Kretzschmar, William
TR 11:10 AM
Park Hall 269
ENGL/LING 4010/6010 Fall 2021 Kretzschmar TTH 11:10-12:25, Park 269
American English
Office: 317 Park. Email: kretzsch@uga.edu. Office Hours: TTH 8:30-9:30 via Skype (bill.kretzschmar), and by appointment (email me to set one up). In-person office hours will be held in Park 317.
Catalog: The history, present status, and future prospects of American English, including standards and internal variation.
Texts: Draft textbook on eLC.
Course Conduct: Lecture/discussion, on Zoom or in person depending on conditions at UGA. There will be five in-class tests and no final exam ("continuous assessment"). Computer exercises are due by email before the class period discussed. There will be one short paper (5 pp) and a major paper due at the end of the term (c. 15 pp undergrad, c. 20 pp. grad). Papers will be prepared according to standard practices for academic papers, and include appropriate use of the scholarly literature. There will be a proposal (2-3 pp) for the final paper due in late October. Grades will be based on class attendance (or Zoom presence, 90 pts), computer exercises (60 pts), the five in-class exams (250 pts), the short paper (100 pts), and the final paper (50 pts proposal, 150 pts final paper). 700 total points. Course info will be on the Web at the UGA eLC (elc.uga.edu).
Goals and Topics: This course is about the facts of American English, both historical and current. Students will learn about the circumstances of colonial settlement as they relate to the English language, in other words how the languages of different ethnic groups came together with different dialects of British settlers to form a peculiarly American variety of English. Students will learn, through treatment of further settlement and changing social conditions, how American English has become and remained a regionally and socially pluralistic variety of English. Finally, students will develop perspective about American English as it exists today: is American English still changing? how is American English related to other varieties of English? what are the cultural and social implications of our standards and varieties?
Schedule: (CE = computer exercise)
Aug 19 Th: Course intro.
Aug 26, 28 T: Ch 1 Th: App 1: words, sounds
Aug 31, Sep 2 T: App 1: sounds Th: App 3 LAP, computer
Sep 7, 9 T: App 2: syntax, discourse Th: App 3: computer, EX 1
Sep 14, 16 T: Ch 1: CE 1, Ch 2: CS Th: Ch 2: evidence, Ch2 CE 2
Sep 21, 23 T: Ch 3: ancient, origins English Th: Ch3: origins audio, Ch3 CE 3
Sep 28, 30 T: Ch 4: settlement, Crevecoeur Th: Ch 4: AmE audio, EX 2
Oct 5, 7 T: Ch. 4: CE 4, Ch 5, settlement Th: Ch 5: lg expt, immigration
Oct 12, 14 T: Ch 5: Webster, CE 5, short paper due Th: Ch 6: barons, demographics, text
Oct 19, 21 T: Ch 6: Mencken, CE6 Th: Ch 6: audio, EX 3
Oct 26, 28 T:, Ch 7: postwar/IT, demographics Th: Ch 7: lg in use, proposal due
Nov 2, 4 T: Ch 7: CE 7, Ch 8: early maps Th: Ch 8: perception, audio
Nov 9, 11 T: Ch 8: CE 8, Ch 9: demographics Th: Ch 9: audio, EX 4
Nov 16, 18 T: Ch 9: CE 9/9A, Ch 10: class Th: Ch 10: sociolx, multidimensonal
Nov 23 T: Ch 10: CE 10, Ch 11 Th: Thanksgiving, no class
Nov 30, Dec 2 T: Ch 11: CE 11, Ch 12: mavens Th: Ch 12: law, EX 5
Dec. 7 No class; Paper due by email.
UGA Student Honor Code: "I will be academically honest in all of my academic work and will not tolerate academic dishonesty of others." A Culture of Honesty, the University's policy and procedures for handling cases of suspected dishonesty, can be found at www.uga.edu/ovpi. Every course syllabus should include the instructor's expectations related to academic honesty.
The course syllabus is a general plan for the course; deviations announced to the class by the instructor may be necessary.
Mental Health and Wellness Resources: