Office Hours: Tuesday 1:30-3:30 and Wednesday 3:30-4:30, and by appointment, WRI 304B 
email: gbp@nevada.edu 
syllabus www address: http://www.nevada.edu/home/6/gbp/ 

 Objectives: This course is an introduction to the topic of language and culture using examples from languages around the world. We consider the following questions: 
 

• How do the grammars of languages reflect the cultures and social structures of their speakers? How do languages express cultural imagery?

 
• How does language affect thought? Does the English plural suggest a preoccupation with number? Does the Chinese language prevent contemplation of the unreal?

 
• How does language reflect ethnic background? Are there distinctive ethnic styles of speaking that may aggravate interethnic misunderstandings and conflicts? Are there things we need to know about African American English besides what we read in the newspapers?

 

• How does language reflect gender? Do men and women have different styles of speaking? What happens when men and women speak to each other? Do women typically defer to men in their patterns of speaking?

 
• How do languages serve the causes of oppression and rebellion? Can a cultural inferiority complex be embedded in language? Should one be proud of speaking African American English or Chicano English? Should books be written in Ebonics?

 
• How do languages organize meaning in the domains of the body, spatial relations, and mechanical force, and how do these concrete physical domains provide metaphorical models for speaking about society, psychology, and ethics? How is it that one can be a forceful speaker, or be knocked over by a surprising event, or, in Pilipino, be totally dead in love (patay ng patay).

 
• How are emotions expressed and discussed in different languages? Does the study of languages suggest that all people experience the same emotions? Do the Japanese blow their tops when they are angry? Do Filipinos get a big head when they are overly proud of themselves?

 

 Required Readings: 
Abu-Lughod, Lila, Writing Womens' Worlds: Bedouin Stories (1993). 
Goodwin, Marjorie, He Said, She Said : Talk as Social Organization Among Black Children (1990) 
Hinton, Leanne, Flutes of Fire (1994) 
Kochman, Thomas, Black and White Styles in Conflict (1981) 

 Grad students only: 
Schiefflin, Bambi B., (1990) The Give and Take of Everyday Life: Language Socialization of Kaluli Children. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

 Expectations: I place a high value on participation and regular attendence, particularly so because this is a non-technical course. Class discussion is an opportunity for all of us to verbally rehearse the vocabulary of the field. We can only do this effectively if we have done the reading. Therefore, your chapter summaries must be handed in on time. If you are shy and quiet by nature, please come and speak to me about it and I will try to make allowances. If you anticipate that you will be absent more than twice before mid-term and twice after mid-term, or that your chapter summaries will be late more than twice before mid-term and twice after mid-term, please come and discuss it with me during the first week. Excessive numbers and absences and late or unsatisfactory chapter summaries will result in lower grades. 

 Assignments: Chapter summaries (5 pts each), three short papers (50 pts. each), and a small final project (100 pts.), as described below. All chapter summaries and papers should be typed and double spaced. For extra credit, see below. 

 Grading: Attendence, prompt written work, and informed contributions to discussions considered. Chapter summaries will be recorded as satisfactory or unsatisfactory, but not graded. Unsatisfactory papers and late papers in excess of 2 prior to midterm and 2 after mid term will result in a reduction of at least a half step in your grade if they are unexcused. If you miss a scheduled videotape (5 pt. deduction), you may make it up by viewing it in the library and writing a one-page summary, typed, double-spaced. 

 Reading and Discussion Schedule 

 Week 1, Jan 13-17 
Kochman, Thomas, Black and White:Styles in Conflict ., Chapters 1-5. 
Monday Ch. 1,2; 
Wednesday, Ch. 3,4; Videotape Black on White, [60 min, 1/2" VHS, PE1075 .S83x.] 
Friday, Ch. 5 
For each day's reading hand in a one-paragraph summary of essential or interesting points and one additional paragraph in which you critique or discuss the information in terms of its validity, usefulness, interest, or whatever. These will be recorded as satisfactory or unsatisfactory. Summaries are due on the day specified. This Monday only, chapter summaries not required. Each summary paper is worth 10 points. 
Look ahead to week 3 and start thinking about your short paper. 

