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College of Social and Behavioral
Sciences, NAU
Anthropology 329: Language in Society Fall 1999, TTh (and lab hours) 4 credit hours Required laboratory: 2 sections—TTh, MWF.
Course prerequisites: Declared major in anthropology, and junior standing on Louie/IDMS. Course description: Survey of language and its role in society and culture, presenting a variety of approaches to the analysis of actual speech and speech events as sociocultural phenomena. Course objectives: to provide an understanding of language as a human phenomenon through: — introducing philosophical issues surrounding language as one among many systems of signs evident in the natural and human worlds — broadening students’ visions of the social and linguistic world and pointing them to linkages between language and social realities — enabling students to develop accurate descriptions of language encountered in their environments through recording and analysis of naturally-occurring speech — enhancing the potential for enjoying cross-cultural and cross-linguistic contacts throughout life through an exposure to a range of languages and ways of speaking Texts and materials: Required texts: 2) Ohio State University. 1994. Language files: Materials for an introduction to language. (OSU) (Excercises are listed as follows in the schedule: 1.5 [etc.]) 3) Duranti, Alessandro. 1997. Linguistic Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (LA) 4) There will be a handful of outside readings on Webreserve, which you must download through Vista, under the section devoted to Course Reserves (or go directly to http://library.nau.edu/search/r?SEARCH=ant+329). You will need to print off these files from Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is installed on all of the lab computers on campus. Lab staff will help you do this. 5) TDK or Maxell normal position audio cassette and (access to) a tape recorder. 6) My website is http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jmw22/. If you have not
yet done so, go this week to a lab on campus and learn to use the web.
Access my site; from there, you may send me an email message if you need
to.
Assignments: 1) Written exercises in linguistic analysis are to be found in OSU or will be distributed in class for completion within one week of receipt. These exercises will be due almost every week of the semester. Some will entail analysis of field recordings (audio and video) in the Anthropology Video Lab (Building 49, Room 1). 2) There will be a "fieldwork" assignment designed to introduce you to the work linguistic anthropologists do. You will write a paper analyzing a bit of natural conversation which you have recorded and transcribed. 4) You will write a brief critique— not a summary, but a critical contextualization— of one or two readings outside of BV. 5) Other assignments may be announced. Tests: There will be a midterm and a cumulative final exam. The midterm will be mostly objective but may include some short essay questions. The final may contain both sorts of questions. Exams will cover lectures and readings. In addition to tests, quizzes may be given on reading assignments, even before lectures on that topic have been given. Grading system: Grades will be assigned on a point basis. Although the points will eventually translate into letter grades, letter grades will not be written on assignments or tests. Students will be responsible to calculate their standing throughout the semester according to any announcements during lectures (e.g. if a curve is assigned to a particular midterm) or by using the traditional percentage breakdown (>90% of the potential points = "A," etc.). Failure to hand in a given assignment will result in an automatic "F." The total of 500 points will be assigned as follows:
A= 450 points, or 90% of the highest grade in the class, whichever is to your benefit. B= 400 points, or 80% " " " " C= 350 points, or 70% " " " " D= 300 points, or 60% " " " " F= less than 300 points, or below 60% of the highest grade in the class Course policies: 1) There will be no re-tests or make-up tests. In case of well-attested medical emergencies, an essay exam will be given— in essence, a more difficult version of the missed exam. 2) Assignment deadlines: Assignments will be graded down 10% for every class period they are late. Send completed homework assignments in to class with a friend if you are sick and cannot deliver the paper in person on the due date. 3) Attendance and participation: Students are responsible for everything said during class; your classmates’ contributions to discussion sometimes give shape to a particular exam question. My lecture notes will not be given to those who miss class. Part of your grade will reflect regular positive participation in class, lab, and office hours. "Disagree without being disagreeable." Attend regularly, be on time, and be responsible. If you find you must always be late or leave early, you must drop the class. Note: Lectures will supplement the readings. In no case will the lecture duplicate the readings. Lab hours are for your benefit; this is a lab course, and the lab is required. Lab hours will be used to practice how to solve analytic problems and to transcribe discourse; a few hours will be devoted to videos later in the semester. 4) There will be no tolerance of cheating on exams or homework. Students suspected of cheating may be confronted during or after any quiz or exam and will receive an "F." Analysis problems are to be solved individually. 5) Plagiarism in written assignments will not be tolerated. It is not hard for an instructor to detect which words are a student’s and which have been copied, even if the source is not our textbook. Points will be taken off for copying material written by others without citing the source properly. For example, you might mention "natural selection in favor of high intelligence" in a paper, in which case you must cite the author, the date of publication, and the page number of the quotation (Bonvillain 1995: 17). Even if you paraphrase, you should give credit in precisely the same way if your idea comes directly from a given page of writing, and simply leave off the page number if your statement is indebted to another’s writing in a more general way. 6) Writing papers: Students with difficulties in writing research papers and essay questions on exams will be referred to the Writing Center for tutorial assistance. Failure to follow through with referrals made by the professor will affect the grade of your final paper. NOTE- This syllabus, including the schedule
below, is subject to revision. Students are responsible for announcements
made and/or distributed in class, whether or not they are present in class.
Fall 1999 Course outline/schedule
Each syllabi the intellectual property of the author. |
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