Bilingualism
seminar for 2nd through 5th year students
Instructor: Dr. Anna Fenyvesi
Prerequisite: Introduction to sociolinguistics
Course description:
The aim of the course is to give an overview of the most important aspects of bilingualism as a societal and individual phenomenon from a variety of points of view: those of sociolinguistics, the sociology of language, language contact, language acquisition, and psycholinguistics. Class sessions will focus on aspects of bilingualism regardless of the languages in question, but, wherever possible, a greater emphasis will be placed on discussing bilingual situations involving English or Hungarian.
Homework assignments should be handed in typed.
Requirements:
4 homework assignments (15% each; total of 60%)
final exam (40%)
Required readings:
- Grosjean, François. 1982. Life with two languages: An introduction to bilingualism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
- Grosjean, François. 1997. Processing mixed language: Issues, findings and models. In: A.M. de Groot & J. F. Kroll, eds. Tutorials in bilingualism. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 225-254.
Suggested supplementary readings:
- Harding, Edith, & Philip Riley. 1986. The bilingual family: A handbook for parents. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Milroy, Lesley, & Pieter Muysken, eds. 1995. One speaker, two languages: Cross-disciplinary perspectives on code-switching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Romaine, Suzanne. 1989. Bilingualism. Oxford: Blackwell.
- Vázsonyi, Endre & Miklós Kontra. 1995. Túl a Kecegárdán: Calumet-vidéki amerikai magyar szótár. Budapest: Teleki László Alapítvány.
Grading:
- 89 - 100%: excellent (5)
- 76 - 88%: good (4)
- 63 - 75%: average (3)
- 51 - 62%: pass (2)
- 0 - 50%: fail (1)
Schedule:
- Week 1: Overview - Homework 1: Report on linguistic minorities in Hungary; 3-4 pages
- Week 2: Bilingualism in the world - Reading: Grosjean Chapter 1
- Week 3: Language choice in bilingualism - Reading: Grosjean Chapter 3, pp. 113-145 - Homework 2: Interview with a bilingual; 2-3 pages
- Week 4: Codeswitching - Reading: Grosjean Chapter 3, pp. 145-166
- Week 5: Bilingual language acquisition - Reading: Grosjean Chapter 4, pp. 167-198
- Week 6: Aspects of bilingualism in the child - Reading: Grosjean Chapter 4, pp. 199-227 - Homework 3: Interview with parent of a bilingual child; 2-3 pages
- Week 7: The psycholinguistics of bilingualism - Reading: Grosjean Chapter 5, pp. 228-257
- Week 8: Bilingual processing: Language modes - Reading: Grosjean's Processing mixed language
- Week 9: The bilingual as a person - Reading: Grosjean Chapter 5, pp. 258-288 - Homework 4: Kecegárda analysis; 3-5 pages
- Week 10: Bilingual speech and language - Reading: Grosjean Chapter 6
- Week 11: Final Exam
- Week 12: Conclusion
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