I have chosen a topic of Western Armenian and will send the rough draft I ask that you revise the said topic into more of an essay format than what is shown, without titles but a simple structured essay.
Assignment One: Ecology of a Language/Dialect
Your assignment is to research and report on the ecology of a language. Important dates for
this assignment are:
This paper must be at least 3 pages in length.
Topic Choice.
You will choose to write on a particular language/dialect. Your choice must
not
be one of the more wide-spread “languages” such as Spanish, French, Russian, Latin, Greek,
Chinese, etc. Instead, you must narrow your focus to a specific dialect or variety of one of these
or some other language; or you may choose a lesser-known non-European language. For
example, rather than “Spanish,” you might choose Cuban Spanish, or Andean Spanish. Instead
of “French,” you might look at Quebec French, or West African French. You are also welcome
to choose a dialect of English. This might be a regional dialect, such as New England,
Southwestern, or Appalachian; or it might be a social dialect, such as Cajun, or Boston Brahmin.
You may, if you wish, report on acreole language
creole language
. Some examples include: Sea Island Creole
(“Gullah”); the West Indian Creole languages (Jamaican, Haitian, Belizean, Trinidadian,
Papiamentu, etc.); South American creoles (Sranan Tongo, Saramakan, Ndjuka, etc.); Tok Pisin
(Papua New Guinea); Krio (Sierra Leon); Kamtak (Cameroon); etc. It should be noted that
African American (Ebonics), may be analyzed as either a dialect of American English, or as a
creole language; if you choose this language variety, you must explain how you classify it, and
why.
Questions you will ask.
A successful paper will address questions relevant to the language
variety under investigation and, where possible, suggest answers for the questions presented.
Some questions that may be relevant are given below. Depending on the variety you choose, you
may find that one or more of these questions are not relevant, and you may encounter other
questions as you research your language variety. Addressing these questions should be the main
focus of your paper. DO NOT come to me and complain that you can’t find this information
about the language your chose. Either you aren’t looking hard enough, or you need to choose a
different language. Here are the basic questions you should answer (Adapted from
The
Linguistic Reporter
, Winter 1971, page 25):
What is the name of the language variety (what do its speakers call it; what do non-
speakers call it; what do linguists call it)?
Who are its users, and how are they grouped by nation, geographical location, class,
religion, or any other relevant grouping?
What larger “language” does it belong to? What are the main closely related dialects?
What other dialects are employed by its users?
Is this dialect written? If so, how and in what contexts?
Is its use restricted or limited in certain ways, for example religion or ritual, written
literature, legal proceedings, folk tales, and so on?
What issues of power and authority are relevant to this dialect?
Is the dialect endangered? If so, what factors might be involved? If not, what might be
contributing to its vitality?
Organization
. Make sure to organize your paper into sections (and subsections) in a way that is
easy to understand. In addition, give an introduction at the beginning of the paper, and have a
conclusion at the end. The introduction should clearly state your research. WARNING: If I
don’t know what you are writing about by the time I finish the first paragraph, I will not read the
rest of your paper, and you will receive no credit.
The body of your paper should address the questions, above. Trust me, this will give you plenty
to write about.
You can also comment briefly on the similarities and differences of the language you are
examining and your first language. In the main body of the paper, describe your findings,
illustrating with examples, where appropriate. You may also want to devote a more in-depth
comparison of the language you looked at and Standard English. In the conclusion, summarize
your main points. You may also want to point out areas where you feel that further research is
needed.
Take these questions seriously! A paper that ignores them will lose at least 5 points. The best
papers will not only address these questions, but be organized around them, with each section
covering one of these questions. If a question doesn’t apply to the language you have chosen,
explain why. If you find other questions/topics that are relevant to the language, feel free to add
them.
References: All references must be from valid, scholarly sources, and properly cited.
All
listed references must be cited in the text. Internet sources should be scholarly work made
available on the Internet, or print sources such as journal articles accessed through the Internet.
HINT:
If there is no author’s name, it probably isn’t a scholarly source; DON’T CITE IT!
Travel and tourist guides, brochures, commercial websites, and other non-scholarly sources will
not be accepted. You must site at least six separate sources, three of which must be print sources
(WE HAVE A LIBRARY!) If you tell me you can’t find any sources, I will tell you to either
look harder, or change your language.
DO NOT
use Wikipedia as a primary source, and be
judicious in your use of any Internet source. Do not repeat nonsense about a language, such as
statements that it “has a vocabulary of only 300 words”, or is “the most beautiful language in the
world”, or “it is the most difficult language to learn”, etc. If in doubt, consult with me. Suggested
format: state the questions (above) as subheadings, and then deal with them. If you only look for
sources on the language itself, and ignore ethnographic writings by cultural anthropologists or
sociologists, you are missing the point of this class – if you don’t write about the culture, but
only the language, you are missing the point.
