California Polytechnic State University ~ English Department ~ Dr. J. Rubba, Instructor

English 503: Graduate Introduction to Linguistics
 Winter 2012

This page was updated on 1/1/12

Site Map:

The best way to contact me outside of class or office hours is by e-mail. Response time may be up to 24 hours during the week, on rare occasions up to 48. Responses on weekends likely but not guaranteed. I usually return phone calls only in very urgent situations.To find my office: enter Bldg. 47 at the TOP of the hill. The middle hallway across from the English office is 35. My office is the next-to-last on the right, 35B.

NOTE CONCERNING BLACKBOARD: For this course, I will use Blackboard for ONLY two things: (1) course readings outside of the two textbooks; (2) model term papers. ALL remaining course materials will be on this website, which is not connected to Blackboard in any way.

NOTE CONCERNING E-MAIL: I frequently communicate with my classes and my individual students via e-mail. Important changes may be announced via e-mail before we meet for class. Be sure to check your e-mail regularly. Be sure that you receive all Cal Poly mail, if you use a private account. It is also important to me to be able to recognize a student from her/his e-mail address. If you have an e-mail address that does not include some part of your name, it could cause your e-mails to go to the junk or spam folder. Also, in triage situations, I may put such an e-mail on the back burner. Another thing to consider is professionalism. Whimsical or edgy e-mail addresses aren't a way to impress potential employers or important officials.

Course description:

This course will open your eyes to the richness and complexity of the human capacity to communicate via language. The approach is scientific and exacting, but yields many rewards. Most of you are serious students of literature, and literature is made of language. In addition to learning general facts about language structure, meaning, and function, course units will, as appropriate, include a sample of application of linguistics to literary analysis. Linguistics also has many applications in the "real world," from understanding how to approach teaching language arts in school to policing political doublespeak to coping with a relative suffering loss of language due to a brain injury. Course objectives:

• Achieve solid understanding of both macro-level and micro-level aspects of language, especially English. Understand not only how language is structured, but also how it functions in context, and the ways that public understandings of language can improve or damage the lives of citizens.
• Develop an initial understanding of how linguistics can contribute to the interpretation of literature.
• Develop a foundation for lifelong learning about the massive importance of language in our daily lives.
• Develop a foundation for making sound decisions of a personal and public nature regarding language, with special reference to teaching, if you plan to become a teacher.
• Hone skills in expression of formal English that are appropriate to the graduate level.

The course will combine lecture with student participation via response to questions, group or individual work on in-class exercises, and discussion. Students should feel free to ask for clarification about any assigned reading, or to respond to an instructor's question with a question if that portion of the reading was not sufficiently clear or instructive.

Texts:

• Edward Finegan, Language: Its Structure and Use, SIXTH EDITION, Wadsworth/CENGAGE 2012. ISBN 0-495-90041-9  El Corral Bookstore. The fifth edition cannot be used. We will be using only 6 chapters of this text. If you can rent or share the text, I encourage you to do so.
• Martha Kolln, Rhetorical Grammar: Grammatical Choices, Rhetorical Effects. 2nd Edition. ISBN 0-02-365871-1.  This is not yet in the bookstore. We will need it in Week 3 (1/19). If you intend to order a copy online,  do so as soon as possible to assure delivery in time.
• Selected readings on Blackboard.

Course requirements:

• Attendance is required. See my Attendance Policy at http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba/policies/att.pol.html.
• Participation: This includes asking questions, contributing to discussion, and engaging in group work and in-class exercises.
• Homework: Written homework will be frequent and will be checked for progress and understanding, though not graded. If you do less than 75% of the written homework, your course grade will be lowered by one plus/minus point (e.g., a B+ will become a B).
• MA exam-style tests: Two; one analysis problem and one essay question. Take-home.
• Comprehensive final exam: Take-home.
• Short literary-analysis paper - Choose an excerpt from a literary work or a short- or medium-length poem and apply your choice of course topic to create an analysis/interpretation that you support based on course material. We will do examples in class. About 10 pages.
• Note: All exams will be submitted electronically. The paper must be in hardcopy; electronic submission will not be accepted.

Grade distribution: