Readings and Assignments
Revised 3/27/06
NOTE: The last day to withdraw with a grade of W is Thursday, March 2, 2006. Withdrawal prior to this date must be completed through the Registrar. After that date you must apply for a hardship withdrawal from the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and withdraw from all of your courses.
NOTE: Readings and assignments are due on the day they are listed in the syllabus. Changes or additions to the readings will likely occur throughout the course. I will announce these in class and post them on the course homepage (http://www.westga.edu/~dnewton/engl4140).
Textbook Code: K = Kovecses, American Speech B = Bauer and Trudgill, Language Myths
M 1/9 Course Introduction
W 1/11 Chapter 1, “Why Study American English?” K 7-17.
F 1/13 Biographical Introductions (Informal Speech Presentations) ______________________________________________________________________________
M 1/16 MLK Observance (Classes Cancelled)
W 1/18 American Tongues (Video/Audio Segment) and Discussion.
F 1/20 Chapter 2, “American English: A Brief History,” K 19-36. __________________________________________________________________________
M 1/23 American English: A Brief History, conclusion.
W 1/25 Chapter 3, “A New Nation,” K 37-50.
F 1/27 Chapter 4, “Linguistic Geography” K 51-61. ______________________________________________________________________________
M 1/30 Chapter 5, “Regional Dialects of American English,” K 63-74.
W 2/1 Regional Dialects of American English, continued.
F 2/3 Regional Dialects of American English, conclusion. ___________________________________________________________________________
M 2/6 Chapter 6, “Social Dialects of American English,” K 75-89. Myth 17, “They Really Speak Bad English Down South and in New York City,” B 139-49.
W 2/8 Chapter 6, Social Dialects of American English, continued. Myth 20, “Everyone Has an Accent Except Me,” B 169-75.
F 2/10 Chapter 7, “Ethnic Dialects of American English,” K 91-103. Myth 10, “Some Languages Have no Grammar,” B 77-84. ______________________________________________________________________________
M 2/13 Ethnic Dialects of American English, continued.
W 2/15 Examination I
F 2/17 Ethnic Dialects of American English, conclusion. Myth 13, “Black Children are Verbally Deprived,” B 103-112. Myth 9, “In the Appalachians They Speak like Shakespeare,” B 66-76. ______________________________________________________________________________
M 2/20 Chapter 8, “Style in American English,” K 105-15. Myth 2, “Some Languages are Just Not Good Enough,” B 9-14.
W 2/22 Chapter 9, “American Slang,” K 117-38.
F 2/24 American Slang, conclusion. Myth 8, “Children Can’t Speak or Write Properly Anymore,” B 58-65. ______________________________________________________________________________
M 2/27 Speech Presentations
W 3/1 Speech Presentations
R 3/2 Withdrawal Deadline
F 3/3 Conference (Classes Cancelled) ______________________________________________________________________________
M 3/6 Chapter 10, “Vocabulary Differences: British and American,” K 139-54. Myth 1, “The Meaning of Words Should Not be Allowed to Change,” B 1-8. Myth 21, “America is Ruining the English Language,” B 176-82.
W 3/8 Chapter 12, “Economy in American English,” K 165-75 Myth 5, “English Spelling is Kattastroffik,” B 32-40. Myth 18, “Some Languages are Spoken More Quickly than Others,” B 150-58.
F 3/10 Chapter 13, “Rationality in American English,” K 177-201. Myth 4, “French is a Logical Language,” B 23-31. ________________________________________________________________________
M 3/13 Rationality in American English,” continued. Myth 14, “Double Negatives are Illogical,” B 113-22.
W 3/15 Rationality in American English, conclusion.
F 3/17 Chapter 14, “The ‘Straightforward’ American,” K 203-17. ______________________________________________________________________________
M 3/22 Spring Break
W 3/24 Spring Break
F 3/26 Spring Break ______________________________________________________________________________
M 3/27 The ‘Straightforward’ American, conclusion. Myth 7, “Some Languages are Harder than Others,” B 50-57.
W 3/29 Honors Convocation (Class Cancelled)
F 3/31 Conference (Class Cancelled) ______________________________________________________________________________
M 4/3 Chapter 15, “The Democratic Nature of American English,” K 219-34. Myth 15, “TV Makes People Sound the Same,” B 123-31.
W 4/5 Examination II
F 4/7 Class Cancelled (Conference) ______________________________________________________________________________
M 4/10 Chapter 16, “The ‘Casual’ American,” K 235-46. Myth 12, “Bad Grammar is Slovenly,” B 94-102. Myth 6, “Women Talk Too Much,” B 41-49.
W 4/12 Chapter 17, “American Prudery in Language,” K 247-57. Myth 3, “The Media are Ruining English,” B 15-22. "Media Power: Talk the Talk?" (http://www.pbs.org/speak/ahead/mediapower/media/)
F 4/14 Chapter 18, “Tall Talk and Grandiloquence,” K 259-73. Myth 11, Italian is Beautiful, German is Ugly,” B 85-93. ______________________________________________________________________________
M 4/17 Chapter 19, “The Inventiveness of American English,” K 275-288. "English Only: The Legendary English-Only Vote of 1795" (http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/officialamerican/englishonly/)
W 4/19 The Inventiveness of American English, conclusion. Myth 16, “You Shouldn’t Say ‘It is Me’ because ‘Me’ is Accusative,” B 132-38.
F 4/21 Chapter 20, “The Imaginativeness of American English,” K 289-307. ______________________________________________________________________________
M 4/24 Chapter 21, Action and Success in American English,” K 309-16. "World Wide Web of Words: Language in Cyberspace" (http://www.pbs.org/speak/ahead/globalamerican/cyber/)
W 4/26 Action and Success in American English, conclusion. "Do you Speak Presidential? Language as a Political Tool" (http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/standardamerican/presidential/)
F 4/28 Conference (Classes Cancelled) ______________________________________________________________________________
M 5/1 Final Speech Presentations
F 5/5 Final Examination (11:00 am – 1:00 pm) ______________________________________________________________________________
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