Varieties of English is course that aims to provide students with a solid background in the analysis of morpho-syntactic variation in English. The students will build on their knowledge on English variation acquired through courses such as World English (first year) or History of the English Language (fourth year) as well as the theoretical tools acquired in English Grammar I and English Grammar II to further develop their analytic skills in these fields. Through the analysis and discussion of selected research papers and audiovisual materials and the completion of frequent exercises, the students will be able to



(i) identify and discuss the linguistic features that characterize several regional, social and ethnic varieties of English,



(ii) compare and contrast these varieties with reference to different aspects of linguistic structure, and



(iii) identify the linguistic and extralinguistic (historical, sociolinguistic, etc.) factors that intervene in language variation in English.

COMPETENCES



This subject belongs to the Module M05 English Linguistics. Specifically, it contributes to the achievement of module competences CM03/CM04:



M05CM03 To investigate the principles and the rules/processes that, according to specific theoretical accounts, are used to construct syntactic phrases, clauses and sentences, and to evaluate which theoretical accounts are more explanatory and have more predictive power.



M05CM04 To recognise the most important linguistic features of the main geographical varieties of English, to analyse the variation inherent to the speaker’s characteristics (social class, age, sex) and the type of communicative exchange (oral, written, in/formal, register).





Final achievement of the module competences above entails the fulfilment of the degree competences G001/G003/G007/G008/G009:



G001 To be able to produce and understand any type of oral and written text in English.

G003 To analyse, synthesise, and explain the grammar and use of English.

G007 To be able to relate the specific knowledge of the degree with other areas and disciplines and to transmit that knowledge in further studies in order to favour conciliatory and tolerant attitudes towards multilingual and multicultural diversity.

G005 To know the history, evolution and varieties of English today.

G008 To be able to work autonomously and in teams, making use of the techniques and tools acquired.

G009 To be able to transmit the knowledge acquired in different academic contexts to be used in diverse professional contexts.





LEARNING OUTCOMES:



The students taking Varieties of English can:



- Identify patterns of variation in English morpho-syntax.

- Describe those patterns objectively (without prejudice) and using the appropriate terminology of the relevant linguistic field.

- Associate patterns of variation in English with linguistic and extralinguistic factors.

- Evaluate the empirical, theoretical, and conceptual adequacy of the hypotheses proposed in order to explain morpho-syntactic variation.

1. Preliminaries

Standard English(es).

The origin of variation in English.

Factors involved in language variation.

Classification of English varieties.

The channels of English spread.



2. The reality of dialects

Dialect myths and linguistic reality.

Standards and vernaculars.

Language and society.

Linguistic stereotypes.

The role of grammatical variation in linguistic theory.



3. Variation in space.



3.1. Variation in the British Isles.

An English standard and patterns of variation.

The grammar(s) of Irish English.



3.2. Variation in North America.

General American English.

Regional and ethnic dialects in the US.

Appalachian English.

Cajun English.

African American Vernacular English.



3.3. Variation in other parts of the English-speaking world

Australian English.

Caribbean English: Bajan.

Indian English.

English in Africa: the case of Nigerian English.



4. Language variation and society.

Attitudes towards variation in English.

Variation as a social marker.

Dialect and identity.

Approaches to variation reconciling the social and the formal.



5. Case studies of variation in English

Analysis of cross-dialectal, cross-speaker, and intra-speaker morpho-syntactic

variation in English.

Classes are designed with a view to interaction between students and lecturer. The lecturer uses handouts and presentations containing the main ideas/examples, most of which are made available to the students before classes begin. Classes include lectures and discussions based on scientific articles, book chapters, websites, audiovisual material (both videos and recordings), opinion pieces, etc. Through class handouts and having familiarized themselves with the prescribed reading or audiovisual material, students explore the subject in the classroom with the lecturer’s guidance.



These classes are combined with frequent exercises that lead to theoretical conclusions or reinforce aspects that have been tackled in class. Some exercises are done in the classroom and others are done autonomously. A proportion of these are evaluated as part of the student’s cyclic assessment tasks. This component will also include a number of quizzes on readings and videos which will be done on eGela in case of online assessment.



The subject also has a class presentation component; the papers/topics for class presentation will be student-selected, but they will have to be relevant to the subject program.



In order to promote student participation in both the practical sessions and those that come under the general heading of lectures, the students’ daily participation will be evaluated. Part of the students' participation will be assessed through exercises and activities carried out with Perusall, Socrative and/or Edpuzzle.

