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Editor for this issue: Ann Dizdar <annlinguistlist.org>
humanitas.ucsb.edu>Dear everyone, A while ago I asked for help with the courses I am going to teach, _Languages of the World_ and _Language and Culture_. This is a belated summary of responses I got. I'd like to thank the following people for the time they took to give me help: Andrej A. Kibrik Keith Denning Noel Rude Yuphaphann Hoonchamlong Ellen Contini-Morava Nicholas Ostler Matthew S Dryer Alessandro Duranti Madeline Maxwell ================================================== **** For the _Languages of the World_ course **** ================================================== >From Andrej A. Kibrik: A friend of mine in Moscow who is teaching Languages of the WOrld has written a book with the same title, based on his teaching experience. It is addressed, though to a broader audience, like high school students, but you might find a lot of handy information there. THe only (but big) problem is that it is in Russian. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- >From Noel Rude: A number of years ago I helped develop an intro-level undergrad course titled "Languages of the World". The course sprang from the observation that in our obsession with scientific principles most of our students were terribly ignorant of basic facts. It seemed good that they should know something about Bantu. In all our other courses we teach principles, methodology, how to DO linguistics, and this is good. But we were old fashioned. We thought students ought to know some specific facts too. The course was organized according to three criteria: 1) Typology (tone lgs., obstruent typologies, the Schleicherian typologies, areal phenomena like serialization, etc.), 2) Genetic relationships (students ought to know about Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan, Bantu, Sumerian, the diversity in the Americas and New Guinea, etc.), and 3) Geography (divide the world into regions and learn something specific about each). There was a packet of handouts and an article or two, and we used the two books edited by Timothy Shopen (Languages and their Status, forget the name of the other) to gave students the opportunity to look at some "exotic" languages. I feel the course was a success. But alas it's a struggle. Many students resist knowing specific facts about the world. They want to rap about urban situations, languages in contact, language planning problems--they don't want to know about Dravidian or where Gilyak is spoken or the spread of Bantu. I may sound cynical, but I still think the effort is worthwhile. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- >From Yuphaphann Hoonchamlong: For Lgs of the World's textbook: Bernard Comrie's "The world's major languages. Ethnologue database also is interesting (located at www.sil.org) - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- >From Ellen Contini-Morava: For the Languages of the World class I would recommend taking a look at one or both of the companion volumes, Languages and Their Speakers and Languages and Their Status, ed. by Tim Shopen and published (paperback) by U Penn. Press. Each book has a chapter each devoted to a language and written by a specialist in that language, including linguistic description and socio-cultural information. The linguistic descriptions include simple exercises (with answers) that the reader can do, that familiarize readers with concepts like ergativity, expression of various kinds of spatial relationships, etc. The languages include Malagasy, Guugu Yimidhirr, Russian, Japanese, Jacaltec, Maninke, Swahili etc. I regularly use one or two chapters in a Language and Culture (lower level undergraduate) class, and they have been successful. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- >From Nicholas Ostler: I have just come across Anatole V. Lyovin - An Introduction to the Languages of the World, published this year by Oxford University Press in Nrew York (ISBN 0-19-508115-3, and 0-19-508116-1 Paperback). This seems an excellent compilation in one volume of all the information that the originator of this thread seemed to be looking for, with genetic classifications and typological evocations of languages all round the world, and an appendix of language maps drawn from W. Bright's Encyclopaedia of Linguistics. In terms of space, the Americas are rather over-represented, but hey, it's an American book. (Europe too is grossly over-represented of course, but we're used to that.) So there is a text book now, for that survey of the world's languages. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- >From Matthew Dryer: I teach a course on the Lgs of the World, a freshman general education course for nonmajors. I have tried using Shopen's Languages and their Status and Languages and their Speakers, but found the chapters too detailed. I have more recently tried packets of readings, many of them encyclopedia articles. I am planning next time to use a new book "The Atlas of Languages" edited by Comrie, Matthews, and Polinksy, if I can get it in a softcover version that is not too expensive. Another new book that is a possibility though I'm not overwhelmed by it is "An Introduction to the Languages of the World" by Anatole Lyovin. In addition to the text, I use a detailed handbook containing what would otherwise be my own handouts. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- In addition to the above, Keith Denning and Matthew Dryer generously sent me their syllabi. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ================================================== **** For the _Languages and Culture_ course **** ================================================== >From Alessandro Duranti: I have been teaching a large lower division undergraduate class on Culture and communication using a variety of articles. You can see the syllabus and other information on my web site: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/anthro/faculty/duranti I also just finished a textbook for Cambridge University Press called "Linguistic Anthropology" to be used with upper division and graduate courses. It should be out in August. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yuphaphann Hoonchamlong > - what kind of things you would put in such courses For language and culture: Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and later studies on that. (including Lakoff's book: Women Fire and Dangerous things.).Perhaps some cross cultural communication thing too.A friend of mine taught an undergrad course in Cross cultural Comm. She has on on-line course at: http://www.siu.edu/~ekachai/301.html. You might find some interesting link from there. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Madeline Maxwell has web sites for an undergrad course in Language and Communication and a grad course in Language, Culture & Communication. http://www.utexas.edu/courses/maxwell/teach/314/index.htm http://www.utexas.edu/courses/maxwell/teach/386/index.htm - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- **************************** Toshihide NAKAYAMA Dept. of Linguistics U of California Santa Barbara, CA 93117 ****************************Mail to author|Respond to list|Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue