ANTHRO 105 Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology 1

ANTHRO 105 Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology

University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
In the world “out there,” there are no verbs, no speech events, and no adjacency pairs.
There are particles of matter moving around in certain recurrent and yet not fully
predictable patterns. We interpret such experiences as and through symbolic means,
including linguistic expressions. That’s what it means to be human.

- Alessandro Duranti

Term and Dates:

Fall 2012, 09/10/12 – 12/10/12

Locations:
Lecture: Mondays 9:00AM – 10:50AM in Cunningham 107
Discussion: Thursdays 12:00PM – 12:50PM, 1:00PM – 1:50PM, and 2:00PM – 2:50PM in
Sabin 281

Instructor:
Karen Esche-Eiff

Availability:
Email: kmesche@uwm.edu

Office: Sabin G36

Office Hours: Thursdays 3:00PM – 5:00PM

Textbook:
Ahearn, Laura
2012 Living Language: An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology. 1st edition. West Sussex:
Wiley-Blackwell.1

Readings beyond those contained in our textbook will be made available to you via D2L. Please
bring to class all materials scheduled for critique.

Description:
This course, in outlining anthropological approaches to the study of language and language use
across comparative contexts, will help you understand how language both reflects and shapes
thought in addition to culture and power. Questions which this class will assist you in answering
include:

                                                                                                                       
1
Available at the People’s Books Cooperative.
 ANTHRO 105 Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology 2

(a) What is language;

(b) Why and how do linguistic anthropologists study it;
(c) Can speaking a certain language facilitate the construction of a particular sense of reality,
i.e. a particular way of envisioning the social and natural world;
(d) How is it that linguistic perceptions affect ways in which people recognize social
differences, for example, those rooted in ideas about ethnicity, class, and/or gender; and,
similarly,
(e) How is it that linguistic practices in addition to perceptions about language relate to
relationships of inequality?

Organization:
This course is organized into fourteen weeks. While progressing through each, we will address at
least one main area of linguistic anthropological inquiry. These include but are not limited to
semiotics; formal linguistics; linguistic relativism; language acquisition and socialization; speech
communities; multilingualism; literacy; speech acts; language, gender, and ethnicity; and
language death and revitalization. During week three, we will look into the research methods
that linguistic anthropologists employ in the practice of their discipline. You will have the
opportunity to experiment with these methods while undertaking your own Language Biography
Project between weeks three and fourteen. This project is designed to assist you with relating
linguistic anthropological concepts to a reality lived out in close proximity to you, thereby
demonstrating the broad applicability of linguistic anthropology to the “everyday.”

Requirements:
Your final grade will be based on points awarded to (a) Discussion Session Attendance and
Participation, (b) completion of four in-lecture Pop Quizzes (lowest dropped), (c) completion of
a Language Biography Project (inclusive of three checkpoint assignments and one write-up), and
(d) completion of two in-class Exams. Any extra credit points earned will be added to your
cumulative tally. I will post points accumulated to D2L throughout the semester.

Assessment Items Points Available

Discussion Attendance and Participation (nine at 1.7 points each) 15
Pop Quizzes (four at five points each; lowest dropped) 15
Midterm Exam 20
Language Biography Project (three checkpoint assignments at
25
three points each and one write-up at sixteen points)
Final Exam 25
Total Possible: 100

Assignments:
Assignments are due to me in-person in hard copy form at the start of those class periods
identified in our Course Schedule as due dates. While assignment descriptions will be made
available to you in D2L, work submitted electronically will not be accepted. The only exception
to these rules is your Bonus Syllabus Quiz. Please submit this via D2L.

All assignments, excluding your Bonus Syllabus and Pop Quizzes, should (a) be typed, (b)
adhere to length requirements, (c) make use of 12-point font, and (d) have one-inch margins.
 ANTHRO 105 Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology 3

Your Language Biography and Linguistic Anthropology in the News Write-Ups should also (e)
include a bibliography and in-text citations. I suggest referencing the Style Guide of the
American Anthropological Association for guidance on how to cite (URL:
www.aaanet.org/publications/style_guide.pdf).

Extra Credit:
You may partake in three extra credit assignments. They are a Bonus Syllabus Quiz (worth one
point; located in D2L; see our Course Schedule for due date), a Bonus Introduction Assignment
(worth one point; located in D2L; see our Course Schedule for due date), and two Linguistic
Anthropology in the News Write-Ups (worth 2 points each).