• Ebaluazio Jarraituaren Sistema
• Azken Ebaluazioaren Sistema
• Kalifikazioko tresnak eta ehunekoak:
  • Praktikak egitea (ariketak, kasuak edo buruketak) (%): 60
  • Lanen, irakurketen... aurkezpena (%): 20
  • Participation (%): 20

[1] ASSESSMENT SYSTEM, ASSESSMENT TASKS AND RELATIVE WEIGHT



The type of assessment that will be implemented in this subject is what the university legislation continuous assessment.



The assessment of student work will be progressive, formative and summative. Students will be evaluated according to their performance in the following assessment tasks.



1. Active participation (both in class and outside): 20% of final grade.

2. Cyclic assessment tasks: 60% of final grade.

3. Class presentation: 20% of final grade.





[2] ON THE USE OF RESOURCES AND MATERIALS FOR THE ASSESSMENT TASKS/EXAM



Cyclic assessment tasks: Unless otherwise indicated, the use of mobile or electronic devices, notes, books is not allowed.



Out of the class activities: the work submitted by the students must be their own work and must have been written completely by themselves. The students must identify and include the source of all facts, ideas, opinions and viewpoints of others through in-text referencing and the relevant sources should all be included in the list of references at the end of their work. Direct quotations from books, journal articles, internet sources or any other source must be acknowledged and the sources cited must be identified in the list of references.



In the case of exams/tests to be done on paper, the use of mobile or electronic devices, notes, books is not allowed. If the case of exams and tests to be done online the students are not allowed to use materials different from the text of the exams; help from other students is also prohibited in the case of individual assessment tasks.



Whether in-person or online assessment, the work submitted by the students must be their own work and must have been written completely by them.



[3] WITHDRAWAL FROM THE CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT



All students have the right to be evaluated according to the final evaluation procedure independently of whether or not they have participated in the continuous assessment module. In order to withdraw from the continuous assessment, they must write the instructor responsible for the course expressing their desire to do so. Students can withdraw within the first 9 weeks of the course, according to the academic calendar of their centre. The form that has to be filled in is available at the website of the faculty http://www.ehu.eus/eu/web/letrak/idazkaritza.





[4] WITHDRAWAL FROM AN EXAM CALL



Withdrawal from a call will be assessed as “no grade reported” [no presentado/a, ez aurkeztua].



1.In the case of continuous assessment, all students can withdraw from a call until at least one month before the date of the end of the teaching schedule of the corresponding course. This withdrawal must be submitted in writing to the instructor responsible for the course.



2.In the case of final assessment, not sitting the exam on the official date of the exam qualifies as an automatic withdrawal from the corresponding call.



The new regulation about assessment can be found at the following link:

http://www.ehu.eus/es/web/estudiosdegrado-gradukoikasketak/ebaluaziorako-arautegia





[5] FINAL EXAM



For those students not participating in continuous assessment, the final exam will be comprehensive of all materials covered in the course (including all student presentations) and it will count as 100% of the final grade. In case of online assessment, the final exam may be oral (through BBCollaborate).

[1] TYPE OF ASSESSMENT



The students will be evaluated on the basis of a comprehensive examination that will count as 100% of the final grade. In case of online assessment, the final exam may be oral (through BBCollaborate).





[2] INFORMATION ON THE USE OF RESOURCES AND MATERIALS FOR THE EXAM



In the case of exams/tests to be done on paper, the use of mobile or electronic devices, notes, books is not allowed. If the case of exams and tests to be done online the students are not allowed to use materials different from the text of the exams; help from other students is also prohibited in the case of individual assessment tasks.

Whether in-person or online assessment, the work submitted by the students must be their own work and must have been written completely by them.





[3] WITHDRAWAL FROM AN EXAM CALL



Withdrawal from a call will be assessed as “no grade reported” [no presentado/a, ez aurkeztua]. Not sitting the exam on the official date of the exam qualifies as an automatic withdrawal from the corresponding call.





