ENG367Y spring project

Language & social variation

Objectives:

• to describe language characteristic of an identifiable social group, e.g. people sharing
• e.g. a specific occupation, e.g. linguists, literary critics, holistic dentists...
• e.g. a specific activity, e.g. golf, theatre lighting design, drinking to excess
• it would be a good idea to contact Anthony by email to make sure that your topic is (1) appropriate and (2) suitably focussed and (3) easily illustrated with examples
• to interpret the significance of its distinctive features: what does the language tell us about the group?
• to present your findings
• orally: on a one-page handout accompanying a brief (10 minutes maximum) presentation for the class (dates run from March 8th to April 5th)
• in writing: as a short (1000 words maximum) essay for Anthony, due on Friday April 8^th (there will be no extensions)

Administrivia

• make sure that you have signed up for a presentation date by submitting the request form below to Professor Percy in class on February 8^th
• on February 10^th, the schedule for presentations will be announced (and mounted on the course website)
• if you don’t submit a request on February 8th you will be randomly assigned to leftover dates
• if you can’t make that date, it’s your responsibility to switch with somebody else
• you should clear your topic with Anthony (Anthony.Adams[at-sign]utoronto.ca)
• if you miss your presentation date, the draft you hand in 7 days after you should have presented will replace the presentation component only if it’s accompanied with a medical note covering the specific date in question

The process:

• listen to Anthony’s lecture on February 24th
• read the assigned readings (below and whatever else Anthony recommends)

• identify a group and/or occupation of which you have ‘expert knowledge’ (and check out the topic with Anthony)
• gather language characteristic of it
• while you’re gathering, try to select a representative, coherent sample of it:
• if your ‘language variety’ exists in writing, can you find a short article in a specialist periodical?
• think about your data: try to find recurring trends in it
• e.g. “most of the lexicon is created and used orally” (Nyssa 49)
• e.g. “General bike terms include bike component names as well as slang and bike-related trade names.” (Nyssa 51)
• e.g. “Messengers avoid acronyms when talking shop,...” (Nyssa 51)
• organize your data so that
• each trend is clear
• you have constructed a clear and coherent relationship among the trends
• e.g. “Messenger English can be conceptualized as the intersection of several other subsets of English (see diagram—which her editors messed up). Except for terms relating specifically to bike couriers ... these subsets are used by other, often very different, populations.” (Nyssa 49)
• present the product of your work
• on a 1-page handout accompanying a concise, clear, and engaging talk
• a sentence or two describing each trend in your data and a conclusion connecting those trends into a complex thesis, likely about the users of the jargon
• examples illustrating those trends
• references to the sources of your data
• in a brief essay, explaining the handout (April 8^th)

Sample introductory statements (from a version of this assignment in 2002-2003):

-“This study seeks not only to discuss the kind of language couriers use but also to show how that language reflects both the work and the solidarity in the ‘messengering’ world.”

-“To be successful, messengers must be articulate in several registers of English, each increasingly specific to their occupation, and it is the particular combination that makes messenger English unique.” (Nyssa 2004: 48)

Readings

Adams, Michael. “The server’s lexicon: preliminary inquiries into current restaurant jargon.” American Speech 73:1 (1998), 57-83.

[Anthony found this article. We don’t expect you to trace the origins of your terms, but do have a look at sections like “Conditions of servitude” to appreciate how you can make connections between “language” and its users. This article is available online: choose “e-journals”, type in “American Speech”, and choose the option that promises you volume 73.]

Crystal, David. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. 2^nd ed.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Chapters 12, 21.

McArthur, Tom, ed. “Argot, jargon, slang.” The Oxford Companion to the English

Language. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

[The Concise is available online: from the library homepage, choose “e-references” and type in Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language.]

Nyssa, Zoe. “Running reds and killing peds: the lexicon of bicycle messengers. A report

on a variety of ‘Messenger English’ used in Toronto.” English Today 78, Vol. 20, No. 2 (April 2004).

[Available online: from the library homepage, choose “e-journals” and type in “English today.” Zoe originally wrote this paper for ENG367Y in 2002-2003.]

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Seminar request: NAME(s):_______________________

submit in person to CP on 8 February

Presentations will be on Tuesdays at 11 (the second hour); on March 15^th there will be 2 hours of presentations.

Please rank your preferred presentation dates from 1-4. I’ll assume that you refuse to present on the 5^th date.

Please indicate if you would like to present as a pair

-with somebody specific: sign up on one form, please

-with somebody else congenial who shares your preferred date

8 March

15 March

22 March

29 March

5 April