ENGLISH 290: INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS
English Department, Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo
Winter Quarter 2011
Last updated on 1/8/11

On this page: Schedule and Other Info - Course Description - Course Materials - Course Requirements - Grading

Links to other course pages:

Instructor: Dr. Johanna Rubba
Instructor's Office: 47-35B
Office phone: 805.756.2184
E-mail address: jrubba@calpoly.edu
URL: http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
>>Office Hours: T 10:10-11 am,  W 11:10 am-noon & 4:10-5 pm, R 10:10-11am, and by appointment   -- To set up an appointment outside of these hours, e-mail me with several suggested times and I will confirm one back to you. I will usually reply to your e-mail within 24 hours. Click here to see my schedule.

Course description

What is language? Speech is sound waves traveling through the air, just as music, car horns, bees' buzzing, and the roar of ocean waves are merely sound waves traveling through the air. Writing is squiggles on a page or a screen. Yet, without language, human society as we know it could not exist. Without language, our thoughts, feelings, desires, needs, and cogitations would be locked inside of our skulls, inaccessible forever to those around us. No exchange of information about the past or the future; no talk of the hypothetical, the fantastical, or the abstract. Our societies would be no more complex than those of our closest primate relatives, the chimpanzees and gorillas. No airplanes, MRI scanners, higher mathematics, or art. For that matter, no plumbing, cooked food, or woven cloth.

Clearly, there is something quite miraculous behind the sound waves of speech and the squiggles of writing. With language, we are able to share our thoughts with others. It enables the kind of complex and cooperative work necessary to create everything from stone axes to microprocessors. It is the medium through which all social institutions, from interpersonal relationships to international diplomacy, are established and maintained. We use language not just to communicate, but to establish trust, to persuade, to entertain, to get others to do things, and to form and maintain social bonds. Some scholars believe that language enables thought itself.

Aside from using language for all this, people have beliefs about language, and act on those beliefs. People judge others based on the way they speak, whether it be their accent or their grammar. Such judgments can mean social exclusion, school failure, or discrimination in hiring or promotion. School systems and governments routinely make bad decisions about language for lack of understanding of how language works. Governments sometimes use language to oppress and disempower people. Language is crucial to our lives in so many ways, it seems essential for us to understand how it works. Yet most people, even the most powerful, are not at all aware that a science of language exists — a science that tasks itself with puzzling out precisely how those sound waves allow us to accomplish so much, to use language for good or ill.

That science is called linguistics. Like other sciences, linguistics proceeds from observation of data — in this case, language in use — leading to the formation and testing of hypotheses and theories about the data. Like other sciences, linguistics strives for objectivity, relying on data not just to aid in theory-building, but also to correct and improve it. And as with other sciences, more than two hundred years of linguistic investigation have revealed that most common wisdom about language is baseless. Unlike other sciences, however, these discoveries are known to very few. This course exists to share these discoveries with you, so that, in your future, you can make informed judgments about language in everything from understanding your own children's progress in acquiring their first language to voting on an "official" language for your state or nation.

When scientists find that their objective observation of data disagrees with widespread beliefs that cause harm, they may turn to advocacy to correct those beliefs and put a halt to the harm. A large number of scientists feel that ethics demands speaking out in such situations. For example, when scientists found that exposure to asbestos caused a fatal form of cancer, they spoke out about it, and asbestos was banned. As I noted above, social harm comes about as a result of misunderstanding of the workings of language. You will find in this course, therefore, a mix of objective data description and, based on that data, advocacy of practices regarding language that can prevent such harm.

Language is an activitly of the human mind/brain, so linguistics faces the same challenges as the other human sciences — psychology, anthropology, and sociology, for example. We humans are not conscious of what guides most of our behavior. This means that scholars in these disciplines must develop clever techniques for coaxing information from us from which they can then infer the nature of those guiding mechanisms.

Your preconceptions may have led you to believe that this course would help you improve your grammar or tell you about the histories of English words. You may have now inferred from what I have written above that the course goals are quite different, and quite broad. The course will have two "tracks": one on the structure of language, focusing mainly on English but also showing the workings of other languages. The other track will deal with language and society, in particular with the language situation in the United States. The structure track will concern itself with the matter of the first two paragraphs above, and the language-and-society track will deal with the matter of the third and fifth paragraphs. The two tracks will run in parallel, with reading assignments, homework assignments, and in-class work for both tracks throughout the quarter.