 Jan 20, Martin Luther King day. 

 Week 2, Jan 22-24 
Continue reading Kochman, Black and White:Styles in Conflict . Chapters 6-9. and do chapter summaries, as in week 1. 
Wednesday, Ch. 6, 7; 
Friday, Ch 8, 9; videotape Yeah, You Right [PE3101.L8 443x, 28 min] 

 Start working on your paper for week 3. 

 Week 3, Jan 27-31 
Continue reading Kochman, Black and White:Styles in Conflict , Chapters 8-10, no chapter summaries due this week. 
Monday, Ch. 8, 9 and get a first draft of your paper done. 
Wednesday, Ch. 10, and get a second draft of your paper done. Videotape Do the Right Thing [PN1997.85 .D62] 
Friday, Hand in a short paper (about 3 pages, typed, double spaced, 12 pt.) on some topic of your own choosing in language and culture. For example, you might write a paper in which you transcribe some conversation or monologue that you have heard, including some discussion of how you choose your subject, some description of the people speaking, one page of transcription, and one paragraph of discussion of the conversation, describing the styles of the speakers, any meanings that might escape the uninformed, and any difficulties that you had in understanding the conversation. Young children, especially those just learning language, make good subjects. So do the elderly, college students, friends of different ethnic groups, foreign students, mechanics, businessmen, etc. This paper is worth 50 points ( D < 30 > C < 40 > B < 45 > A ). 

 Week 4, Feb 3-7 
Continue reading Goodwin, He Said, She Said., chapters 2-4, and write chapter summaries, as in week 1. Remember that summaries must contain a paragraph of critique or discussion in which you divest yourself of your own thoughts on the subject. 
Monday, Ch. 2 "Fieldwork"; 
Wednesday, Ch. 3.; Videotape The Darker Side of Black. [ML3531 .D27, 1/2" vcr, 59 min.] 
Friday, Ch. 4. 
Look ahead to week 6 and start thinking about your short paper. 

 Week 5, Feb 10-14 
Continue reading Goodwin, He Said, She Said., chapters 5-7, and write chapter summaries, as in week 1. 
Monday, Ch. 5; 
Wednesday, Ch. 6; videotape Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill [(ca. 55 min., 1/2 in. VHS.CALL # KF8745.T48 C52] 
Friday, Ch. 7. 
Start working on your paper for week 6. 

 Feb 17, Washington's Birthday 

 Week 6, Feb 19-21 
Wednesday, Goodwin, He Said, She Said, Chapter 8 and write a first draft of your paper. No chapter summary due. 
Friday, short paper due, as in week 3. Try to make use of principles learned in class. Your use of these principles will be taken into consideration in the scoring your paper. 
videotape, Letter to Brezhnev [PN1997.85 .L47x, 1/2"] 

 Week 7, Feb 24-28 
Read Abu-Lughod, Writing Womens' Worlds. Ch. 1-3, and write chapter summaries. 
Monday, Ch. 1; 
Wednesday, Ch. 2, videotape Men, Women, and Language [P96.S48 M45, 29 min., 1/2" vcr] 
Friday, Ch. 3. 
Look ahead to week 9 and start thinking about your short paper. 

 Week 8, Mar 3-7, Mid-Semester 
Abu-Lughod, Writing Womens' Worlds. Ch. 4-5, and write chapter summaries. 
Monday, Ch. 4; Wednesday, Ch. 5. 
Friday, Talking 9 to 5: women and men in the workplace: language, sex and power [HF5718 .T362 
Start working on your short paper for week 9. 
Notice: You are allotted two unexcused absences and two late chapter summaries prior to mid-term. If you want to save them up and use them both this week, I have no quarrel with that, but please remember that your written work takes the place of mid-term essay examinations, so I won't be allowing any extra consideration for this time of the semester. Isn't that great! You have already taken your mid-terms. 

 Week 9, Mar 10-14 
Monday, discussion and lecture. 
Wednesday, videotape In Search of the First Language [P116 .I52, 1/2"] 
Friday, short paper due, as in week 3. 