Linguistic Anthropology in the News Write-Ups: You may submit one Linguistic
Anthropology in the News Write-Up per week for a total of two write-ups. Each must (a)
pertain to the linguistic anthropological topic(s) being discussed for the week submitted,
(b) be between 1 and 2 pages long, and (c) consist of three sections (section one should
summarize the article chosen; section two should synthesize applicable linguistic
anthropological theories; and section three should analyze the article chosen in light of
those theories previously synthesized). Please submit a hard copy of your article along
with your write-up.

Course Schedule:
Week Readings and Assessment Items Due
Week One Reading:
1. Syllabus
Course Overview; the Social Video:
Life of Language 1. American Tongues
Assignments:
Monday 09/10/12 1. Bonus Introduction Assignment is due in discussion
Thursday 09/13/12 on Thursday
2. Bonus Syllabus Quiz is due by the end of the day on
Sunday

Week Two Reading:

The Social Life of Language
(cont.): What is Language;
Why Study It; Meaning
Making and Linguistic Signs
1. Chapter One of Ahearn (for Monday)
Video:
1. Whose Line is it Anyway?

Monday 09/17/12
Thursday 09/20/12
 ANTHRO 105 Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology 4

Week Three No Monday Lecture

Reading:
Linguistic Anthropological 1. Chapter Two of Ahearn (for Thursday)
Research Methods: What Note:
Types of Questions Do 1. Instructions relative to Language Biography Project
Linguistic Anthropologists distributed
Ask; What Methods Do They
Use in Conducting Research

Monday 09/24/12
Thursday 09/27/12

Week Four Readings:

1. REVIEW Chapter One of Ahearn (for Monday)
Language as a Formal 2. Are Sign Languages Real Languages by Napoli and
System: Structural Schoenfeld (for Monday)
Components of Language; Video:
Pragmatics; Non-Verbal 1. Through Deaf Eyes
Communication Assignment:
1. First Language Biography Project Checkpoint
Monday 10/01/12 Assignment due in lecture on Monday
Thursday 10/04/12
Week Five Readings:
1. Chapter Four of Ahearn (for Monday)
Language Structure and 2. The Relation of Habitual Thought to Language by
Worldview: Does Language Whorf (for Monday)
Affect the Way We Think; 3. Does Your Language Shape How You Think by
The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis Deutscher (for Monday)
4. Society for Linguistic Anthropology Commentary on
Monday 10/08/12 Deutscher Article (for Monday)
Thursday 10/11/12
Week Six Readings:
1. Chapter Three of Ahearn (for Monday)
Language Acquisition and 2. Language Acquisition and Socialization by Ochs and
Socialization: Acquiring Schieffelin (for Monday)
Language; Aspects of Video:
Communicative Competence; 1. Taboo: Child Rearing
Communicative Styles and
Genres; Communicative
Competence and Social
Differentiation

Monday 10/15/12
Thursday 10/18/12

Week Seven
Communities of Language
Users: What are “Speech
Communities;” How Do
They Emerge
Monday 10/22/12
Thursday 10/25/12
Week Eight
Language, Gender, and
Ethnicity: Do Men and
Women Use Language
Differently; If So, Do These
Differences Apply Across
Languages and Cultures;
What Is the Relationship
Between Language and
Ethnicity
Monday 10/29/12
Thursday 11/01/12
Week Nine
Multilingualism:
Codeswitching; Language in
Globalization; Language
Policies
Monday 11/05/12
Thursday 11/08/12
Week Ten
Language Death and
Revitalization: What Factors
Contribute to Language Shift
and Death; Is the
Maintenance of Linguistic
Diversity Important
Monday 11/12/12
Thursday 11/15/12
ANTHRO 105 Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology 5
Readings:
1. Chapter Five of Ahearn (for Monday)
2. And Then She Texted by Gershon (for Monday)
Video:
1. Earthlings: Ugly Bags of Mostly Water
Assignment:
1. Second Language Biography Project Checkpoint
Assignment due in lecture on Monday
Note:
1. Midterm Exam study guide distributed
Readings:
1. Chapters Nine and Ten of Ahearn (for Monday)
2. Norm-Makers, Norm-Breakers by Keenan (for
Monday)
3. The Whiteness of Nerds by Bucholtz (for Monday)
Assignment:
2. Midterm in discussion on Thursday
Readings:
1. Chapter Six of Ahearn (for Monday)
2. A Linguistic Odyssey by Antal (for Monday)
3. Who Wins in Research on Bilingualism in an Anti-
Bilingual State? by Cashman (for Monday)
Video:
1. Crosstalk
No Thursday Discussion
Readings:
1. Chapter Eleven of Ahearn (for Monday)
Video:
1. The Linguists
Assignment:
1. Third Language Biography Project Checkpoint
Assignment due in lecture on Monday
 ANTHRO 105 Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology 6

