APLNG 597G: Seminar in Language Use

Modern linguistics, language theory, and functional traditions

of language use, structure, and development

 

Fall 2006: Tuesdays, 6-9pm

222 Thomas

 

Steve Thorne, Linguistics and Applied Language Studies

305 Sparks | sthorne@psu.edu | 863.7036 | Office hours by appointment.

 

Course website & syllabus: http://www.personal.psu.edu/slt13/aplng597g/

 

Required texts and readings:

 

Description:  This seminar aims to prepare participants for future in-depth study and research in a variety of language related areas. An overview of the history and discursive construction of modern (20^th century) linguistics will be followed by attention to functional lineages of linguistic theory, contextual traditions of language analysis, and specific language research frameworks and methodologies. The readings and class discussions will be iterative and spiraling in nature in large part because the historical development of language research follows these trajectories. Synoptically, we will substantively address the following issues:

 

• History of modern linguistic theory
• From whence have we come? (historical overview)
• Structuralist, behaviorist, and generative traditions
• Functional traditions and language use as social action
• Overview of semiotic theories
• Saussure
• Peirce
• Language use as it relates to language structure
• Frequency and emergence
• Interaction and grammar
• Language use as it relates to cognition
• Linguistics relativity
• Cognitive linguistics
• Language use as communicative practice
• Binding language structure to communicative function and purpose
• Language use as it relates to learning and development
• Usage-based theories of language acquisition (Tomasello)
• Systemic-functional approaches to language and learning (Halliday)
• Language use as it relates to social action, identity, agency, culture, and ideology
• Ethnomethodology and conversation analysis
• Discourse analysis
• Continental social theory and language

 

Additionally, we will periodically discuss relevant research in cognitive linguistics, conceptual metaphor theory, cognitive neuroscience, and other disciplines. This is an ambitious description -- I present you with a calendar of topics and readings (see syllabus, below) but reserve the right to modify things as needed.

 

Requirements:

·      Completion of all assigned readings and active participation in seminar discussions

·      Critical reading notes/discussion ideas to be brought to class: Come prepared to contribute to class discussion.

·      Following the introductory discussions, you will be required to prepare a presentation based on a set of readings on a given topic. These are to be done in a collaborative format working in groups of two or three. Details anon.

·      Written work:

1. For the second day of class (9/12), please draw (pen and paper is fine) a lineage chart showing the progression and relationships among 20^th century approaches to linguistic analysis.
2. 6-10 page (double-spaced) critical review (or intended application, i.e., a brief proposal for research) concerning one or a coherent combination of the linguistic traditions and/or methodologies discussed in the course. These may be done individually or in a group format. The due date for this paper is November 14, 2006.
3. A research paper of approximately 20-25 double-spaced pages, excluding references. This may be done individually or collaboratively. Topics are open and the paper should be relevant to your future thinking and work. Feel free to discuss your interests with me at any time. The due date for this paper is Monday, December 11, 2006. Please send the paper as an email attachment in Word format to my email address at sthorne@psu.edu.

 

If you haven't completed the on-line quiz required by the Penn State Office of Research Control (ORC), please do so as soon as possible. This will be necessary if you plan to undertake any empirical research involving human participants. You will also need to submit for approval of the ORC a plan for your study, including consent forms to be signed by the participants.

 

 

Syllabus

 

Part 1: Overview of Modern Language and Linguistic Theory; Functional Traditions

 

WEEK 1: 9/5

• Introductions, description of course

 

WEEK 2: 9/12 | History of Linguistics; Saussure and structuralism

• Hanks, W. (1996). Language p. 1-38.
• Harris, R. A. (1993). The linguistics wars. New York: Oxford University Press. Read pages 10-34 (focus on p. 16-34). [*In reading packet]
• Agar, M. (1994). Language shock. New York: Quill. Read pages 31-60. [*In reading packet]
• Joseph, J. (1994). Twentieth-century linguistics: Overview of trends. In R. E. Asher (editor-in-chief), The encyclopedia of language and linguistics, 9. Oxford: Pergamon. [*In reading packet]

 

WEEK 3: 9/19 | Structuralist, Behaviorist, and Generative Approaches

• Joseph, Love, & Taylor:
• chapter 1, Sapir, p. 1-16
• chapter 2, Jakobson, p. 1-28
• chapter 8, Skinner, p. 106-121
• chapter 9, Chomsky, p. 122-139
• Hanks, chapter 4, p. 66-87.
• Harris, R. (2001). Linguistics after Saussure. In P. Colby (ed.), Semiotics and linguistics (p. 118-133). New York: Routledge. [*In reading packet]
• Tomasello, M. (2004). What kind of evidence could refute the UG hypothesis? Studies in Language, 28, 642-44. [*In reading packet]

 

WEEK 4: 9/26 | Semiotics

• Hanks, chapter 3, p. 39-54 (Optional: p. 54-65, covering Morris’ behaviorist approach to semiotics)
• Van Lier, L. (2004). The ecology and semiotics of language learning: A sociocultural perspective. Boston: Kluwer. Read chapter 3, Semiotics, p. 55-77. [*In reading packet]
• Danesi, M. (1999). Of cigarettes, high heels, and other interesting things. New York: St. Martin’s Press. Read p. 1-45. [*In reading packet]

 

WEEK 5: 10/3 | Contextual Linguistic Traditions and Trajectories

• Halliday, M. A. K. (1985). Language, context, and text: Aspects of language in a social-semiotic perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Read p. 3-13. [*In reading packet]
• Joseph, Love, & Taylor
• chapter 5, Firth, p. 57-71
• chapter 6, Wittgenstein, p. 72-90
• chapter 14, Harris, p. 203-218
• Hanks, chapter 5, sentences, speech acts, and utterances, p. 91-117, chapter 7, saturation by context, p.140-168.

