LS1ELU ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN USE

Autumn Term Language & the Individual Lectures 1 - 10

Dr. Francesca La Morgia

Information on LS1ELU Autumn Term Language in the individual

The essential materials for the course are: 1. ELU handbook The handbook includes the reading you will have to do to prepare before class, the main concepts introduced and the aims of the lecture. 2. Blackboard You will be able to access the Powerpoint slides shown in class by accessing the Blackboard site. 3. Essential textbook You are advised to purchase the main textbook: Fromkin, V., Rodman, R. and Hyams, N. 2011. An introduction to Language. 9th Edition. Wadsworth. Other useful books: Yule, G. 2010. The study of language. Fourth Edition. CUP. Crystal, D. 2010. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. Third Edition. CUP.

Lecture 1: The Origin of Language and the Human Communication System

Readings Fromkin et al., pp. 284-291; 308-310 Yule, Chapter 1 Crystal, Sections 49-51 Concepts Theories of language origin Features of language Aims of the lecture Define language and communication Overview theories on the origin of language Describe the properties of the human language communication system Notes

Lecture 2: Animal Communication

Readings Fromkin et al., pp. 302-307 Yule, chapter 2 For more on chimps and sign language, see Aitchisons The Articulate Mammal (various editions), chapter 2 Animals that try to talk Concepts Various forms of animal communication Aims of the Lecture Determine whether language is unique to humans Consider the communication systems of different species Evaluate research on language development in non-human primates Notes

Lecture 3: Child Language Acquisition Theoretical Accounts

Readings Fromkin et al., pp. 298-300; pp. 324-331 Yule, Chapter 13 Concepts Innateness Hypothesis Language Acquisition Device / Universal Grammar Behaviourism Child directed speech and the poverty of the stimulus Imitation/ Reinforcement Aims of the lecture Introduce some of the most influential theories in language acquisition Notes

Lecture 4: Child Language Acquisition Development of Vocabulary

Readings Peccei, J. S. 2006. Language acquisition. A resource book for students, section A3 Lexical development Clark, E.V. 2003 First Language Acquisition. Cambridge University Press. pp.79-100. Fromkin et al., pp. 332-343 Yule, Chapter 13 OGrady, W. 2005 How Children Learn Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Concepts Vocabulary development Extension (over/under) Vocabulary spurt Aims of the lecture Explore how children build a lexicon / vocabulary Introduce the milestones in vocabulary acquisition Notes

Lecture 5: Child Language Acquisition Grammatical Development

Readings Fromkin et al. pp. 343-357 Peccei, J.S. 2006. Language acquisition. A resource book for students. Sections A4 and A5 OGrady, W. 2005 How Children Learn Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Concepts Telegraphic speech Overgeneralizations/generalizations Morpheme order Wug test Optionality Aims of the lecture Present milestones in the acquisition of morphology and syntax in childhood Explore how children acquire morphemes, the role of overgeneralizations; present the wug test Explore how children build sentences and form multi-word utterances Notes

Lecture 6: When language users grow up: learning to read and write
Readings Crystal, sections 31, 32, 33 Fromkin et al. ch. 11 Yule, ch. 16 Concepts Syllabary vs alphabetic system Logographic vs phonographic scripts Problems with learning to read and write Aims of the lecture Discuss approaches to reading Discuss aspects of writing (motor skills and linguistic skills) Discuss some of the problems in learning to read and write Notes

Lecture 7: When language users grow up: producing the spoken language
Readings Aitchison, The Articulate Mammal, Chapter 11 Garman, M. 1990. Psycholinguistics, Chapter 3 Concepts Hesitation Pauses Tip of the tongue Aims Describe how we plan speech Explore the experimental and naturalistic evidence that helps us understand speech production Notes

Lecture 8: Bilingualism and Second Language Acquisition

Readings Fromkin et al. pp. 357-366 Yule, chapter 14 Crystal, section 60 Concepts Balanced & dominant bilingual Sequential bilinguals Bilingual First Language Acquisition Child and adult L2 acquisition Critical Period Hypothesis Transfer Fossilization Aims Become familiar with the terminology and the most relevant findings in the area of bilingualism Notes

