LING 111: Language in Globalization

Course Syllabus Spring 2014

Instructor: Prof. Rakesh Bhatt
TAs: Kevin Stillwell, Megan Kennedy, Staci Defibaugh
Lectures: MW, 10:00AM 10:50, 116 Roger Adams Laboratory
Discussions: Section AD1: F, 10:00AM 10:50, 205 Gregory Hall (Megan)
Section AD2: F, 11:00AM 11:50, 321 Gregory Hall (Kevin)
Section AD3: F, 10:00AM 10:50, 215 Gregory Hall (Kevin)
Section AD4: F, 12:00PM 12:50, 219 Gregory Hall (Staci)
Section AD5: F, 01:00PM 01:50, 329 Davenport Hall (Staci)
Office Hours: Prof. Bhatt M: 2-3, 4016A FLB
Kevin Tu: 2:30-3:30; F: 9-10, 4101 FLB
Megan W: 2-3, 4101 FLB
Staci W: 11-12, 4101 FLB
Or by appointment
Email: rbhatt@illinois.edu
kstillw2@illinois.edu
mekenne2@illinois.edu
defibau2@illinois.edu

_______________________________________________________________________

Course Description:
This course introduces the role of language in globalization by examining communication
issues concerning language use across cultural, political and geographic boundaries,
pointing out how language and other cultural forms flow in global networks, across
cultural fault-lines, constructing trans-cultural and trans-national identities. Among the
topics it discusses are issues of identity, the spread of English and its acculturation to local
contexts of use, creativity in language mixing, language in global pop cultures, language
in cyberspace, as well as minority language experiences and loss of indigenous languages.

Course Website:
This course has an accompanying website on Compass 2g: https://compass2g.illinois.edu/.
From this website you can access the course readings, syllabus and grades.

Readings:
Readings and discussion questions will be made available on Compass. All students are
expected to have read the assigned readings and completed the discussion questions
before each class.

Required item:
i>clicker i>clickers will be used to measure attendance as well as to assess student
understanding. Students are expected to have i>clickers registered on Compass by
February 3. Students who have not yet registered them by this date will receive no credit
for attendance until an i>clicker is registered. I>clickers are available for purchase online
and at the Illini Union Bookstore. If you have an issue regarding i>clickers, please contact
Megan (mekenne2@illinois.edu).

Relevant Texts:
Crystal, David. 2003. English as a Global Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Maurais, Jacques & Michael A. Morris (eds.) 2003. Languages in a Globalising World.
Cambridge University Press.

Attendance and Participation:
Participation in this class is very important. You should try to participate at least once each
day and have adequate answers when called upon. Also, each day you will be expected
to be able to discuss global current events, especially those that relate to language and/or
globalization.
Twenty-two times during the semester attendance will be taken at the beginning of class.
These days will be chosen randomly. Students must arrive within the first five minutes of
class in order to be counted as present. Attendance grades will be out of twenty, meaning
that each student can miss two of the days that attendance is taken without it affecting her
or his attendance grade. You will be excused if you get in touch with us (preferably before
class) and have a valid reason to miss class (i.e. a note from the emergency dean if you
have a death or emergency in the family or a doctor's note if you are ill). NOTE:
McKinley Dial-A-Nurse notes are not sufficient. As mentioned, we must receive
documentation from either the emergency dean or from a physician. For issues with
attendance, please contact Megan (mekenne2@illinois.edu).

James Scholars:
James Scholar students wishing to receive honors credit for this course may submit a 10-
page, double-spaced paper on a topic chosen in consultation with their TA. Students
wishing to take this option must talk to their TA by week 7. These papers will be due the
day of the final exam.

Cell Phones and Laptops:
This course has a strict no-cell phone policy. At no time will we tolerate their use during
the class period. Laptops are permitted; however, they may only be used to access class
and relevant material. Students found using their cell phones or laptops inappropriately
during class will be asked to leave the class and will receive an unexcused absence for
that day.







Course Evaluation:
Midterm Exam 100 points
Final Exam 100 points
4 In-class quizzes 100 points (25 points/quiz)
4 (400-word) Reaction papers 100 points (25 points/paper)
Final Project 100 points
Attendance 50 points (2.5points/day)
Total 550 points

Make-up exams and quizzes are strongly discouraged and are permitted at the discretion
of the instructor. If, because of extreme circumstances, a make-up exam is necessary, then
you must contact us at least one week before the scheduled exam. Make up quizzes will
not be given unless you have a note from the emergency dean or a doctor's note. Again,
McKinley Dial-A-Nurse notes will not suffice.

