For this Wednesday and Friday, please read pgs. 28-38 of the following book chapter, which can be downloaded from the “Readings” section of this website. Solan, Lawrence M. 1993. The Language of Judges, Chapter 2 (‘The Judge as Linguist’). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Note:  the downloadable PDF comprises all of Chapter 2.  We will be reading …

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For next Monday 2/28, please read the following book chapters, which can be downloaded from the “Readings” section of this website. Solan, Lawrence M. 1993. The Language of Judges, Introduction (‘Judging Language’) and Chapter 1 (‘Chomsky and Cardozo: Linguistics and the Law’). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

For this week’s class meetings, please read the following two articles, both of which can be downloaded from the “Readings” section of this website: McCloskey, James. 2007. Irish as a world language. In Why Irish?, B. Conchubhar and B. Buachalla (eds). Syracuse: Arlen House / Syracuse University Press. Zepeda, Ofelia & Jane H. Hill. 1991. The …

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For Wednesday 2/16, please read the following two articles, both of which can be downloaded from the “Readings” section of this website: Krauss, Michael. 1992. The world’s languages in crisis. Language 68: 4-10. Hale, Ken. 1992. Language endangerment and the human value of linguistic diversity. Language 68: 35-42. Both of the articles address the topics of language endangerment …

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For this Friday’s (2/11) and next Monday’s (2/14) class, please read the following article, which can be downloaded from the Readings section of this website: Bickerton, Derek. 1983. Creole Languages. Scientific American 249(8): 116-122.

For this Wednesday’s (2/9), please read chapters 10 and 19 of your Language Myths textbook.  Both of these chapters are concerned with the question whether some languages are more complex than others. As an extra bonus, you might enjoy listening to the podcast entitled “There are no primitive languages” from Monica Macauley (a linguist at …

Continue reading ‘Reading for W 2/9: Language Myths 10, 19; optional Macauley podcast’ »

On Monday 2/7, we will return to the question of whether the United States is in need of an official language.  Although there is no new reading for Monday, I would like you to review the various official-English readings that were assigned last week, in preparation for our discussion.