Week Eleven No Monday Lecture or Thursday Discussion

Monday 11/19/12
Thursday 11/22/12

Week Twelve Readings:

Literacy Practices:
Approaches to Literacy;
Literacy Acquisition
Monday 11/26/12
Thursday 11/29/12
Week Thirteen
Language, Action, and
Agency: How We Do Things
with Words
Monday 12/03/12
Thursday 12/06/12
1. Chapter Seven of Ahearn (for Monday)
2. What No Story at Bedtime Means by Heath (for
Monday)
3. Literacy Debate: R U Really Reading? by Rich (for
Monday)
Note:
1. Final Exam study guide distributed
Readings:
1. Chapter Eight of Ahearn (for Monday)
2. How to Ask for a Drink by Spradley and Mann (for
Monday)
Video:
1. Initiation “Kut” for a Korean Shaman
Note:
1. Final Exam review (in discussion on Thursday)

Week Fourteen No Thursday Discussion

Class Wrap-Up
Assignments:
Monday 12/10/12 1. Final Exam (in lecture on Monday)
Thursday 12/13/12 2. Language Biography Project Write-Up due in lecture
on Monday

Grading Scale:
Highest Lowest Letter
100 % 93 % A

92 % 90 % A-

89 % 87 % B+

86 % 83 % B

82 % 80 % B-

79 % 77 % C+

76 % 73 % C
 ANTHRO 105 Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology 7

72 % 70 % C-

69 % 67 % D+

66 % 63 % D

62 % 60 % D-

59 % 0% F
 ANTHRO 105 Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology 8

POLICIES

Absences:
While I will not be taking attendance in lecture, you are required to attend. Missing lecture will
result in you foregoing exposure to insights pertinent to coursework. It may also result in you
missing opportunities to accumulate Pop Quiz points.

Unless you sign-in to discussion, you will be considered absent. From discussion sessions, you
will be allowed two absences. Each absence beyond the allowed two will result in a deduction of
1.7 points from your cumulative Discussion Session Attendance and Participation tally.

Academic Dishonesty:
No form of cheating will be tolerated in ANTHRO 105 Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology.
This includes plagiarism. Should you be unsure of what constitutes plagiarism, please reference
Plagiarism.Org’s Learning Center (URL:
http://www.plagiarism.org/plag_article_what_is_plagiarism.html).

Cancellations:
In the event that class is unexpectedly cancelled, I will send notification via email as well as
D2L. If possible, I will also post a memo to all appropriate classroom doors. You are
responsible for checking your UWM email for course notifications. Should I need to revise our
syllabus, for example, due to a class cancellation, I will post an updated version to D2L.

Cell Phones:
Cell phone use distracts from the learning experience. For this reason, you should refrain from
accepting phone calls in addition to text messages while class is in session. Should you require
that your cell phone be on to respond to a likely emergency, kindly put it on vibrate.

Late Work:
Without (a) a reasonable excuse being communicated to me in a timely manner prior to the
assignment in question being due and, (b) prior to that assignment being due, receiving from me
notification that I accept said excuse, the assignment in question will not be accepted after its due
date. With (a) a reasonable excuse being communicated to me in a timely manner prior to the
assignment in question being due and, (b) prior to that assignment being due, receiving from me
notification that I accept said excuse, the assignment in question will be accepted in-person in
hard copy form by the newly agreed upon due date. What constitutes a "reasonable excuse" will
remain at the instructor’s discretion. Note that no make-ups will be allowed for pop quizzes.
Make-ups for final exams will only be allowed in cases of extreme emergency. Neither
forgetting to come to class nor accidentally having scheduled conflicting arrangements will be
considered an acceptable excuse.

Special Accommodations:
In the event that you require special accommodations due to a disability, please inform me as
soon as possible.
 ANTHRO 105 Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology 9

Additional Policies:
The Department of Anthropology subscribes to all policies outlined by UWM on its Uniform
Syllabus Policy webpage (URL: www.uwm.edu/Dept/SecU/SyllabusLinks.pdf). You should
review this webpage for information pertaining to your rights and responsibilities as a student.