Linguist 159: American Dialects

General course info

Course description

What is a dialect, and who speaks one? This course will focus on the fundamentals of linguistic study and dialectology through examinations of regional, social and ethnic dialects in the United States. The course will examine dialect variation on many linguistic levels, from variation in individual words (pop v. soda) to variation in how vowels are pronounced. Historical development of U.S. dialects, linguistic change, perceptual dialectology, and prestige and stigma of dialects will be discussed. Students will participate in real variation research to gain experience with quantitative data in examining the influence of social factors on dialect variation. 2 or 4 units.




Course goals

Through successfully completing this course, you will:

• know the general linguistic geography of the United States.
• understand the social and historical patterning of dialect formation in the United States.
• be able to answer the question "What is a dialect?" knowledgeably and sensitively.
• identify relevant linguistic features of the various dialects of American English.
• gather real dialectological data at all linguistic levels.
• conduct (and write about) real linguistic analysis on dialect features.




Credits

The course can be taken for either 2 or 4 credit units. All students will be required to complete all readings and assignments. Students who are taking the course for 4 units will be required to write a final term paper. Students taking the course for 2 units will not be required to write a final paper, but they will still be expected to complete all other aspects of the course assigned throughout the quarter. For 2-unit students, assignments, along with participation and attendance, will make up the entire grade.



Assignments and grading

Attendance (5%)

The easiest part of your grade is just coming to class! Attendance will be taken at each class period, all classes weighted equally.




Readings and participation (10%)

There is no assigned textbook for this course. Rather, we will be drawing from an assortment of original books, articles, and other media, all of which will be provided as links on the Schedule page of the course website. All readings must be completed before class on the day they are scheduled.

It is in your best interest to read carefully and thoroughly, as your participation grade will be based largely on your knowledge of the readings as evidenced in your contributions to class discussion. If at any point in the quarter we get the sense that you are not adequately performing the readings, we reserve the right to add reading quizzes to the grading schema.

Again, all readings will be provided for you. But, if you're the sort of person who likes to have a tangible book on your shelf, here is what we consider to be the best resource on American English (some of our course readings are taken from the as-yet unreleased third edition of this book):

Wolfram, Walt, and Natalie Schilling. (2005). American English, 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell.




Assignments (55%)

There will be regular tasks, activities, and write-ups due throughout the quarter, about six in total. Assignments will be noted on the Schedule page of the course website, with adequate instructions, time, and materials provided. Different assignments will be weighted differently, ranging from 5-15% of the course grade, specified on each assignment.

All assignments and course work must be completed before class on the day they are due, or else they are late. Assignments should be submitted electronically where applicable (DOC or PDF format) to the course email address.




Final paper (30%)

The final project for the course is to write an original research paper, involving your own analysis of a dialect feature/features that sparked your interest in earlier assignments. Specific details about the final paper will be provided during the second half of the quarter. The final paper is due (no exceptions) at the end of what would have been our final exam period: Wednesday, December 10, 2014, at 10:00 PM.

Policies




Communication with instructors

Please always send all course-related emails to both instructors at the course email address.

This includes general questions, requests for appointments, and assignments. Any email sent during normal business hours (Monday-Friday, 9:00-5:00) will be answered by either of us the same day. While the likelihood of a prompt answer for emails sent after these hours is high, we make no guarantees. The only guarantee we make is that after-hours emails will be answered the next business day.




Late assignments

As a general rule, late assignments are not accepted. However, each student is allowed one free late assignment in the quarter. Your grade will not be penalized for this late assignment, but it is your responsibility to be in immediate contact with the instructors to set a revised (and reasonable) due date for it. This does not apply to the final paper, which must be turned in on the due date with no exceptions.




Academic integrity

We expect all students to comply with Stanford's honor code. We likewise commit to upholding the principles and penalties of the code. See the following link for more information: http://studentaffairs.stanford.edu/judicialaffairs/policy/honor-code.




Students with documented disabilities

Students who needing academic accommodation due to disability should initiate a request with the Student Disability Resource Center (SDRC) located within the Office of Accessible Education (OAE). SDRC staff will evaluate the request with required documentation, recommend reasonable accommodations, and prepare an Accommodation Letter for faculty dated in the current quarter in which the request is being made. Students should contact the SDRC as soon as possible since timely notice is needed to coordinate accommodations. The OAE is located at 563 Salvatierra Walk (phone: 723-1066).