The regulation about assessment can be found at the following link:

http://www.ehu.eus/es/web/estudiosdegrado-gradukoikasketak/ebaluaziorako-arautegia

Henry, A. 1995. Belfast English and Standard English. Oxford University Press. Selected chapters.
Kortmann, B. & C. Upton (eds.). 2004. A Handbook of Varieties of English Vol. II: Morphology and Syntax. Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter. Selected chapters.
Rohdenburg, G. & J. Schluter (eds.) 2009. One Language, Two Grammars?: Differences between British and American English. New York (USA): CUP. Selected chapters.
Sharma, D. 2012. Shared features in New Englishes. In Hickey, R.A. (ed.) Areal Features of the Anglophone World. Berlin (Germany)/Boston (USA): Walter de Gruyter, 211-232.
Trudgill, P. 2016. Dialect Matters. Respecting Vernacular Language. Cambridge (UK): CUP. Selected chapters.
Wolfram, W. & N. Schilling-Estes. 2016. American English : Dialects and variation (3rd ed., Lenguaje y sociedad). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. Selected chapters.

And other research papers, web documents and audiovisual materials selected by the lecturer.

Oinarrizko bibliografia

Aarts, B. & A. McMahon (eds). (2006). The Handbook of English Linguistics. Blackwell.

Chambers, J.K., P. Trudgill, & N. Schilling-Estes (eds.). (2004). The Handbook of Language Variation and Change. Blackwell.

Chambers & N. Schilling (eds.). (2013). The Handbook of Language Variation and Change. Blackwell.

Kirpatrick, A. (2010). The Routledge Handbook of World Englishes. Routledge.

Kortmann, Bernd & Lunkenheimer, Kerstin (eds.) 2013. The Electronic World Atlas of Varieties of English. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. (Available online at http://ewave-atlas.org)

Gehiago sakontzeko bibliografia

Anderwald, L. (2009). The Morphology of English Dialects. Verb Formation in Non-Standard English. Cambridge University Press.
Cornips, L. & K. P. Corrigan. (2005). Syntax and Variation. Reconciling the Biological and the Social. John Benjamins.
Henry, A. (1995). Belfast English and Standard English. Oxford University Press.
Siemund, Peter. 2013. Varieties of English. A Typological Approach. Cambridge University Press.
Algeo, J. 2006. British or American English? A handbook of word and grammar patterns. New York (USA): CUP:
Hickey, R.A. (ed.) 2012. Areal Features of the Anglophone World. Berlin (Germany)/Boston (USA): Walter de Gruyter.
Hickey, R. A. 2014. Dictionary of varieties of English. Chichester, West Susex (UK): Wiley Blackwell.
Milroy, J. & Milroy, L. 1993. Real English. The Grammar of English Dialects in the British Isles. London: Routledge.
Rohdenburg, G. & J. Schluter (eds.). 2009. One Language, Two Grammars?: Differences between British and American English. New York (USA): CUP.
Siemund, P. 2013. Varieties of English. A Typological Approach. Cambridge University Press.
Zanuttini, R. & L. R. Horn (eds.). 2014. Micro-syntactic variation in North American English, of Oxford Studies in Comparative Syntax. Oxford: Oxford University Press,

Aldizkariak

American Speech A Quarterly of Linguistic Usage, Tuscaloosa, AL, 1925/26–
Anthropological Linguistics, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 1959–
Canadian Journal of Linguistics / La Revue Canadienne de Linguistique, Toronto, 1954/5–
English Studies, A Journal of English Language and Literature, Lisse, 1919–
English Today, The International Review of the English Language, Cambridge, 1985–
English World-Wid, A Journal of Varieties of English, Amsterdam, 1980–
International Journal of the Sociology of Language, Berlin, 1974–
Journal of English Linguistics, Athens, GA, 1967–
Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages, Amsterdam
Journal of Sociolinguistics, Oxford, 1997–
Language Variation and Change, Cambridge, 1989–
World Englishes, Oxford, 1981–

Web helbideak

https://www.uni-due.de/SVE/
http://ewave-atlas.org/
http://ic-migration.webhost.uits.arizona.edu/icfiles/ic/lsp/site/
https://www.uni-due.de/IERC/index.html
http://wanda.uef.fi/ecc/publications/welsh_english.htm
http://microsyntax.sites.yale.edu/
http://whitney.ling.yale.edu/~zanuttini/Appalachian%20project/index.html

Do you speak American? https://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarieties/

AAVE: African American Vernacular English https://linguistlist.org/topics/ebonics/
Language privilege: https://linguisticpulse.com/2013/06/26/language-privilege-what-it-is-and-why-it-matters/


Kortmann, Bernd & Lunkenheimer, Kerstin (eds.) 2013. The Electronic World Atlas of Varieties of English. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. (Available online at http://ewave-atlas.org)