(1) The midterm and the final exams will test your ability to generalize the information
that you have learned and think critically about the issues presented in class.
(2) The in-class quizzes will be short (20 minutes) and each will constitute 20 points of
your final grade. These are simply short answer questions to make sure you have been
able to draw larger conclusions from the topics we have been discussing in class.
(3) Further instructions for each reaction paper will be given as their due dates approach.
These papers should be between 375 and 425 words (with the word count written at
the top), and they should be double-spaced. Plagiarism will not be tolerated, so any
time you use outside information, you must cite it in the text and in a bibliography.
Papers must be submitted as a printed copy (no emails accepted) at the beginning of
class on their due date. Papers will be docked one point for each day they are late.
(4) Final projects allow students to work semi-autonomously, applying concepts we have
learned in class, to report on a specific endangered language. Detailed instructions
will be supplied later in the semester.

Grading Rubric:
Reaction papers will be graded in the following three areas:
(1) Completeness of content (Do you discuss everything required?) and form (Is the
paper the expected length?)
(2) Thorough analysis using concepts from class and personal experiences
(3) Professionalism of final draft (e.g. spelling, grammar, organization)

Final Grade Scale:
A+ 97.5 and above
A 92.5 to 97.49
A 90.0 to 92.49
B+ 87.5 to 89.99
B 82.5 to 87.49
B- 80.0 to 82.49
C+ 77.5 to 79.99
C 72.5 to 77.49
C- 70.0 to 72.49
D+ 67.5 to 69.99
D 62.5 to 67.49
D- 60.0 to 62.49
F below 60.0

Course Policies and Academic Integrity:
Copying, cheating, and plagiarism. The work you turn in must be your own. References to
others materials, either as a paraphrase or a full quotation, must be acknowledged with
full citations (MLA, APA, Chicago style, etc.). Make sure that you fully attribute
paraphrases or quotations. Inadvertent plagiarism is still plagiarism. Please see
http://admin.illinois.edu/policy/code/article1_part4_1-401.html for more details on the
universitys policies regarding academic integrity. If we discover that someone has
cheated, copied, or plagiarized, that student will automatically fail that assignment and
possibly the course.

Disability Self-Disclosure:
To insure that disability-related concerns are properly addressed from the beginning,
students with disabilities who require assistance to participate in this class are encouraged
to see one of the instructors as soon as possible.




















Course Outline

Week 1: Introduction
Jan 22 Introduction to the course
Jan 24 Globalization: discussion
Video: The Gods Must Be Crazy (excerpt)
Reading: Maurais (2003) Towards a new linguistic world order. p.13-33

Week 2: Language, culture, and global communication
Jan 27 Globalization: issues and challenges
Readings: Giddens, A. (2000) Globalisation. p. 24-37
Beck, U. (2000) Dimensions, controversies, definitions. p.17-21.
Jan 29 Language in globalization: An overview
Reading: Cameron, D. (2003) Globalizing communication p. 27-35.
Jan 31 What will globalization do to language? Perspectives
Reading: Dubner, S. (2008) What will globalization do to languages? A
Freakonomics quorum.

Week 3: English as a global languageAn overview
Feb 3 English as a global tongue
Video: Global Tongue
+++ REACTION PAPER 1 Due +++
Feb 5 Global English
Reading: Crystal, D. (2003) Why English? p. 29-59.
Feb 7 Global tongues
Reading: Crystal, D. (2003) Why a global language? p. 1-28
+++ QUIZ 1 +++

Week 4: Globalization and intercultural communication
Feb 10 Globalization of communication case study: India
Video: 1-800-INDIA
Feb 12 Talking across cultures
Reading: Scollon & Scollon (1995) What is culture? Intercultural communication and
stereotyping. p. 128-137, 154-161.
Feb 14 Speech acts across cultures
Reading: Tan, A. (1999) The language of discretion. P.290-298.



Week 5: Pragmatics of cross-cultural communication
Feb 17 Cross Talk
Video: Cross Talk
Reading: Gumperz, J. (2003) Cross-cultural communication. p. 267-273.
Feb 19 Pragmatics across cultures
Reading: Tannen, D. (1985) The pragmatics of cross-cultural communication. p.
189-195.
Feb 21 Discourse across cultures, an overview

Week 6: Language ideology of hip hop
Feb 24 East African hip hop
Video: Hip-Hop Colony
Reading: Berger, H. (2003) Introduction: the politics and aesthetics of language
choice and dialect in popular music. In Global Pop, Local
Language. Eds. Berger, H. and M. Carroll. p. ix-xxvi.
+++ REACTION PAPER 2 Due +++
Feb 26 Language ideology of hip hop
Reading: Osumare, H. (2001) Beat streets in the global hood: connective
marginalities of the hip hop globe. p. 171-181.
a
Feb 28 Hip hop in China
Reading: Walker, C. and M. Hartley (2013) China's Uighur minority finds a voice
through American-style hip-hop. The Atlantic.
+++ QUIZ 2 +++

Week 7: English in non-native contexts: New Englishes
Mar 3 Language change: Indigenization
Readings: Knapp, L. (2007) A broad church, not a closed cathedral, The
Guardian.
Dhillon, A. (2007) The rise of Indian English, The Telegraph.
Mar 5 Review for Midterm
Mar 7 Midterm Exam

Week 8: English in native contexts: American tongues
Mar 10 American language diversity
Video: American Tongues
Mar 12 North/South language attitudes
Reading: Lippi-Green, R. (1997) Hillbillies, rednecks and southern belles:
The language rebels.