Lecture 9: Specific Language Impairment

Readings Fromkin et al. pp. 18-21 Bishop, D. V. M. 1997. Uncommon understanding: Development and disorders of language comprehension in children. Psychology Press (Chapter 2) Leonard, L. 1998. Children with specific language impairment. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. Leonard (eds.), Speech and Language Impairment in Children: Causes, Characteristics, Intervention and Outcome: Psychology Press. Concepts Specific language impairment Developmental disorder Inclusion and exclusion criteria Aims: Introduce the definition of Specific Language Impairment Introduce the inclusion and exclusion criteria Examine typical characteristics of SLI Notes

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Lecture 10: Language & the Brain

Readings Fromkin et al. pp. 3-17 Yule, chapter 12 Crystal, section 45 Concepts Brain hemispheres Cerebral dominance Corpus callosum Lobes of the brain: Frontal; Occipital; Parietal & Temporal Aphasia Aims Learn about brain functioning in relation to language Learn about the hemispheres Learn about aphasia Notes

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LS1ELU ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN USE

Autumn Term Language & the Individual Seminars

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SEMINAR 1: CHIMP TALK

Seminar 1 is a video presentation to support the second lecture topic. You will watch the BBC Horizon programme Chimp Talk, broadcasted on 21st June 1993, and are then invited to make your comments on the discussion board on Blackboard.

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SEMINAR 2: Acquisition of vocabulary

Pre-readings: Clark, H.H. & E. V. Clark (1977). Psychology and Language. An Introduction to Psycholinguistics. Harcourt. Chapter 13, pp. 485-501. Clark, E.V. (2003) First Language Acquisition. Cambridge University Press. pp.79-100. 1. Analyse the following dataset in terms of over-extensions and under-extensions. State the functional or physical feature upon which over-extension appears to be based. Look also for other reasons for the childs apparent mislabelling. (a) Uses dog to refer first to a soft toy dog, then a woollen scarf, a cat, a fur coat. (b) Uses muffin to refer both to blueberries and to blueberry muffins, but not to other types of muffins. (c) Calls the decorated Christmas tree big fow-fow (he had previously used this word only for flowers). (d) Uses umbrella to refer to open umbrellas, a large green leaf, kites but not closed umbrellas. (e) Uses bubby to refer first to his brother and then to his 3 year-old boy cousin, the boy next door. (f) Uses tick-tock to refer first to clocks then to watches, wallpaper circles with radiating spikes, a circular road sign, a barometer with a circular dial. (g) Uses duck to refer first to a duck, then to a cup of milk, a coin with an eagle on it, a teddy bears eye. (h) Uses bow-wow to refer to the family dog but not to the neighbours dog. Later she will use it to refer to cats and sheep.

2. Semantic fields: Dimensional terms: Given the acquisition order of dimensional adjectives presented in Table 1, try to explain the results from the Opposite game in table 2. In the Opposite game children are requested to supply the opposite of the word that appears in bold in Table 2. To what extent do they agree with the proposed acquisition order in table 1? What similarities and differences do you observe between the 3 and the 6 yearolds? How do you explain Child Bs response to high and Cs responses to wide and long.

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Table 1. Acquisition order of dimensional adjectives 1. big-small 2. tall-short, long-short 3. high-low 4. thick-thin 5. wide-narrow, deep-shallow Table 2. The Opposite game with a 3 and 6 year-olds 3 year olds A. male big tall high long wide thick little small down small little little B. female C. male small short up short thin thin little small small big long small 6 year olds D. female little short low short thin thin E. female little short small short skinny thin F. male little short low short thin thin

3. Comment on the following errors that children make with prepositions. Which constitute errors of omission and which of commission? How can you explain the commission/substitution errors? (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) He gave the book for me. The dog is putting the bone in the plate. The boy is putting the ball the chair. The boy is giving the ball at the dog. The girl is sitting in the stool. The mother put the bottle up the table. The boy opened the door his keys. He gave the book the mother.