 

WEEK 6: 10/10 | Week 6: Linguistic Relativity and Construal

• Joseph, Love, & Taylor
• chapter 4, Whorf, p. 43-56
• Hanks, p. 169-184
• Agar, M. (1994). Language shock. New York: Quill. Read p. 61-88. [*In reading packet]

• Levinson, S. (2003). Language and mind. In D. Gentner & S. Goldin-Meadow (eds.), Language in mind (p. 25-46). Cambridge, MA.: The MIT Press. [*In reading packet]
• Slobin, D. (2003). Language and thought online. In D. Gentner & S. Goldin-Meadow (eds.), Language in mind (p. 157-191). Cambridge, MA.: The MIT Press. [*In reading packet]
• Recommended à Bates, E., Devescovi, A., & Wulfec, B. (2001). Psycholinguistics: A cross-language perspective. Annual Review of Psychology, 52: 369-396. [PDF]

 

Part 2: Approaches to Language Use: Structure, Function, and Analysis

 

WEEK 7: 10/17 | Usage-based Research on Language Structure

• Hopper, P. (1998). Emergent grammar. In M. Tomasello (ed.), The new psychology of language: Cognitive and functional approaches to language study. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers. [*In reading packet]
• Hopper, P. (1996). Some recent trends in grammaticalization. Annual Review of Anthropology, 25: 217-236. [*In reading packet]
• Schmitt, N. & Carter, R. (2004). Formulaic sequences in action: An introduction. In N. Schmitt (ed.), Formulaic sequences. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. [*In reading packet]
• Tomasello, M. (2003). Introduction: Some surprises for psychologists. In M. Tomasello (ed.), The new psychology of language: Cognitive and functional approaches to language structure. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. [*In reading packet]

 

WEEK 8: 10/24 | Interaction and Grammar

• Schegloff, E., Ochs, E., & Thompson, S. (1996). Introduction. In E. Schegloff, E. Ochs, & S. Thompson (eds.), Interaction and grammar (p. 1-51). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [*In reading packet]
• Sacks, H., Schegloff, E., Jefferson, G.,  (1974). A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation. Language, 50(4): 696-735. [*In reading packet]
• Joseph, Love, & Taylor
• chapter 11, Goffman, p. 155-170.

 

WEEK 9: 10/31 | Ethnomethodology, Conversation Analysis, Language Use as Joint Action

• Schegloff, E. (1996). Turn organization: One intersection of grammar and interction. In E. Schegloff, E. Ochs, & S. Thompson (eds.), Interaction and grammar (p. 52-133). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [*In reading packet]
• Schegloff, E., Koshik, I. Jacoby, S., & Olsher, D. (2002). Conversation analysis and applied linguistics. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 22: 3-31. [*In reading packet]
• Clark, H. (1996). Using language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 1, p. 3-28, chapter 5, 125-154. [*In reading packet]

 

WEEK 10: 11/7 | Discourse Analysis, Language and Social Theory

• Luke, A. (2002). Beyond science and ideology critique: Developments in critical discourse analysis. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 22: 96-110. [*In reading packet]
• Conrad, S. (2002). Corpus linguistic approaches for discourse analysis. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 22: 75-95. [*In reading packet]
• Bucholz, M. & Hall, K. (2005). Identity and interaction: A sociocultural linguistic approach. Discourse Studies, 7(4-5): 585-614. [*In reading packet]
• Coupeland, N., & Jaworski, A. (2001). Discourse. In P. Colby (ed.), Routledge companion to semiotics and linguistics (p. 134-148). New York: Routledge. [*In reading packet]

 

WEEK 11: 11/14 | Halliday and Systemic Functional Linguistics

• Eggins, S. (2004). An introduction to systemic functional linguistics (p. 1-22). New York: Continuum.
• Halliday, M. A. K. (1993). Towards a language-based theory of learning. Linguistics and Education 5(2): 93-116.
• Martin, J. (2002). Meaning beyond the clause. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 22: 52-74. [*In reading packet]

 

THANKSGIVING – no class

 

WEEK 12: 11/28 | Language Use and Language Development

• Joseph, Love, & Taylor
• chapter 12, Bruner, p. 171-187
• Tomasello, M. (2003). Constructing a language: A usage-based theory of language acquisition (p. 282-328). Harvard University Press: Cambridge. [*In reading packet]
• Thorne, S. L., & Lantolf, J. (forthcoming, 2006). A linguistics of communicative activity. In S. Makoni & A. Pennycook (eds.), (Dis)inventing and (Re)constituting Language. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. [*In reading packet]

 

 

WEEK 13: 12/5 | Social Context, Identity, and Communicative Practices

• Hanks, chapter 9: Beyond the speaker and the text, p. 201-225.
• Hanks, chapter 10, Elements of communicative practice, p. 229-247.
• Ochs, E. (1993). Constructing a social identity. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 26(3): 287-306. [*In reading packet]

 

 

WEEK 14: 12/12

• Participant presentations

APLNG 597g: Seminar in Language Use

Comments or Questions? Contact Steve Thorne | The Pennsylvania State University