{"id":224,"date":"2020-08-17T16:00:55","date_gmt":"2020-08-17T23:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/laurelbrinton\/?page_id=224"},"modified":"2020-08-17T16:11:27","modified_gmt":"2020-08-17T23:11:27","slug":"224-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/laurelbrinton\/teaching\/224-2\/","title":{"rendered":"ENGL 324"},"content":{"rendered":"

ENGL 324A English Corpus Linguistics \u2013 What\u2019s happening in English today?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Course Description<\/em><\/strong>
\nDo you say:
\nI didn\u2019t think it was so<\/u> funny<\/em> or I didn\u2019t think it was that<\/u> funny<\/em> or I didn\u2019t think it was very<\/u> funny<\/em> or I didn\u2019t think it was really<\/u> funny<\/em>?
\nHe is more friendly<\/u> than I expected<\/em> or He is friendlier<\/u> than I expected<\/em>?
\nThat was a funner party than I thought it would be?<\/em>
\nI must<\/u> finish my paper tonight<\/em> or I have to<\/u> finish my paper tonight<\/em>?
\nIf I was<\/u> a bit taller<\/em> or If I were<\/u> a bit taller<\/em>?
\nEveryone should take their<\/u> seats<\/em> or Everyone should take his or her<\/u> seat<\/em>?
\nI have already opened<\/u> the can<\/em> or I already opened<\/u> the can<\/em>?
\nThe bike wheel sunk<\/u> into the mud<\/em> or The bike wheel sank<\/u> into the mud<\/em>?
\nYou can\u2019t lay<\/u> around all day <\/em>or You can\u2019t lie<\/u> around all day<\/em>?<\/p>\n

While some of these represent structures that have been treated by prescriptive grammars as \u201cusage mistakes\u201d, others have escaped their notice. All likely represent \u201cchanges in progress\u201d in contemporary English.<\/strong> In this course we will study grammatical changes ongoing in English as it is spoken and written in the twenty-first century. Apart from very obvious changes, such as the use of be like <\/em>or be all<\/em> by younger speakers as a \u201cquotative\u201d (And he was like, \u201cI\u2019m out of here\u201d<\/em>), there are many less obvious changes, as shown above.<\/p>\n

This course is an introduction to \u201ccorpus linguistics\u201d \u2013 now arguably the predominant\u00a0 approach to the study of language. Instead of using their own intuitions as native speakers about how the language is spoken\u00a0 and written \u2013 or should (prescriptively) be spoken and written! \u2013 linguists use electronic collections of actual usage, both spoken and written, called \u201ccorpora\u201d. These may be searched using a variety of means (such as searching for words and phrases, parts of speech, syntactic structures, meanings, etc.) to determine how speakers actually use the language today.<\/p>\n

The course will offer a hands-on opportunity to learn techniques of corpus study in a small classroom setting. A number of corpora will be used, including the Corpus of Contemporary American English<\/em> and the Strathy Corpus of Canadian English<\/em>, Google Ngrams, other corpora available online, as well as the web. The basics of corpus analysis will be taught, including the framing of appropriate research questions, search methods for collecting data using electronic data, and the analysis and presentation of empirical data. You will become familiar with using a number of different online corpora, newspaper collections, quotation databases, and text collections. The techniques of data collection and analysis taught in this course have wide application outside the classroom (wherever understanding language use is important).<\/p>\n

A set of graded exercises will be used to acquire the necessary corpus skills. For your final project, you will pick an ongoing change to explore using corpora and will determine the extent to which grammars, dictionaries, and usage guides are keeping up with what is happening in the language today and the extent to which speakers are actually following the more prescriptively oriented dictates.<\/p>\n

Prerequisites <\/strong><\/em>
\nNo formal background in language or linguistics is required. Third-year standing and 3 credits of first-year English or equivalent (WRDS 150, ASTU 100, ASTU 150, ARTS 001) or permission of instructor.<\/p>\n

Textbook and Readings<\/em><\/strong>
\nHans Lindquist and Magnus Levin, Corpus Linguistics and the Description of English.<\/em> 2nd<\/sup> edition. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2017 (approx. $35).
\nSet of readings (available through Canvas Library Reserve) \u2013 see separate list<\/p>\n

Course Format<\/em><\/strong>
\nThe course consists primarily of traditional lecture, with time allotted for questions and discussion. The Power Point slides for all classes are posted on Canvas (in advance of class whenever possible). Since topics may be covered in class (in response to questions) that are not on the Power Point slides, attendance in class is strongly encouraged. However, attendance is not taken and does not figure into the final mark. Readings for the course should be done in advance of the day assigned.<\/p>\n

Evaluation<\/em><\/strong>
\nCorpus exercise #1\u00a0\u00a0 20%
\nCorpus exercise #2\u00a0\u00a0 20%
\nSynopsis of an article\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a010%
\nSeminar presentation\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a010%
\nResearch paper\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a040%<\/p>\n

Late submissions are not accepted without the prior permission of the Instructor<\/p>\n

Learning Outcomes<\/em><\/strong>
\nUpon completion of this course, students will be able to<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. conduct research on the English language, using both secondary and primary materials, and both quantitative and qualitative methods;<\/li>\n
  2. formulate research questions that can be studied using electronic and online sources;<\/li>\n
  3. develop appropriate search algorithms for researching questions using such sources;<\/li>\n
  4. collect the necessary data from electronic and online sources using appropriate and available search tools;<\/li>\n
  5. analyze and evaluate the collected data using appropriate criteria and judgments;<\/li>\n
  6. communicate the results of the data collection and analysis in an effective way.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Grading Criteria<\/em><\/strong>
    \nIn order to receive full marks on the exercises and paper, the student must:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • frame the research question properly;<\/li>\n
    • undertake the corpus searches correctly and describe them clearly and completely;<\/li>\n
    • consult a wide range of secondary sources and summarize them accurately;<\/li>\n
    • present corpus results clearly, with the appropriate use of charts and tables;<\/li>\n
    • analyze the corpus results accurately;<\/li>\n
    • compare the corpus results with claims in the secondary sources;<\/li>\n
    • write at the appropriate level for a senior English course (diction and syntax);<\/li>\n
    • organize and present the exercise\/paper clearly and logically;<\/li>\n
    • provide a list of all works cited in proper reference style (see Style Guidelines).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Copyright<\/em><\/strong>
      \nAll materials of this course (course handouts, lecture slides, assessments, course readings, etc.) are the intellectual property of the Course Instructor or licensed to be used in this course by the copyright owner. Redistribution of these materials by any means without permission of the copyright holder(s) constitutes a breach of copyright and may lead to academic discipline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      ENGL 324A English Corpus Linguistics \u2013 What\u2019s happening in English today? Course Description Do you say: I didn\u2019t think it was so funny or I didn\u2019t think it was that funny or I didn\u2019t think it was very funny or I didn\u2019t think it was really funny? He is more friendly than I expected or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7900,"featured_media":0,"parent":73,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-224","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/laurelbrinton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/laurelbrinton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/laurelbrinton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/laurelbrinton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7900"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/laurelbrinton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/laurelbrinton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":233,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/laurelbrinton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/224\/revisions\/233"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/laurelbrinton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/73"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/laurelbrinton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}