Tasks A & B are adapted from Stilwell Peccei, J. (1999). Child Language. 2nd edition. Abingdon, Oxon and New York, NY: Routledge.

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SEMINAR 3: Naturally-occurring Speech Errors in Adult Speech

1. Attempt to classify the following errors, in terms of the discussion provided in the lecture. (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) (i) (j) (k) (l) they want to enlicit your support he had a load of cooken chicked he could at weast at least get them here a clear pliece of evidence I got into this guy with a discussion whats your bate of dirth? today, well look at nasals, lides and gliquids she really likes lining it on the lay thirth and fourth you forgot to add the list to the butter who did you think else would come? automatic transmission (intended: orthographic transcription; speaker had been thinking about cars instead of the topic of discussion!) (m) you have to do learn that (n) how many of there are you? (o) tell ask me whether... (p) it waits to pay (q) you go wash brush your hair this minute! (r) it makes the warm breather to air

2. What sorts of units are involved here? What might we learn about language production processes from this sort of evidence? Units/ Types Single sound Cluster Syllable Word Phrase Subs Antic Persev Exch Shift Strand Blend Comp

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Seminar 4
1. Match the terms in the left column to their description (a) A phenomenon occurring to second language learners, consisting of the persistent use of non-target-like structures, sounds or lexical items. (b) The acquisition of a second (or successive) language, which can occur in childhood or adulthood. (c) The ability to speak two or more languages with equal proficiency (d) The simultaneous acquisition of two languages in childhood.

1. 2L1 acquisition

1. 2. L2 acquisition

3. Fossilization

4. Balanced bilingualism

2. One feature of interlanguage grammars is the apparent existence of temporary rules that dont match the rules of either the L1 or the L2. The following examples are from a speaker whose L1 is Arabic. Can you describe the rule(s) he seems to be using for the use of plural s in English? (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) How many brother you have? The streets are very wide. I finish in a few day. Here is a lot of animal in the houses. Many people live in villages. There are two horses in the picture. Both my friend from my town. Seven days in a week. (from Yule, G. 2010. The study of language. Cambridge University Press) 3. (a) Additional questions for discussion Think of bilinguals you know in your community. Are they balanced or dominant? In which context and at what age have they acquired the two languages? Can you comment on their proficiency? Consider the case of a Korean-English bilingual child living in London. If the normal language for interaction at home is Korean, which may be the factors affecting the family members switch to English within the home context? (from Bee Chin, N. and Wigglesworth, G. 2007. Bilingualism: an advanced resource book. Routledge)
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(b)

4.

Watch the first half of the documentary available at the following URL www.bilingualforumireland.com/babbling Comment on the strategies used by parents to transmit their native language to their children. Do you think some are more successful than others? Why?

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LS1ELU ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN USE

Spring Term

Language and Culture

Lectures 11 - 20

Dr. Christiana Themistocleous

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Information on LS1ELU Spring Term Language and Culture

The essential materials for the course are:

1. ELU handbook The handbook includes the aims of the lecture, the main concepts introduced and the reading you will have to do to prepare before class.

2. Blackboard You will be able to access the Power Point slides shown in class by accessing the Blackboard site.

3. Essential textbooks (copies are available in the library) Holmes, J. (1992) An introduction to sociolinguistics. Harlow: Pearson, Longman. Thomas, L., S. Wareing, I. Singh, J.S. Peccei, J. Thornborrow and J. Jones (2004) Language, Society and Power: An Introduction. London and New York: Routledge. Wardhaugh, R. (2006) An introduction to sociolinguistics. Oxford: Blackwell.

* Other sources (e.g. books and journal articles) will also be used.

