Last updated 01/7/05

ENGL 503: Graduate Introduction to Linguistics

TERM PROJECTS: SUGGESTED PROJECTS AND GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

READ THIS ENTIRE PAGE CAREFULLY; PRINT IT OUT AND CONSULT IT FREQUENTLY AS YOU WORK ON YOUR PAPER.
 

• This project is intended to give you practice in real linguistic analysis, collecting your own data and anlayzing it according to principles of linguistics learned in our course and from research reading. Data can be from any genuine source: literature, advertising, everyday speech, media, etc. <> The topics listed below are suggestions. If you think of a different topic you would like to research, please discuss it with me as soon as possible for my approval. Work from your own interests, including your future career interests. If you think you might apply for a Ph.D. someday, most admissions committees like to see sample papers; this could be one. 

This week (1/10-1/14) I will place sample papers from previous courses I have taught will be on reserve in Kennedy library for you to examine. Take advantage of this! Many's the paper that would have been much better if the student had taken the trouble to look at a model.  

<>Two people can work together on a project; both students will receive the same grade. It is safest to work with people you know; from past experience, I strongly recommend NOT working with people you don't know, regardless of how enthusiastic they sound. Papers reporting joint projects must explore significantly more data and be proportionately longer than papers by single individuals. I would expect a paper of 25-30 pages from a 2-person team.
 
• Your paper will take the form of a written report of your research in the form of a paper, no less than fifteen and no more than twenty pages long, documenting your project (including method, execution, and results) (an outline is given below). Please note: Linguists DISprefer papers in the form of a continuous essay; your paper MUST have subdivisions, subtitles, and subsections. Also: I DO NOT GRADE ON CONTENT ALONE! Write and edit your paper carefully for good organization, clear language with good spelling, punctuation, etc. (group work provides a good opportunity for careful editing by more than one person).  Use a consistent style (MLA is acceptable). I do not consider it a good idea to pass a graduate student out of an English MA course if they do not have above-average writing skills, and if they cannot handle grammatical and linguistic terms correctly. You will be held to stringent standards! A paper that is of high quality in its analysis, but shows poor editing or lack of mastery of English punctuation rules or formal standard grammar will suffer a substantially lower grade than the content merits. Consult my Editing Tips page for some common problems, and an ordinary style manual in general.
 
• You must cite at least FIVE research sources you consulted for your paper, NOT including the source of data. Research sources can include our course readings.


• All students are REQUIRED to come and talk to me in the early stages of the project for guidance. Regular visits as you work on your projects are strongly advised. Appointments can be made if you cannot make my office hours.

 
• SCHEDULE:

 
• PROJECT PROPOSAL: Inform me by Thurs., Jan. 20 of your choice of research project. Submit a one-two page, typed proposal with the topic of your project, names of participants, and plan of attack ( = where you will look for sources, what kind of sources you will look for, where and how you will collect your data). As soon as you have decided on your topic, you should begin data collection and background reading. Consult me for help with sources. You cannot afford to wait until the analytic principles are covered in class!!  LATE PROPOSALS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. 
 
• An Annotated Bibliography will be required around week 7 of the quarter. Details to follow.
  
  
• Failure to turn in the project proposal and/or the Annotated Bibliography will lower your paper grade by 5% per item, regardless of how good the paper is.
  <> 
• DUE DATE : ALL PAPERS MUST BE IN BY MONDAY of Exam Week.  

This list is not ordered according to preference. It is random. Read the whole list before glomming onto one topic. Other project ideas are also welcome, but talk to me about them BEFORE submitting a proposal.

(1) Conversation analysis: Record a brief conversation involving 2-3 people. Transcribe and analyze the conversation according to principles of conversation structure. See me for references.*

(2) Application of linguistic analysis to literature I: choose an author well-known for peculiarities of style. Choose a relatively long poem or stretch of either narrative or descriptive prose from a work by the author (about 3 pages of text should do; avoid/ignore dialogue) and study it with a view to determining linguistic features that define/create the style. See me for references on linguistic analysis of literature. You could also compare the styles of two authors renowned for their different extremes of style.

(3) Application of linguistic analysis to literature II: Metaphor and literature. Apply the technique of metaphorical analysis set out in More Than Cool Reason to poems or novels that employ metaphor as a major symbolic device. Your analysis should show how conventional metaphors underlie either the structure of the whole poem or creative metaphors found in the poem.

(4) Application of linguistic analysis to literature III: Sound structure in literature. Choose a poem or piece of prose distinguished by its use of sound patterns. Analyze the piece for features of sound as used in literature: phonological parallelism (rhyme, alliteration, assonance), sound symbolism, rhythm and meter (some or all of these). An interesting variant of this project would be to look at scat lyrics in terms of sound symbolism and conformance to phonotactic constraints.