Mar 14 Language ideology discussion
Reading: Bolotnikova, M. (2013) Rachel Jeantel's language is English Its just not
your English. Policymic.

Week 9: Language and technology I: Email and texting
Mar 17 Globalization and the sociolinguistics of the Internet
Reading: Baron, N. (2003) Why email looks like speech: proofreading, pedagogy
and public face. p. 85-94.
Mar 19 Online communication, continued
Reading: Baron, N. (2009) Are digital media changing language? Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Mar 21 Text-messaging and a new economics of linguistic exchanges
Video: John McWhorter: Txtng is killing language. JK!!!

Mar 22-Mar 30: Spring Break, no class

Week 10: Language and technology II: Social media
Mar 31 Twitter
Readings: Zoladz, L. (2014) The #Art of the Hashtag, Pitchfork.
Zimmer, B. (2011) Twitterology A new science, The New York Times.
Liberman, M. (2011) Up in ur internets, shortening all the words,
Language Log.
Apr 2 Facebook
Readings: Prez-Sabater, C. (2012) The Linguistics of Social Networking: A Study in
Writing Conventions on Facebook, Linguistik online, 56:81-93.
McCulloch, G. (2014) A Linguist Explains the Grammar of Doge, The
Toast.

Apr 4 Group project overview and group/language choice

Week 11: English language politics, nationalism, and identity
Apr 7 Anti-globalization: Homogeneity and the English-Only movement
Videos: Daily Show Clip, Colbert Report Clip
Readings: Gingrich & Ciamarra (2007) Make English our official language.
Nunberg, G. (1999) Speaking of America: Why English-only is a bad idea.
p. 117-128.
+++REACTION PAPER 3 Due+++

Apr 9 Bilingual identities and ambivalence
Videos: Newt Gingrich Comment, Newt Gingrich Apology
Readings: McWhorter, J. (2007) Gingrich language ideology ghetto.
Rodriguez, R. (1998) Hunger of memory. p. 11-26.
Apr 11 English growth and backlash
Readings: Thgersen, J. (2010) Coming to terms with English in Denmark: discursive
constructions of a language contact situation International Journal of
Applied Linguistics, 20:3, p. 291-326
James, K. (2007) Danes worry English onslaught could undermine the
language.
Brender, A. (2007) English growth and backlash in Korea
+++QUIZ 3+++

Week 12: Managing language diversity
Apr 14 Minority languages: Case studies
Videos: Breton, Welsh, Basque, Irish, Polish, Maori, Yurok; Belgium, Israel
a
Apr 16 Multiculturalism/multilingualism, integration, and diversity
Reading: Watson, K. (2007) Language, education and ethnicity: Whose rights will
prevail in an age of globalisation? p. 252-265.
Knig, M. (1999) Cultural diversity and language policy. p. 401-408.
Apr 18 Managing language diversity discussion

Week 13: Vanishing voices: Language endangerment, language loss
Apr 21 Languages in crisis
Video: In Languages We Live: Voices of the world
+++REACTION PAPER 4 Due+++
Apr 23 Language loss
Readings: Krauss, M. (1992) The worlds languages in crisis. p. 1-10.
Hitt, J. (2004) Say no more.
Apr 25 Group project in-class work
+++QUIZ 4+++

Week 14: Language revitalization
Apr 28 Hebrew language revival
Reading: Spolsky, B. (1995) Conditions for Language Revitalization: A Comparison
of the Cases of Hebrew and Maori, Current Issues in Language and
Society, 2:3, pp. 177-201.



Apr 30 Recent efforts at language revitalization
Readings: Turin, M. (2012) New York, a graveyard for languages, BBC News.
Johnson, K. (2012) Tribe Revives Language on Verge of Extinction, New
York Times.
R.L.G. (2010) Seven questions for K. David Harrison, The Economist.
Kelly, N. (2011) A Language Comes Home for Thanksgiving, Huffington
Post.
Plitt, L. (2013) Silbo gomero: A whistling language revived, BBC News.
May 2 Group Project Presentations

Week 15: Review and wrap-up
May 5 Review and wrap-up I
May 7 Review and wrap-up II
May 12 Final Exam, 8:00-11:00AM, 116 RAL