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Lecture 11 Language and the family

Reading: Cook-Gumperz, J. & Kyratzis, A. (2005) Child Discourse. In D. Schriffrin, D. Tannen, & H. Hamilton (eds), The Handbook of Discourse Analysis. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Pp. 590-611

Key concepts: Contextually situated learning Language Socialization Communicative competence Asymmetric Conversations Conversation analysis Proto-conversation Turn-taking

Aims of the lecture To approach language development as a process of socialisation Discuss communicative competence To examine language use in the family and its effect on early childhood language development To examine the implications of particular family practices for the individual and society: early childhood socialization- a cross-cultural approach

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Lecture 12 Language and education

Readings: Edwards, V. (1989) Patois and the politics of protest: Black English and British Classrooms. In Coupland, N. & Jawarski, A. (eds.) Sociolinguistics: A reader and coursebook. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. (Chapter 31) Mesthrie, R., Swann, Deumert, A. & Leap, W. (2000) Introducing Sociolinguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. (Chapter 11) Philips, S. (2007) A Comparison of Indian and Anglo Communicative Behaviour in Classroom Interaction. In S. Kiesling & C. Bratt Paulston (eds) Intercultural Discourse and Communication. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. (Chapter 19)

Concepts: Educational sociolinguistics Elaborated/restricted code Teacher talk IRE sequence African American Vernacular English (AAVE)

Aims of the lecture: To introduce the field of Educational Sociolinguistics To discuss the effects of disparity between home/community language and classroom Potential consequences of such disparity

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Lecture 13 Language and migration

Readings: McEachron, G. and G. Bhatti (2005) Language Support for Immigrant Children: A Study of State Schools in the UK and US. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 18(2): 164180. Thomas, L., S. Wareing, I. Singh, J.S. Peccei, J. Thornborrow and J. Jones (2004) Language, Society and Power: An Introduction. London and New York: Routledge (Chapter 6)

Concepts: Inequality Language policy Integration Limited English Proficient (LEP Fluent English Proficient (FEP)

Aims of the lecture: To introduce issues of inequality when it comes to migration, culture and ethnicity To investigate language and migration in the domain of education To investigate language and migration in the domain of the workplace

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Lecture 14 Language shift, maintenance and death

Readings: Crystal, D. (2000) Language Death. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Dorian, N. (1981) Language Death: The Life Cycle of a Scottish Gaelic Dialect. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Holmes, J. (1992) An introduction to sociolinguistics. Harlow: Pearson, Longman. (Chapter 3) Nettle, D. & Romaine, S. (2002) Vanishing voices. Oxford: Oxford University Press Trudgill, Peter (1984) Languages in the British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (For case studies on Manx, Cornish, Welsh and Scottish Gaelic) Concepts: Language shift Language maintenance Language death Language revitalisation Language choice Political, social and demographic factors Identity Attitudes to language

Aims of the lecture: To examine language shift, maintenance and death in the UK To examine factors that can affect the survival/spread of a language To outline the potential consequences of language shift and death To examine language revitalisation methods

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Lecture 15 Language planning

Readings: Holmes, J. (1992) An introduction to sociolinguistics. Harlow: Pearson, Longman. (Chapter 5) Wardhaugh, R. (2006) An introduction to sociolinguistics. Oxford: Blackwell. (Chapter 15)

Concepts: National and official languages Nationalism Policy of assimilation Multilingualism Status/Corpus Planning Haugens (1966) language planning steps

Aims of the lecture: To understand the difference between national and official language To explore language planning in multilingual countries To explore in which countries around the world English is the official language To understand the difference between status and corpus planning To understand the four planning steps, proposed by Haugen in 1966

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Lecture 16 In-group and Secret Languages

Readings: Hancock, Ian. 1984. Shelta and Polari. In Trudgill, Peter (ed.) Languages in the British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Chapter 24) Hancock, Ian. 1984. Romani and Angloromani. In Trudgill, Peter (ed.) Languages in the British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Chapter 23)

Concepts: Shelta Polary Romani Angloromani Travellers/Gypsies Lexicon and phonological disguise Archaisms

Aims of the lecture: To introduce in-group and secret languages used in the UK To explore the emergence of Shelta, Polary, Romani and Angloromani To explore the current usage of in-group and secret languages To explore how secret languages differ from Standard English

