Language
& Culture
Spring
2004
Dr.
M. J. Hardman
Kerry
Ham
The
central questions we addressed this semester were: Do we, as human beings
perceive reality directly? To what degree does language put for us a filter
between ourselves and reality? Is it possible to perceive without the filter of
language?
The course consisted of the
following topics:
How the English language
influences and guides the interaction between women and men and how this
influences science.
As an extended look at another
language and culture as a counter example we looked at the Aymara of South
America.
We read some additional sources
for other examples and theoretical perspectives, mostly Japanese and Native
[First Nation] North American. This last included one of the earliest and most
original thinkers in the field, Dorothy Lee.
We have covered the following materials
this semester. As you prepare for your exam, be sure that you are able to cite
each source at least once in at least one answer.
Readings:
Elgin, Suzette Haden Language Imperative Perseus Books,
Cambridge, MA 2000
Silver, Shirley & Wick R.
Miller American Indian Languages U.
of Arizona 1997
Hardman, M. J. Aymara Language in its Social and Cultural
Context (Andean Press)
Lee, Dorothy Freedom and Culture Prentice-Hall 1959,
reissued 1987 by Waveland Press
Mizutani, Osamu Japanese: The Spoken Language in Japanese
Life
Russ, Joanna. (1983) How to Suppress Women's Writing. Austin:
University of Texas Press.
Suzuki, Takao (1978) Words in Context. Akira Miura: Kodansha
International
Zack, Naomi, ed. (1995) American Mixed Race. Roman &
Littlefield
Hardman,
M. J. - Derivational Thinking Packet:
“Cover Page: Why
We Should Say ‘Women and Men’ Until it Doesn’t Matter Any More”
“The Sexist
Circuits of English”
“Gender Through
the Levels”
“Derivational
Thinking, or, Why is Equality So Difficult”
“And if We Lose
Our Name, then What About Our Land?”
“Andean
Ethnography”
Media:
Video, Suzette Haden Elgin The Universal
Translator
A Word in Your Ear
Boarding Schools
Colville & Fredin
Spirits of the Present
Japanese linguistic postulates
In Whose Honor
Yoruba Talking Drums
Guest Speakers:
Dr. Ron Kephart – Creoles, ‘Standard
English’, and culture.
Glen Owen and Rafiki Sebonde – A Poem in
English and Swahili
Abstracts:
Linguistics:
[Owens] Lakoff, George "Metaphor &
War: The Metaphor System Used to Justify War in the Gulf
[Smith] Le Guin, Ursula K. “Left Hand of
Darkness” and “Presenting Myself”
[Williams] Miller, D. Gary “Tripartization,
Sexism, and the Rise of the Feminine Gender in Indo-European”
[Harper] Martin, Laura "Eskimo Words
for Snow"
Andes:
[Paelmo] Babb, Florence E.(Winter 1980)
“Women and Men in Vicos, Perú: A Case of Unequal Development”
[DiBenedetto] Collins, Jane “Translation
Traditions and the Organization of Productive Activity: The Case of Aymara
Affinial Kinship Terms”
[Collado] Hardman, M. J. (1981) “JAQARU
COLOR TERMS”, IJAL 47:1
[Bradley] Hardman, M. J. “One Thousand and
One Years of the Spanish Language”, Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress,
Fall 1983.
Native American:
[Sebonde] Whorf, Benjamin “A Lingusitics
Consideration of Thinking in Primitive Communities,” in Language, Thought
and Reality, Carroll, J. (Ed.)
[Bussey] Holm, Tom "Patriots and
Pawns: State Use of American Indians in the Military and the Process
Nativization in the United States” in p.345 Jaimes The State of Native
America: Genocide, Colonization, and Resistance.
[Yoo] Kesinger, K. How Real People Live.
[Owen] Basso, K. “Cibecue and Whitemen” Portraits
of the Whiteman.
[Augustin] Basso, K. “Joking Imitations of
Anglo-Americans” Portraits of the Whiteman.
[Lara] Hall, Edward T. “The Navajo and the
Hopi” in An Anthropology of Every day Life Doubleday 1991 pp 99-117
[Pond] Whorf, Benjamin “The Relation of
Habitual Thought and Behavior to Language,” Language, Thought and Reality,
Carroll, J. (Ed.)
[Oakes] Witherspoon, G. Language and Art
in the Navajo Universe, chapter 1 – Creating the World through Language.
Sexism:
[Middleton] Martyna, Wendy “The Psychology
of the Generic Masculine” Women and language in literature & society Sally
McConnell-Ginet, Ruth Borker, Nelly Furman 1980, Praeger p 67-78
[Chan] Russ, J. “This is Your Life”
[Higgins] Serbin, Lisa A. & O'Leary,
Daniel K. 1975 "How Nursery Schools Teach Girls to Shut Up" pp 57-58,
102 Psychology Today December 1975
Racism:
[Benkert] Lacour, Claudia Brodsky Doing
Things with Words: "Racism" as Speech Act and the Undoing of Justice
in Race-ing Justice, En-Gendering Power ed. Morrison, Toni
[Lopez] Jones, William R. "Oppression,
Race & Humanism" The Humanist Nov/Dec 1992 w/ accompanying tape
available in the language lab
Science Fiction:
[Owens] Nestvold, R. “Looking through Lace”
[Chan] LeGuin, U. “Solitude”
[DiBenedetto] LeGuin, U. “The Matter of
Seggri”
[Smith] LeGuin, U. “Paradises Lost”
[Bussey, Lara, Sebonde] Tiptree, J.
“Houston, Houston, Do You read?”
[Yoo, Collado] Tiptree, J. “The Women Men
Don’t See”
[Paelmo] LeGuin, U. The Left Hand of
Darkness
[Williams] Cherryh, C. J. Foreigner
[Pond] Aranson, E. A Woman of the Iron
People
[Middleton] Hopkinson, N. Midnight
Robber
[Bradley] Hopkinson, N. Brown Girl in
the Ring
[Higgins] Moon, E. Remnant Population
[Oakes] Slonczewski, J. A Door into
Ocean
[Owen] Butler, O. E. Parable of the
Sower
[Lopez] Elgin, S. Native Tongue
[Benkert] Vance, J. The Languages of Pao
[Augustin] LeGuin, U. “The Birthday of the
World”
Book Presentations:
Thomson, Amy The Color of Distance
LeGuin, Ursula Always Coming Home
Oyewumi, Oyeronke The Invention of Women
Observations:
Metaphors in black and white
Denial of Agency
Pollution of Agency
Double Standard of Content
False Categorizing
Isolation
Anomalousness
Lack of Models
Ranking comparative
Seminal metaphors & Violence metaphors
Passive Exonerative
Syntactic ordering
Online Resources:
Sample Lack of Models papers
Sample Language Ecology papers
Other resources from Dr. Hardman’s homepage