 Week 10, Mar 17-21 
Hinton, Flutes of Fire . 
Monday, pp. 1-33; 
Wednesday, pp. 35-70; Transitions: Destruction of a Mother Tongue [PM2341.T73x; 30 min; 1/2 in] 
Friday, pp. 71-106. Chapter summaries. 
Start looking ahead to your language research project that is due in Week 13. 

 Mar 24-28, Spring Recess 

 Week 11, Mar 31-Apr 4 
Hinton, Flutes of Fire . 
Monday, pp. 107-138; 
Wednesday, pp. 139-172; videotape Secret Of The Wild Child.[RJ506.D47 S42] 
Friday, pp. 173-188. Chapter summaries. 
Start working on your language research project that is due in Week 13. Be ready to discuss the progress of your thinking and research in class. Consult with me concerning any problems you may be having in deciding on a topic or carrying out the research. Better to work out the bugs now than to learn about them after the semester is over. (Did you notice the formulaic structure of that admonishment? Can you write a formula that describes its grammar?) This project is worth 100 points. 

 Week 12, Apr 7-11 
Hinton, Flutes of Fire . 
Monday, pp. 189-210; 
Wednesday, pp. 211-220; Videotape The Human Voice Exploring Vocal Paralanguage. [P95.5 H84; 1/2"] 
Friday, pp. 221-248. Chapter summaries. 
Continue working on your language research project that is due in Week 13. Be ready to discuss the progress of your thinking and research in class. Consult with me concerning any problems you may be having in deciding on a topic or carrying out the research. 

 Week 13-15, Apr 14-May 2 Language Research Projects. 
The class will continue to meet. Do a small language research project of your own devising and write a paper or present results to class using overhead projector or handouts. Try to make your project reflect some of the concepts that you have learned in class. Due, Monday, December 4. All projects will be discussed briefly in class. 
April 16 World of Gestures: Culture and Nonverbal Communication. [P117.W67; 1/2"] 

 Final examination: Final projects take the place of a final examination. To receive credit, all late papers must be handed in by noon, May 7. 

 AUDIOS: Ice-T/Ernie C., Body Count, Salt N' Peppa, Very Necessary.// Deborah Tannen, PBS// Weekend Edition, Sunday, October 9, 1994, Leanne Hinton, UC Berkeley; Native South American Discourse, Laughter: The Navajo Way (in Navajo and English) Volume One 

 DISABILITIES 
If you have a documented disability that may require assistance, you will need to contact the disability resource center for coordination in your academic accommodations. The DRC is located in the Reynolds Student Services Complex in room 137. The DRC phone number is 895-0866. (TDD-895-0652) 

 
EVALUATION FORM FOR PAPERS IN ANTHROPOLOGY 470/670 LANGUAGE AND CULTURE 

 As a guideline, your paper should be approximately 3 pages. It may be more or less. More important than the number of pages is the thought and initiative that go into the paper. I sometimes give very good grades for brief papers and poor grades for long, stuffy papers that just summarize what someone else has already published. Library research is not necessary, but may in some instances enhance the paper. The most important thing is to listen to language and tell your readers about it. The categories, below, do not correspond to any particular number of points. They are merely given as guidelines. 

 THIS PAPER RECEIVED A SCORE OF ________ BECAUSE: 

 
_____ FOCUS: It deals, somehow, with the problem that was assigned and not some other problem. It focuses on the problem and does not wander off into extensive historical background or other extraneous topics. 

 _____ RECORDING: It contains a lot of good, direct transcription of one or more speech events. Most papers are weak in this respect. I hope to see at least a third of the paper devoted to transcription. 

 _____ DISCUSSION: It does a good job of describing and discussing what is interesting, special, unique, distinctive, or characteristic about the speech event described. 

 _____ EXPERIENCE: It describes speech events involving real, live people. These events were directly observed by you, the author, or you were a participant. This is probably the most important single criterion, but it wonÕt count for much unless your transcriptions are good. 

