Paulina Bounds
Assistant Professor of Linguistics
History of English Language
Introduction to Linguistics
The main focus of this class is to expose students to the foundational aspects of linguistics. We use How English Works by Curzan and Adams, a textbook that provides a contemporary context to the linguistic situations students encounter every day. We explore language from the traditional points of interest such as phonetics/phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. Moreover, we put everything that is happening around us in language into perspective using such subfields of linguistics like dialectology, sociolinguistics, variationism, and corpus linguistics. One class a week, we spend sharing the students’ findings connected to the material presented that week, a.k.a Talking Fridays. Those classes provide an opportunity for students to explore ideas they found interesting and share them with others. Often, this is where they find their starting point for their final presentation (and paper) that they perform at the end of the semester.
In this class we focus on gaining understanding of the very complicated forces that influenced English in its development throughout the centuries. We use The Stories of English by David Crystal, which offers multiple perspectives on the historical and social events in the history of English. We start with Old English and continue through Middle to Early Modern and Modern British and American English. We use multiple visuals/videos/recordings to scaffold the discussion of the ever-changing English language. One of the multimodal sources we use thoroughly is The Story of English, a BBC television series that provides us with visual and sound layers so helpful in creating a full image of the developing English language. Moreover, during one class a week, I ask students to share their own findings about a topic that interested them connected to the material covered that week, a.k.a Talking Fridays. Those classes provide an opportunity for the students to explore ideas they found interesting and share them with other students. Often, this is where they find their starting point for their final presentation (and paper) that they perform at the end of the semester.
This class exposes students to fundamental research in sociolinguistics. We explore some of the history of the field and how it became its own discipline, but we mostly focus on the research methods that sociolinguistics developed over the last few decades. We use Data Collection in Sociolinguistics by Mallison et al. as the main text that allows us to really break down step-by-step the process of conducting research in sociolinguistics. This class has a lot of hands-on components during each class, as the students deconstruct the reading and work in groups to find their own understanding of it. Moreover, the students work on their own projects throughout the semester to put into practice the methods and tips they learn from the textbook.
This class is aimed at showcasing to the students alternative ways to analyze language. The two main lenses that this analysis is conducted through are discourse analysis methods and corpus linguistic methods. We use Discourse Analysis written by Paltridge and Using Corpora in Discourse Analysis by Baker. Both of these texts provide the theoretical and methodological overview of the two different approaches, and they also offer practical applications.. In the class, the students are expected to lead class discussions on their chosen topic and ask questions that stimulate the exchange within the class. Moreover, we spend the end of the semester on applying the knowledge that they have gained during the semester in their final projects. They choose the type of analysis they want to perform and the material and topic they want to explore. We go through a rigorous set up of their methodology and analysis and share their findings and observations in class presentations.
Sociolinguistics
Discourse in Numbers
Writing II
In this class we explore writing from a variety of viewpoints. We bring in more research, and sources may be taken from the literary world, as well. We put more than one source together to analyze our own understanding of the relationships between texts. We explore writing in many ways. We may start with an analysis of a single text, move to a combination of two texts conversing with each other, to finally a creation of an overarching relationship between texts and projects. Students analyze multimodal sources, and they produce multimodal essays that utilize various medias to strengthen their argument and coherence. All work is a process of pre-writing, drafting, peer reviewing, reflecting, and revising. All classes have an overarching theme that guides our choices in the materials for each project.
In this class we explore writing from a variety of angles. The goal is to teach students how to gather evidence, analyze it, and organize it to create a coherent essay with a central idea, or thesis. We aim for analytic writing that is based first on the evidence and then on the interpretation of that evidence. We explore writing from the personal point-of-view and also from more formal standpoints. Student analyze multimodal sources, and they also produce multimodal essays that utilize the various medias to strengthen their argument and coherence. All work is a process of pre-writing exercise, drafting, peer reviewing, reflecting, and revising. All classes have an overarching theme that guides our choices in the materials for each project.
