512 LANGUAGE AND CULTURE (4 hrs)

Professor Janet Keller Office: 395 Davenport Hall; PH: 333-3529

jdkeller@uiuc.edu

This course offers advanced students an introduction to theoretical foundations and practical methods of anthropological linguistics. An historical review of seminal ideas and debates provides the initial groundwork for understanding contemporary issues. Transcription techniques and analytical approaches to meaning will be explored with a linguistic consultant (assuming we can make arrangements for someone to join us), following the discussions of intellectual history. The final third of the course is devoted to an overview of active research arenas and detailed study of two or more current problem areas. Student evaluations are based on 3 take home examinations. The first and last sections will each be followed by essays requiring critical review of the theoretical literature. The practicum section of the course will be concluded with an assignment based on methodologies and analytical techniques.

Texts:

Blount, Ben (ed.) 1995 Language, Culture and Society. A Book of Readings. Second Edition. Prospect heights, IL: Waveland. 
Chomsky, Noam 1984 Knowledge of Language: Its Nature, Origin and Use. NY: Praeger.
Hanks, William 1996 Language and Communicative Practices. Boulder, CO: Westview.
Duranti, Alessandro 1999 Language Matters in Anthropology: A Lexicon for the Millenium. Journal of Linguistic Anth. 9:1 and 2.
Lyons, John L. 1981 Language and Linguistics: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 
Jakobson, Roman 1978 Six Lectures on Sound and Meaning. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Available at Dup-It Copy Shop.
Bauman, Richard and Briggs, Charles 2003 Voices of Modernity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Saussure, Ferdinand de [1959] 1966 Course in General Linguistics. NY" McGraw-Hill Book Co.
Austin, J. L. 1962 How to Do Things with Words. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
These will be augmented by on-line reserve readings.