(5) Application of linguistic analysis to literature IV: Characterize a particular genre of literature (e.g., stream-of-consciousness, internal monologue) linguistically by describing its structural and discourse features.

(6) Application of linguistic analysis to literature V: Deviation. Study a particular work or author and characterize its/his/her particular style in terms of deviation from rules of phonology, morphology, syntax, or discourse.

(7) Application of linguistic analysis to literature VI: Frame analysis. Study a particular work of literature and analyze how it achieves its effect by exploiting cultural knowledge stored in schemas or frames, especially when such frames are broken. This works well for humor, satire, surrealism ... genres which achieve their effects by unexpected behavior of characters or the fictional world.

(8) Application of linguistic analysis to literature VII: Study dialogue in a novel or play for verisimilitude to the structure of real spoken language. Discuss reasons why the author does or does not approximate real spoken language. See me for references.

Any of the literature analysis projects could be centered on disagreeing with a standard or famous analysis, or supporting one that has been controversial. Treat the reader as not familiar with the landscape of literary criticism (I am not); define key terms and approaches.

(8) ESL error analysis: If you are interested in being an ESL teacher, work with a person from another language background who is learning English (choose an adult whose English is not very fluent yet; there are several ESL schools/programs in the SLO area that could be sources of speakers). Tape-record data from your speaker on several different occasions, analyze it, and prepare a report including sociolinguistic information and samples of phonetic, lexical, morphosyntactic, and possibly  discourse features of this person's speech; discuss how it differs from native-speaker English. Place your data in the context of theories of second-language acquisition such as contrastive analysis, error analysis, and Interlanguage. I have specific guidelines for this project.*

(9) Language acquisition in young children: Study the speech of a young child (2 to 3 years of age).  Record (either on video or audio) several samples of the child's verbal behavior.  Use your tapes as a data base to select 25 utterances by the child for description.  Describe differences in pronunciation, vocabulary, morphology, and syntax between the child's language and an adult 'translation' of the same utterances; and attempt to determine the child's stage of acquisition in terms of various features.  Read Ch. 12 of your text as background/preparation/reference material; seek out other references as well. I have specific guidelines for this project.*

(10) Dialect and literature: Study samples of the use of nonstandard dialect in literature (several from one author who uses it extensively, or samples from several authors; or literature written entirely in nonstandard English). There are several ways to analyze data like this: possible intentions of the author in using dialect in literature; the sociolinguistics of dialect in literature; nonstandard dialect as an expression of the author's ideology, etc.

(11) Language and gender: Examine language data (in expository or literary prose, journalistic prose, advertising, or particular documents such as health pamphlets, etc.) for signs of gender stereotyping: male, female, or hetero/homosexual. Critical Discourse Analysis is a possible mode of analysis. I can refer you to sources; for starters, have a look at my Language and Gender course pages. (www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba/495/495.html).

* If you think you might want to present or publish your paper someday, these projects are ones which require Human Subjects clearance from the university. This clearance is required only if the work will be shared publicly (e.g., on a website, at a conference, or through publication). Human subjects review looks daunting, but it's not difficult, esp. if you get started on it early. I can give you lots of help. See also the Cal Poly Human Subjects website:
http://www.calpoly.edu/~scdavis/human.htm

SUGGESTED OUTLINE FOR A RESEARCH REPORT

ALL PAPERS MUST HAVE A SEPARATE TITLE PAGE including name(s) of all participants, major, date paper is handed in, and the title of the course. Staple to front of paper. If you use running headers or footers, insert ONLY the page number. Please do not put your name or paper title on each page. I DON'T LIKE PLASTIC REPORT COVERS.

I. BACKGROUND: Describe the overall purpose of the report and any expectations/hypotheses you may have.  Significance of your data/analysis for domain of study (literature, teaching writing, child-raising and education, etc.) should be briefly laid out in this section. You should also cite other authors' work that you are using for analytical support (how your paper fits in to general work in this area). (about 4-6 pages)

II. METHOD: Describe in detail how you went about collecting information or data for your research. Keep your people sources anonymous. Give facts about them such as their age, sex, and role in your project, but leave out their names and do not specify exact locations. Use made-up names if you need a name. Describe how you went about analyzing your data (but not the results--save that for the next section). (1-2 pages)

III. RESULTS & DISCUSSION (= analysis section): Give the results of your research, and discuss them as appropriate to the topic assignments in the topic idea list above. The nature and length of this section will vary a lot depending on your project; this section should make up the bulk of your report. This is also the most important part of your report; it will determine the bulk of your grade. If you do research that involves numbers (e.g. mean length of sentence), include all your numerical results. Use graphs or tables to summarize if appropriate. In this section you must relate your project and its results to relevant sections of the course material.

IV. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Identify work by other authors (including our textbook/course readings and any data sources from literature or nonfiction) that you referred to in your report, such as books or research articles). List only works that you cite in the paper. Be consistent and use a recognized style (MLA or APA).