Course Learning Objectives:

• Specific to this course:
  • Acquire a basic understanding of the structure and workings of language in its subsystems of semantics, phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and pragmatics.
  • Unlearn harmful "common wisdom" about language; develop an understanding of language in society that leads to life-long scientifically-informed thinking about the language issues we all face in everyday life.
• Drawn from Cal Poly's University Learning Objectives:
  • Think critically and creatively
  • Use knowledge and skills to make a positive contribution to society
  • Make reasoned decisions based on an understanding of ethics and a respect for diversity
  • Engage in lifelong learning
  • Demonstrate an understanding of relationships between diversity, inequality, and social, economic, and political power both in the United States and globally
  • Consider perspectives of diverse groups when making decisions

At Cal Poly, ENGL 290 is a required course for English majors. Students who plan to enter a multiple-subject credential program (e.g., Liberal Studies majors) should consult with their major departments to verify that ENGL 290 will count towards their degree requirements. Normally, only 391 will count towards the multiple-subject credential for undergraduates.)

Course materials:

Textbook: Language Files, Tenth Edition, Ohio State University Press, 2004. Please note that it is the Tenth Edition we are going to use. No other edition will work.
Supplemental readings: Track-two readings will be made available via Blackboard.

Course requirements:   READ THIS SECTION AND ALL ASSOCIATED WEB PAGES CAREFULLY!
• Attendance: More than 4 absences will harm your final grade. Please visit my Attendance Policy page for details. • Tests: There will be a mid-term and a final exam. The final exam is cumulative (comprehensive). • Homework assignments: Readings from the textbook and readings for the language-and-society track are required. Bring both your textbook and a copy of any assigned reading for the language-and-society track to class. Textbook exercises and exercises from the course website will be assigned, along with prompts to prepare for discussion of language-and-society topics. Completing homework counts towards your grade. If you miss a class, go to the Assignments webpage to find out what was assigned and when it is due. Late homework will be accepted up to one week after the due date, but no later. Resubmits are due within one week of your receiving them. See the Assignments page for more detail on how homework works. • Journal: Part of your grade will derive from a Journal assignment. Your Journals will report your changing perspectives on language and observations of language in use around you. Journals will be collected and graded in Weeks 3, 6, 9, and 10. Instructions to follow.

Class etiquette:
Teaching (as many of you will soon discover) is a demanding profession, requiring concentration and cooperation between teacher and audience. Behaviors that seem innocent can be very disruptive for your professor. Please follow these rules of etiquette to help me deliver clear lectures and attend to your needs, not your quirks: (a) Do not be late to class.** If there is persistent lateness, I will begin shutting the door when class begins and not permitting late students to enter. If you come in after roll has been taken, it is up to you to inform me that you are present. Note that there will be very little time for this at the end of the 2 pm hour, as I have to move to a different building for the 3 pm section. (b) When you arrive in the classroom, prepare for class immediately: Take out your textbook (which you should bring to every class meeting), notebook and pens, and set other materials aside. Rather than reading the Mustang Daily or chatting with classmates, review your notes from the previous class meeting, or re-read the textbook. If homework is due that day, compare your work with your classmates. Prepare your mind for the subject matter. (c) Please do not develop the habit of chatting with classmates during class. This is extremely distracting. If you have a question, please raise your hand and ask me.  (d) I do not mind drinks in the classroom, but please do not eat or chew gum. (e) Turn off all cell phones and beepers before you enter the classroom. If you text during class, I will ask you to leave the room. (Discuss with me before class any emergency situation which requires you to keep such a device active.) (e) Academic honesty: Cheating and plagiarism will be grounds for issuing a failing grade for the assignment or the course and a report to the The Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities. Read the document on Plagiarism and conform to it very carefully. Do not assume you will not make the mistakes described there. I have issued F's for papers and reported cases in recent years.

**If you have a special circumstance which causes persistent lateness, please discuss it with me. Trouble finding a parking space does not constitute a special circumstance.

Grading:   Your course grade will be whatever percentage you earn of 300 course points.

Grading Standards: Click here for my grading standards. This page will help you understand my expectations and how I grade your work.