H 714 Language and Culture: Perspectives and Methodologies

1. H 714Language and Culture: Perspectives and Methodologies September 19, 2006 Kendra Winner

2. Agenda • Introductions • Our Group Culture • Course Administration • Critical Response Papers • What is the study of language and culture?

3. Introductions • Think about your own language … • In what way is your language (or languages) important to you and why? • Think about today’s readings … • What is one idea from today’s readings that is consonant with or contradicts your current ideas about language and culture?

4. Our Group Culture • Learning & understanding • Participation & discussion • What will I contribute? (top 3) • What will my colleagues contribute? (top 3) • What will the course instructor contribute? (top 3)

5. Course Administration • Course Contact Information • Discussion Facilitation Sign up • Your questions about the course

6. Critical Response Papers • Logistics • Two pages, approximately 500 words • Four over the course of the semester • Due at the beginning of class • Only one accepted per class meeting, i.e., you can’t hand in two in one week • Last day to turn in a Critical Response Paper is December 12th

7. Critical Response Papers • Purpose • Promote preparation for class • Foster critical thinking about the material • Support discussion participation

8. Critical Response Papers • Evaluation Criteria • Developing a critical stance, position or point of view • Utilizing evidence/theories from readings as support • Comparing/contrasting different theories presented • Analyzing ambiguities, consistencies, lack of clarity • Interpreting current week’s readings using previous readings/theories • Extending ideas from reading to practice/experiences • Identifying future research questions

9. The Study of Language and Culture • A rose by any other name ….. • Anthropological Linguistics • Linguistic Anthropology • Sociolinguistics

10. Key Contributions to the Field • Franz Boas • No necessary association between a given language and a given race or between a given language and a given culture • Ethnographic work should be done using the native language of communities • Lack of certain linguistic forms is not evidence of lack of abstract thought • Extended unit of analysis beyond “word” level to sentence level

11. Key Contributions to the Field • Dell Hymes • Reciprocal influence of language and culture • Communicative competence • Extended unit of analysis to include acts, situations, events • Speakers as performers

12. Giving up your own language variety … • Situational Changes • Language Loyalty • Outside motivational forces • Personal language history (e.g., Poly-lingual family, second or third language learner, original language) • Politics of assimilation

13. Key Contributions to the Field • Schieffelin & Ochs • First research conducted which fully integrated study of the acquisition of grammar with the acquisition of other cultural patterns • Created the field of language socialization: • The process of getting socialized through language • The process of getting socialized to language • Conceived of language socialization as a life-long process

14. What is culture?

15. What is culture? • A shared organization of ideas that includes the intellectual, moral and aesthetic standards prevalent in a community and the meanings of communicative actions. Levine, R. (1984) Properties of Culture: An ethnographic view.

16. What is culture? • Collective • Organized • Multiply complex & irreducible • Variable

17. Discussion Question • Some have suggested the presence of two camps in linguistics: one which looks at the universal characteristics of language and the other which focuses on variation and/or continual change. How do Boas, Hymes, Ochs & Shieffelin work with these seemingly dichotomous approaches?

18. “ ... if you want to really hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity--I am my language.” Gloria Anzaldua