Themes
| 8/23-8/31 | ||
| 9/3 -9/7 | W1 What is Chinese as a Language? | |
| 9/10-9/14 | W2 What is Chinese as a Language? (2) | |
| 9/17-9/21 | W3 Evolution of Chinese Writing System | |
| 9/24-9/28 | W4 Debate over Simplified and Traditional Chinese Characters | Museum Session at Oberlin & Project#1 |
| 10/1-10/5 | W5 Putonghua and Dialects | |
| 10/8-10/12 | W6 Chinese Dialects and Language Attitude | Online Discussions |
| 10/15-10/19 | W7 Dialect and Language Attitude | Project #2 presentations(online) |
| 10/22-10/26 | W8 Fall recess | |
| 10/29-11/2 | W9 Bilingualism, Language Choice, Identity | |
| 11/5-11/9 | W10 Bilingualism in the Media | |
| 11/12-11/16 | W11 Lexical Borrowing: Chinese and English | |
| 11/19-11/23 | W12 Thanksgiving recess | Project #3Presentations
(online) |
| 11/26-11/30 | W13 Internet Vocabulary | |
| 12/3-12/7 | W14 Avatar Project: Language and Identity | Avatar Project Presentations |
| 12/10-12/14 | W15 Exit Interview with instructors |
Tentative Schedule
| Date | Class Activities | Readings and Other Materials | |
| 8/23 (R)-8/30 (R) | No class meeting. | Watch course orientation video.Access Blackboard course site and check out other course tools and resources. | |
| 9/4 (T) | WHAT IS CHINESE AS A LANGUAGE?Self-introduction; Introduction to the structure of the course; Learning goals & Avatar project | Read DeFrancis. The Chinese language: Fact and fantasy. Pp37-40; | |
| 9/6 (R) | WHAT IS CHINESE AS A LANGUAGE?Myth: Is Chinese the most difficult language to learner?
Pronunciation; tones; grammar |
Read Zhou. The Historical Evolution of Chinese Languages and Scripts. ‘2.2 汉语的现代共同语’;Ramsey. The Languages of China. Pp41-48;
Norman. Chinese. ‘6.6 Tones.’ Pp145-148; Ramsey. The Languages of China. Pp 49-57. |
|
| 9/11(T) | CHINESE WRITING SYSTEMMyth: Is Chinese system ideographic?
Discussion leaders: |
Read DeFrancis. The Chinese language: Fact and fantasy. Pp71-88;DeFrancis. The Chinese language: Fact and fantasy. Pp134-148; | |
| 9/13 (R) | CHINESE WRITING SYSTEMMyth: Is Chinese writing system a “beautiful nightmare”?
Pros and cons |
Read Chen. Modern Chinese: History and Sociolinguistics. Pp139-147;The Chronicle of Higher Education. 2016. The Awful Chinese Writing System.
http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2016/01/20/the-awful-chinese-writing-system/ |
|
| 9/18 (T) | EVOLUTION OF CHINESE SCRIPTA brief history; Simplification of the traditional writing system | Read Norman. Chinese. Pp58-63;Chen. Modern Chinese: History and Sociolinguistics. Pp132-135;
Read Zhou. The Historical Evolution of Chinese Languages and Scripts. Chapter 4 文字的简便化; Ramsey. The Languages of China. Pp143-154 |
|
| 9/20 (R) | CHINESE WRITING SYSTEMDebate: Traditional vs. Simplified characters vs. Romanization. | Groups TBD. | |
| 9/22 or 9/23 | AMAM Museum Visit (Linguistic Project 1)Schedule TBD | ||
| 9/25 (T) | LINGUISTIC PROJECT 1: EVOLUTION OF CHINESE SCRIPTOnline presentations & Peer review; | ||
| 9/27 (R) | PUTONGHUA AND DIALECTSMajor dialects; Promotion of a common Chinese language | Read Zhou. The Historical Evolution of Chinese Languages and Scripts. ‘2.1汉语的方言’and ‘2.3共同语的推广’ Pp25-30;Guo. 2004. The relationship between Putonghua and Chinese dialects. | |
| 10/2 (T) | PUTONGHUA AND DIALECTSDialect in writing; Preservation of dialects | Read Chen. Modern Chinese: History and Sociolinguistics. Pp114-128;Global Times. Locals, foreigners try to keep Chinese dialects alive despite Putonghua dominance. http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1053025.shtml;
Watch Yixi Talk: 《289段乡音》(by Steve Hansen, who is preserving Chinese dialects) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSndAC_kvss |
|
| 10/4 (R) | DIALECTS AND LANGUAGE ATTITUDEMainland China & Hong Kong
Discussion leaders: |
Read Zhou. 2001. The spread of PTH and language attitude changes in Shanghai andGuangzhou, China;
Lai. 2005. Language attitudes of the first postcolonial generation in Hong Kong secondary schools. |
|
| 10/9 (T) | DIALECTS AND LANGUAGE ATTITUDETaiwan & abroad
Discussion leaders: |
Read Liao. 2008. A perceptual dialect study of Taiwan mandarin: language attitude in the eraof political battle.
