monosyllabic, indispensability myth,”
Indigenizing
foreign scripts.
177-203.
(49
pages) Tradition versus efficiency.
Week
12
Language
Planning in
Laitin Language Repertoires and State Construction
in
1-65,
149-164.
Grosjean
Life with Two Languages “Bilingualism
in Society” 113-166
Week
13
Borderline
cases (1)
Shevelov
The Ukrainian Language in the first half of
the
Maxwell
“Literary Dialects
in
Twentieth
Century 21-66. Total
=
67 pages
“Why
the Slovak Language has Three Dialects”
Week 14
Borderline cases (3) The
Two Norwegians
Borderline
cases (4) German Blackletter
Einar
Haugen Language Conflict and Language Planning
Blackletter:
Type and National Identity, especially
(the
whole book)
Schwemer-Scheddin
“Broken Images: Blackletter…”50-67
Week
15
Typgraphy
Graffiti
as a Linguistic Act
Sue
Walker Typography & Language
Armando
Petrucci Public Lettering “The Signs
of No” 117-126.
John Bushnell
ch.5,
6 88-108
Week
16
Student
Presentations
Student
Presentations
Students
will
present brief summaries of their own research
Week
17
Student
Presentations
Student
Presentations
Students
will
present brief summaries of their own research