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Lecture 17 Language, culture and thought

Readings: Holmes, J. (1992) An introduction to sociolinguistics. Harlow: Pearson, Longman. (Chapter 13) Wardhaugh, R. (2006) An introduction to sociolinguistics. Oxford: Blackwell. (Chapter 9) Yule, G. (2010) The study of language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (Chapter 20)

Concepts: Culture Whorfian Hypothesis (Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis) Linguistic relativity Linguistic determinism Kinship terms Time concepts Colour

Aims of the lecture: To explore the relation between language, culture and thought To introduce the Whorfian Hypothesis To explore how English differs from other cultures and languages around the world

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Lecture 18 Language and age

Reading: Thomas, L., S. Wareing, I. Singh, J.S. Peccei, J. Thornborrow and J. Jones (2004) Language, Society and Power: An Introduction. London and New York: Routledge (Chapter 7)

Concepts: Age as a cultural category Connotations Labelling Child Directed Language Elder Directed Language

Aims of the lecture: To investigate age as a cultural category To investigate how age influences language use To look at labelling of different age groups To explore how elders are characterised and spoken to

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Lecture 19 Sexism in English Language

Readings: Holmes, J. (1992) An introduction to sociolinguistics. Harlow: Pearson, Longman. (Chapter 12) Talbot, M. (2010) Language and Gender. Cambridge: Polity Press. (Chapter 12) Thomas, L., S. Wareing, I. Singh, J.S. Peccei, J. Thornborrow and J. Jones (2004) Language, Society and Power: An Introduction. London and New York: Routledge. (Chapter 5)

Concepts: Sexist language Stereotypes Animal imagery Honorific terms Generics Degrading vocabulary Semantic derogation Political correctness

Aims of the lecture: To explore whether the English language is sexist To discuss how stereotypes about men and women are represented in language To introduce the concept of political correctness

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Lecture 20 Language in the workplace

Readings: Drew, P. & Heritage, J. (1992) Talk at Work Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Holmes, J. (2006) Gendered Talk at Work. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Koester, A. (2006) Investigating Workplace Discourse. London: Routledge.

Concepts: Relational talk Transactional talk Goal orientation Institutional roles Collaborative talk Politeness strategies at work Mitigations

Aims of the lecture: To discuss naturally occurring conversation in the workplace To consider its structure and function To focus on transactional and relational talk

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LS1ELU ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN USE

Spring Term Language and Culture Seminars

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SEMINAR 1 Language and Education

BACKGROUND In Lecture Twelve we discussed studies investigating the disparity between a childs home/community language and that of the School. Most of these studies were in the USA. Today were going to consider a study closer to home, in the UK.

Viv Edwards paper (in Coupland, N. & Jaworski, A. (1997) Sociolinguistics: A Reader and Coursebook. London: MacMillan Press) is one of the seminal papers in Language, Education & Disadvantage. She discusses the use of Patois (Creole

speech) used by Afro-Caribbean children in English schools in the City of Birmingham in the UK. She discusses interactional contexts and the consequences of using Patois, in addition to the users perceptions about its use and value.

One of the main themes of this paper is the need to confront the stereotype held in Britain that Patois speakers are young, disaffected, academically underachieving (p.410) individuals and that the variety is a plantatio n English which is socially unacceptable and inadequate for communication (p.409).

PREPARATION BEFORE CLASS Read Edwards paper and identify the key issues and findings of this study and note them down. Also note anything that you do not understand. Bring your notes to the seminar.

In class activities: Discuss with fellow students the key issues and findings of this study. Also consider the following questions for discussion as a group. (This might be useful for revision purposes so keep your notes!).

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1. How does the case of Patois in Britain compare with the situation of AAVE in the USA?

2. What factors appear to determine Black pupils shifting between Patois and the local dialect of English?

3. What is meant by the assertion that for any given situation there will be marked and unmarked language choices (p.410)?