Wu. 2005. Attitude and behavior toward bilingualism for Chinese parents and children. Pp.2385-2394. |
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| 10/11 (R) | LINGUISTIC PROJECT 2: DIALECTS AND LANGUAGE ATTITUDEMethodology workshop; Individual/small group session with instructor | ||
| 10/16 (T) | LINGUISTIC PROJECT 2: DIALECTS AND LANGUAGE ATTITUDEOnline presentations & Peer review | ||
| 10/18 (R) | BILINGUALIISM, LANGUAGE CHOICE, IDENTITYMultilingualism in Greater China | Read Lee, Sherman & David C. S. Li. 2013. Multilingualism in Greater China and the Chinese Language Diaspora. In Bhatia and Ritchie (eds.). 2013: 813-842. | |
| 10/23&10/25 | Happy Fall Break! | ||
| 10/30 (T) | BILINGUALIISM, LANGUAGE CHOICE, IDENTITYLanguage contact; Code-switching
Discussion leaders: |
Read Winford.2003. Pp9-27;Pan, Yuling. 2000. Code-switching and social change in Guangzhou and Hong Kong. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 146: 21-41.
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| 11/1 (R) | BILINGUALIISM, LANGUAGE CHOICE, IDENTITYLanguage and identity
Discussion leaders: |
Read McGregor & Li. 1991. Chinese or English? Language choice among Chinese students inNewcastle upon Tyne;
Nicoladis, Elena & Howard Grabois. 2002. Learning English and losing Chinese: a case study of a child adopted from China. International Journal of Bilingualism 6: 441–454. |
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| 11/6 (T) | LINGUISTIC PROJECT 3: CHINESE BILINGUALISMPerformance watch workshop | ||
| 11/8 (R) | BILINGUALISM IN THE MEDIADiscussion leaders: | Read Zhang, Wei. 2012. Chinese-English code-mixing among China’s netizens. English Today 28: 40-52;Radtke, Oliver & Xin Yuan. 2011. ‘Please don’t climb trees and pick flowers for the sake of life’-making sense of bilingual tourism signs in China. Language and Intercultural Communication. 389-407. | |
| 11/13 (T) | LEXICAL BORROWING:Chinese and EnglishDiscussion leaders: | Read Yang, Jian. 2009. Chinese borrowings in English. World Englishes 28: 90–106;Yang, Jian. 2005. Lexical innovations in China English. World Englishes 24: 425–36. | |
| 11/15 (R) | LEXICAL BORROWING:Chinglish and attitude towards Chinglish | Chinglish examples:Chinese medley. Language Log.
Chinglish bumper crop. Language Log. http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=21357 Should we laugh at Chinglish? Language Log. http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=450 Read Shanghai is trying to untangle the mangled English of Chinglish. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/world/asia/03chinglish.html Henry 2001. Interpretations of “Chinglish”: Native speakers, language learners and the enregisterment of a stigmatized code. |
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| 11/20 (T) | LINGUISTIC PROJECT 3: CHINESE BILINGUALISMOnline presentation & Peer review | ||
| 11/22 (R) | Happy Thanksgiving! | ||
| 11/27 (T) | IDENTITY AND LANGUAGE LEARNINGLinguistic Stereotyping, Reverse Linguistic Stereotyping and Learner Receptivity | ReadGlobal Times. Foreign actors in China share their experience dramatizing one-dimensional and stereotyped roles http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1001067.shtml;
Wall Street Journal. Why Anyone Can Be Chinese. https://www.wsj.com/articles/can-anyone-be-chinese-1500045078 |
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| 11/29 (R) | INTERNET VOCABULARY | ReadZhang, Wei. 2012. Chinese-English code-mixing among China’s netizens. English Today 28: 40-52;
Zhang. 2015. Multilingual creativity on China’s Internet.
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| 12/4 (T) | INTERNET VOCABULARY | ReadJeanette Si. 2017. The Chinese Language as a Weapon: How China’s Netizens Fight Censorship https://medium.com/berkman-klein-center/the-chinese-language-as-a-weapon-how-chinas-netizens-fight-censorship-8389516ed1a6\ | |
| 12/6 (R) | AVATAR PROJECT AND PORTAFOLIOPresentations; Q&As; Peer review | ||
| 12/11 (T) | AVATAR PROJECT AND PORTAFOLIOPresentations; Q&As; Peer review | ||
| 12/13 (R) | Exit interview with instructor | ||
| 12/14 (F) | AVATAR PROJECT AND PORTAFOLIO DUE | ||