 _____ APPLICATION: It compares speech events reported in this paper to concepts and examples presented in class or in the readings. 

 _____ TOPIC AND TITLE: It presents a particularly interesting topic and it is descriptive of the specific content in the paper. For example, ÒWords for Women in Rap MusicÓ is a more specific and interesting topic for a paper than the more general ÒBlack EnglishÓ. 

 _____ INTEREST: It has a story to tell. It makes a point. It is interesting. It shows evidence of original thought. 

 _____ FORMAT: It meets normal standards of mechanics and style for an essay: It has an introduction and conclusions, with something in between. It has a topic paragraph, topic sentences, and transitions between paragraphs. It uses reasonably good spelling and punctuation. It is typed with a good ribbon and double-spaced. It is bound with a simple staple in the upper left hand corner; no other binding is used. If library materials or media are used, a section called ÒReferences CitedÓ provides information about authors, titles, publishers and dates of publication. If in doubt, use the citation format of the Journal of Linguistic Anthropology. 

 If you would like specific comments, staple a copy of this page to your paper. 

 Paper format: 
Your papers should be typed, double-spaced, like this, in 12 pt. Courier, Times, Bookman, or Palatino. These fonts all have serifs and they are reasonably standard. This is Courier. This is Times. This is Bookman. This is Palatino. Times and Palatino are probably easiest to read. If you are trying to make your paper look longer, then you will definitely want to use Courier. At the top of the paper, include a heading with your name, ANT 470, and the date the paper is due. The first page of your paper should look something like this: 

 
1 inch margin at top, sides and bottom 

Your Name 
ANT 470 
Date Due 

Title 
Body of your paper. Page numbers in upper right corner. Notice that this text is properly spaced. There is nothing fancy about this. The right margin is not justified (even). 
Don't leave any extra space between paragraphs; just indent. There is no need to put anything in boldface. If you want to emphasize a word, underline it. Underline foreign words. If you provide a gloss, use single quotes. For example, dangal 'honor' (Pilipino). 

EXTRA CREDIT 

 Over the years I have noticed that some people feel more comfortable doing "extra credit" than doing assigned work. Others are so compulsive that the work assigned generally strikes them as insufficient. There are even a few who suddenly emerge from a mental fog at the end of the semester and find themselves in desperate circumstances that they sense instinctively can only be surmounted by taking on extra credit, even though the added work may detract from their ability to complete their regular assignments. 
Though I have never personally experienced such malignant urgings, I feel deep sympathy for all these poor souls, so I am providing a modest opportunity to assuage the itch for extra credit. I will accept any short paper at all as a candidate for up to 5 points of extra credit. You may do a maximum of four (for a maximum of 20 pts.). 
A good topic for such a paper is the discussion of a segment of speech or conversation played on a commercial videotape, especially those with ethnic characters and themes. An even better topic is the discussion of actual conversations, perhaps involving characters marked by gender, age, or ethnicity other than your own. Or one could discuss that salestalk at the Toyota dealer (Did he ignore the female in the party?), or the awkward request for a promotion made to one's boss (Where did it start to go wrong? Did I violate unspoken cultural rules of politeness?), or the difficulty that you are having getting in a word when speaking to someone from Brooklyn (Does she/he talk loud, fast, close, and overlap what you are saying?), or the way movies denigrate ethnic groups by pandering to the current cliches ("Hasta la vista, Baby!"). You get the idea. Be creative and I will be sympathetic and capricious. 

 AFRO-AMERICAN FILMS/VIDEO TAPES 

 Pre-1995 

• She's Gotta Have It
• Do the Right Thing
• Mo' Better Blues
• School Daze
• Straight Out of Brooklyn
• Boys N The Hood
• Juice
• New Jack City
• House Party
• House Party II
• I'm Gonna Get Ya Sucka
• The Four Heartbeats
• Jungle Fever
• Menace II Society
• Malcolm X

•  Hoop Dreams
• Higher Learning
• Fresh
• Low Down Dirty Shame
• Tales from the Hood
• Poetic Justice
• Crooklyn
• Martin Lawrence (not for the faint of heart)