4. How is the use of Patois interpreted by the teacher/educational authorities and what are the consequences?

5. To what extent do you think educational authorities and Governments should accommodate to the needs of the minority at least to help them on their way to learning the standard? What cultural/social/political/economic considerations have to come into play? Can you think of any other minority groups in the UK for whom accommodation is necessary?

6. Beyond informing policy, in studying educational disadvantage, sociolinguists are also interested in examining culture-bound perceptions and attitudes towards ones own and other groups linguistic and socio -cultural status? How might we investigate this as linguists?

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SEMINAR 2 Language Shift, Maintenance and Death

1. People are often unaware of the range of ethnic minority groups living in their area. Can you think of any? If not, how could you find out how many minority ethnic groups there are in the area where you live?

2. What is the difference between language shift and language death?

3. What would you predict as the effect of intermarriage on language maintenance and shift? If, in England, an English-speaking woman marries a Gujerati-speaking man, for instance, which language will they most probably use to their children?

4. Beyond the family, what are some other reasons that might lead speakers to maintain their language?

Read the text on Language Revival on the following page 5. List the different kinds of institutional support which can be sought by a community of people, who want to maintain their minority language within a society where English is the language of majority.

6. Yoruba, the language of people living in the state of Lagos in Nigeria, West Africa, is increasingly threatened by the spread of English. In November 2006, Chief Olusoji Smith led a group of tribal elders who recommended that Yoruba be made compulsory as an admission into tertiary institutions. How much of a contribution do you think this will make to encouraging parents to use Yoruba in the home?

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SEMINAR 3 Language, Culture and Thought

BEFORE COMING TO THE SEMINAR YOU MUST PREPARE QUESTIONS 1 AND 2

1. English (especially British English) has many words to refer to woods and woodlands. Here are some: woodlot, fen, grove, heath, holt, lea, shaw, coppice, scrub, spinney, copse, brush, bush, bosquet, bosky, forest, timberland, thicket a. How many of these words do you recognise? b. Look up these words in the dictionary. Many of these words are obsolete, so if your dictionary does not have them, try the Internet. c. Think about the differences in meaning. Do you think that English speakers have a richer concept of woodlands than speakers whose language has fewer words? Why or why not?

2. Pirah is a South American indigenous language spoken by approximately 420 individuals near the Maici River in Brazils Amazonas state. Research this language on the internet Google would be a good start identify certain characteristic features and try to explain them in relation to the Pirah culture.

3. Terms such as uncle, father, mother, sister, brother, son and cousin are sometimes used outside the English kinship system. Describe these uses and try to account for them.

4. Try to account for the often reported finding that, for English at least, males usually display less ability than females in dealing with matters having to do with colour, including the actual use of colour terminology.

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5. All of the following expressions can be said to be euphemistic: Pest control officer, building engineer, comfort station, socially deviant behaviour, culturally deprived children. a. Try to explain why such expressions arise. Do they have any useful social function to perform? b. Do you know any other similar expressions?

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Seminar 4 Sexism in Language

BEFORE COMING TO THE SEMINAR YOU MUST READ THE EXTRACT BY SARA MILLS (2006). WRITE DOWN YOUR IDEAS ON SEXISM IN LANGUAGE. Exercise 1 Job adverts in New Zealand may not specify the gender of the required employee unless aspects of the job require the attributes of a particular gender. Do you think that the suffix man could be regarded as generic in such adverts, or is it an example of sexist language? Consider postman, milkman, fireman, salesman, fisherman, warehouseman. 1. What alternatives would you suggest? 2. Do you consider phrases like master plan and master key to be sexist? Why (not)? Exercise 2 The following examples are based on material from textbooks and a newspaper. What is your reaction to them? (a) Alone among the animals man uses language to communicate. (b) Speech wrote Benjamin Lee Whorf is the best show man puts on Language helps man in his thinking. The average student might hear 100,000 words a day. If he has a modest reading speed he would cover 90,000 words a day. He could easily increase that if he wanted. (c) Man has been civilised for centuries. He no longer needs to hunt for food for his women and children. (d) The two Oxford Union debates most ably supported by a woman debater from Victoria made entertaining contributions. (e) The pioneers who established the farms of this country, who toiled together with their wives and children to break the land, know little of what was happening in the towns. 1. Can you translate the sentences above into non-sexist terms? 2. What strategies did you use?

