Most of my current course materials are available on University of Pittsburgh's courseweb site. If you do not have a password, you will be able to browse some, but not all, of the materials.
In this graduate seminar in Women’s Studies, we explored a
number of approaches and topics associated with masculinity.
Download
the syllabus
(pdf).
Students learn how social gender is influnced by and performed
through language. After considering the nature of both language and
gender seperately, students learn how how grammars are gendered,
followed by a unit on how intonation relates to social gender
practices and ideologies. We then consider differences in how men and
women use language, both their pronunciation and in specific
interactions. Finally, we consider some special topics such as
sexuality, race, and socialization. Throughout the course, students
use their own experiences as data with which to test patterns and
explanations found in class.
Download a recent syllabus
(MS Word file).
This course provides an introduction to how languages, and
language use, are similar and different across cultures, and what
happens when people of different cultures attempt communication.
Although this is not a course which tries to teach you to
communicate with people of other cultures, you may find what you
learn here will help you to understand language use in cultures other
than your own, and maybe help you disentangle yourself from
misunderstandings.
Download a recent syllabus(pdf).
What kind of linguistic choices do people make, and why do they
make the choices they do? In this course, we will investigate the
social basis of language, and the linguistic basis of social life:
what happens when languages come into contact, how dialects form, how
and why language changes, and how and why different social groups
(age, gender, ethnicity, class) speak differently. We will also
consider how people manage to carry on fluent, competent
conversations, and how they convey their social relationships with
their interlocutors in those conversations. Finally, we will explore
how our knowledge of these issues is put to practical use.
Download
a recent syllabus (MS Word file).
Students in this graduate-level course investigate the social
basis of language, and the linguistic basis of social life: what
happens when languages come into contact, how and why language
changes, and how and why different social groups (age, gender,
ethnicity, class) speak differently. Students also learn how people
manage to carry on fluent, competent conversations, and how they
convey their social relationships with their interlocutors in those
conversations.
Download a recent syllabus
(MS Word file).
Students learn how to explain how human discourses (real interactions or texts) are patterned, and why. Students record a discourse and analyze it from several perspectives. We will explore the linguistic structuring of discourses, the social and psychological functions of discourse structures, and we will apply this knowledge to particular fields or types of discourse.