Transcription system
. The transcription system you use depends what you’ve decided to
discuss in your paper. If you are talking about phonology, you will want to use IPA transcription.
If you are talking about syntax, you can probably simply use the writing system of the language
if it uses the Latin alphabet (but make sure you mention if there are any important discrepancies
between writing and pronunciation); or if it uses a non-Latin alphabet you may choose to
transcribe it using IPA or simple Latin letters. As an example, if your language of choice were
Russian (not allowed for this project, you would have to use a dialect of Russian; or perhaps a
study of
мат
words as used by a “gopnik” sub-culture), the sentence ‘I love you’ would be written
in Cyrillic as
Я
тебя
люблю.
Since most Americans cannot read Cyrillic script you should not
use it in your paper. You may want to transcribe the sentence using IPA (especially if discussing
phonology/phonetics), but it will also be acceptable to transliterate it into Latin characters:
Я
тебя
люблю.
[Russian]
ja t
j
I
b
j
ja
l
j
ubl
j
u
[IPA]
ya tyebya lyublyu [Latin Characters]
The key point here is to always make sure you give
enough
information. If you’re talking about
morphology and different allomorphs are used in different phonological environments, you need
to make sure this is clear in your transcription – and it may
not
be clear in the actual writing
system of the language. When in doubt, use IPA.
Examples
. When discussing data from a language other than English, give a translation of the
sentence. In addition, provide glosses for the individual words in the sentence – the gloss can
differ substantially from the translation. For example:
ya
tyebya
lyublyu
I-nominative
you-accusative love-1sg
“I love you”
“I adore you”
Papers must properly
cite all sources in Chicago style, using the author, date citations.
Guidelines for Chicago style citations are available at the following website:
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-2.html
Use the form of in-text citation and Reference Page. Every source cited in text MUST be on the
Reference Page, every entry on the Reference Page must be cited in the text. The Reference
Page must be in alphabetic order by lead author’s last name. If you cut and paste references
from the Internet, I will not read your paper at all, and you will receive a “0.” All references must
be appropriate and reasonable in terms of the topic of your paper. Exceptions to scholarly
works: newspaper articles, travel brochures, films, written fiction, and other sources may be
used as EXAMPLES, but the are to be looked at critically, and not accepted as sources of factual
information.
Presentation:
You may be an intelligent and perceptive person, but in the context of your paper,
I don’t care what your “unschooled” opinions might be. Your conclusions must be scholarly
opinions: they must follow from the facts you present, placed in the context of theory or other
scholarly work on language and culture.
Be clear and to the point. Don’t try to sound “fancy.” Do not write a long and convoluted or
“cute” or “clever” introduction. If I don’t know what language and/or dialect is the subject of
your paper by the first three sentences, I will hand it back unread.
You are expected to write in a scholarly manner. Do not start a sentence with the word, “Well, .
. ” If I come upon a phrase such as “in nowaday’s culture”, which is both grammatically and
intellectually wrong at so many levels, you will lose points. If you present grand generalizations
or pure hyperbole, such as “since the dawn of time”, “people have always”, “throughout history”,
etc., you will lose points. If you use an apostrophe in standard plurals, or don’t use one in
standard possessives, you will lose points.
Don’t use a word if you don’t know what it means. If it doesn’t make sense, you will lose a
point. Throw away your hardcopy thesaurus, or delete your thesaurus software. If those words
really all meant exactly the same thing, we wouldn’t have all those words.
Do not refer to authors by their first names. They are not your friends; you have no personal
relationship with them. It will cost you points. Refer to authors by their last names and do not
use titles such as “Dr.” or “Prof.”
Do not use the word “lifestyle” when you mean “way of life.” Individuals have a “lifestyle,”
societies have a “way of life.”
If the first sentence is awkward, or ungrammatical, or simply does not make sense, I WILL NOT
read the rest of the paper, and will hand it back.
Grading:
Choice of dialect/variety cleared with instructor:
04 points
(Inappropriate choice may be returned without grade)
Formatting:
04 points
Substance (organization, treatment of questions, etc.):
20 points
Grammar and usage:
08 points
Wow factor (did I learn something unexpected?):
04 Points
Total:
40 Points
Grading:
Choice of dialect/variety cleared with instructor:
04 points
(Inappropriate choice may be returned without grade)
Formatting:
04 points
Substance (organization, treatment of questions, etc.):
20 points
Grammar and usage:
08 points
Wow factor (did I learn something unexpected?):
04 Points
Total:
40 Points
My grade relies on how well you can make this seem