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Exercise 3 For homework you should have read the extract by Sara Mills (2006). Based on this text and the notes that you prepared discuss the following: 1. Is Cameron right to suggest that the use of non-sexist language can simply mask sexist attitudes? Exercise 4 The histories of words sometimes reveal a good deal about the social organisation and values of speech communities and how different uses of language can express information about users attitudes towards others, and about how they perceive society to be organised. Consider the words in the table below, showing historical developments for each of them. The dates refer to the first attestation of the word being used in this way or the period when this meaning was the primary sense for the word (data from the OED): gay (adj.) (persons) full of joy and mirth (1310) a child of either sex e.g. knave girl (1290) addicted to social pleasures and dissipations (1637) a female child, unmarried woman (1530) A term of endearment to a woman (1588) (woman) leading an immoral life (1825) a sweetheart, lady-love (1648) homosexual bad quality/ (1935) stupid (1980s)

girl (n.)

a prostitute or mistress (1711)

a Black woman (1835)

queen (n.) a kings wife, woman of high rank (893, 900)

An attractive woman, a girlfriend (1900)

A male homosexual (1924)

1. What can you infer about the social values of the speech communities realising these changes?

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LS1ELU English Language in Use Autumn Term Assignment Assignment 1 (Language in the Individual)

Write 1500 words on ONE of the following topics: 1. Chimpanzees can use signs, but do they have language? 2. Describe the properties of early child language (between 18 to appr. 24 months) in terms of the acquisition of morphology and syntax. 3. Provide an account of Specific Language Impairment. Detail the exclusion criteria and its linguistic characteristics.

You should refer to at least THREE different sources (i.e. books or journal articles) in your assignment. Wikipedia should not be used. Length: 1500 words. Work more than 10% under or more than 10% over the stated word limit will be penalised. A hard copy of the assignment should be submitted to Anne Whitbread in HumSS 210B by 12 noon on Wednesday of Week 10 of the Autumn Term, together with TWO copies of the coversheet (see below). Assignments should be word processed unless otherwise stated. We do not accept assignments by e-mail.

Assignment Cover Sheets On the following pages (un-numbered) you will find cover sheets for both of the assignments for this module. Please complete two of them for each assignment, one with your name and the second without your name. This is to ensure anonymous marking. Dont submit any assignment without both cover sheets!

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LS1ELU English Language in Use Spring Term Assignment Assignment 2

Write between 1200-1500 words on ONE of the following topics: 1. Educational disadvantage may emerge from the inability to acquire/learn a standard language. Discuss this idea in relation to a minority group discussed in lectures/seminars or reported in literature. 2. Investigate a language endangerment scenario in the UK and Ireland. You may choose to look at the case of Welsh, Scots Gaelic, Cornish or Manx. Focus on the reasons of language shift and also on language maintenance and revitalisation efforts.

You should refer to at least THREE different sources (i.e. books or journal articles) in your assignment. Wikipedia is banned. Assignments should be word-processed using the font Times New Roman 12 point, and double line-spaced. Appropriate referencing conventions must be used.

A hard copy of the assignment should be submitted to Anne Whitbread (HumSS 210B) by 12 noon on Wednesday of Week 10 of the Spring Term. Please use two copies of the cover sheet, with your name on one sheet only. Do not put your name on your assignment or anywhere else. We do not accept assignments by e-mail.

Marking Criteria Demonstration of understanding of how English language is used in social contexts and its effect on minority languages; Clarity of discussion and evaluation of evidence; Ability to integrate information/quotations from various sources (books, journals, etc.) as a starting point for discussion, as examples, and to support your discussion; Coherence of assignment, especially organisation and division into sections and paragraphs; Presentation, especially correctness of referencing, and quality of writing.
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