INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH LINGUISTICS
Part One: WinterSemester
2004/5
Prof.
Dr. John A. Bateman
Office Hour: Tuesday, 12-13h. GW2/A3480
Email: bateman@uni-bremen.de
Course Schedule
|
19.10.2004 |
Linguistics, texts and meanings – i Reading: Bateman
(2004: Chs. 1 and 2) |
|
26.10 |
Linguistics, texts and meanings –ii Reading: Bateman
(2004: Chs. 1 and 2) |
|
2.11 |
Through the sound barrier: phonetics and phonology Reading: IPA chart; |
|
9.11 |
Maps, theories and models: empirical linguistics Reading: Bateman
(2004: Ch. 3); Widdowson (1996: Ch.2); Hudson
(2000: Ch. 28) |
|
16.11 |
What is language made of? : structure – i Reading: Bateman
(2004: Ch. 4); Börjas
& Burridge (2001: Ch. 2) |
|
23.11 |
Structure – ii: Parts, wholes and constituency Reading: Bateman
(2004: Ch. 5) |
|
30.11 |
What does it all mean? – semantics Reading: Löbner
(2002: Chs. 1-2); Bateman (2004: Ch. 7); |
|
7.12 |
Everything changes: Linguistic variation Reading: Chambers
& Trudgill (1998: Chs.
1 and 2); Finegan (1994: Ch. 13) |
|
14.12 |
social variation and historical linguistics Reading: Crystal
(2002: Chs. 10-12) |
|
Christmas break Reading: Dickens’
“A Christmas Carol” |
|
|
4.1.2005 |
Review of where we have got to... Löbner (2002: Ch.
7) |
|
11.1 |
Modern
linguistic tools: rules and features Reading: Bateman
(2004: Chs 8 and 9); |
|
18.1 |
The structure of texts Reading: Butt et al. (2000:
Ch. 1); Bateman (2004, Ch. 11) |
|
25.1 |
The structure of interaction Reading: Hutchby & Wooffitt (1998; Ch.2); Eggins
(2000) |
|
1.2 |
What is language? Reading: Widdowson (1996: Ch.
1); Aitchison (1996) |
|
8.2 |
Discussion / Exam Revision Reading: Crystal (2002); Tannen (1991); Aitchison (1996) |
|
Full bibliographical details are given in the copy-shop
folder and on the website. |
|
|
|
EXAM |
Some general advice
You will need to reserve sufficient time for
reading. There is a lot of reading to be done for this class, and you might
underestimate the time you will need to do this. As a general indication, you
might well need at least 5 hours per
week to prepare the course reading, especially since you might have to read
many texts two or three times before they begin to make sense.
You will find it useful to make notes while
reading. Preparing a text doesn’t mean just
reading it—you might want to underline central passages (for example,
definitions of terminology), so that you can find them easily again, summarise
main points and your own ideas in the margin, and take notes concerning
specific questions that arise.
You may find it useful to take careful and
exhaustive notes in class and in the tutorials. We
will not repeat information
particularly from readings in class: we will be assuming that you have read it
and will build discussions on this basis. If you have not read the reading, it
may make your participation in a class difficult or impossible.
You will find it beneficial to go over your
notes regularly. If you never look at
your notes again until one week before the final exam, they will probably make
little sense to you any longer! Review regularly so that you maintain the
overview.
Course requirements
Regular attendance of the main session. If
you miss any sessions without a written excuse or if you miss more than three
sessions total without prior arrangement, you will not be admitted to the final
exam.
Thorough preparation of the readings for each
session. The reading package is available for
photocopying at the on-campus copy shop. Make sure that you have the complete
reading package, and make sure you always know which readings to prepare. It
might be helpful to always bring your notes and the readings to class.
Completion of all homework exercises and regular
attendance of a tutorial. Tutorials are
obligatory and are an essential part of making sure that you are on track with
the material covered in the course. Waiting until the end of the course before
finding out that you have not understood how to do something will be too late.
Much of linguistics is to do with practice and the tutorials are where you can
make sure that you are getting enough!
Thorough preparation of additional readings. In
addition to the course package, there are two course books which you must work
through. You may do so at your own pace, but you must have finished the
readings no later than the last session, the exam preparation and discussion
class.
First
the following book is obligatory reading for everyone:
Crystal,
David. 2002. The English Language. A
Guided Tour of the Language. London: Penguin.
Second,
you can choose one of the following
two books (depending on your individual interests):
Tannen,
Deborah. 1990. You just don’t understand.
Women and men in conversation. New York: William Morrow.
Aitchison,
Jean. 1996. The seeds of speech. Language
origin and evolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Participation in experiments. In
addition to all other requirements, every student will take part as a
participant in experiments carried out in the department (about 2 hours total).
Opportunities to participate in such experiments will be announced at various
points.
Successful participation in the final exam. The
final exam is based on the reading package, the extra readings, the main
session, and the tutorials. For a Teilnahmeschein, students
must get at least 40% on this exam; for a Leistungsschein, they must get at
least 55%.