CO203: Introduction to the Application of Language Studies

About this class

In this class, we'll look at the way linguistics (the scientific study of language) can be applied to a wide range of real-world situations. I hope that by the end of this class, you'll see how a knowledge languages and linguistics can be useful to people working in almost any field, and I hope that you'll be encouraged to take more language and linguistics classes at SILS.

Grading Criteria

Your grade for this class will be based on the following:

15% Attendance and class participation (including quizzes)
40% Homework assignments (20% each)
20% Midterm exam
25% Final exam

Links to Course Information

Power Points from Lectures and Quiz Answers will be posted on Course N@vi each week. You can use them to review the class and study for the exams
Samples of past exams (The exams this semester will be similar, but not identical.)
- Mid-term from Spring 2005 (Word document)
- Final Exam from Spring 2004 (Word document)

Information and Links for Homework Assignments

Format for Writing Linguistic Examples in Languages other than English (MS Word file)
Information on Writing References Use this when writing your homework assignments. These guidelines will also be helpful for your other classes at SILS.
- Basic Examples for English
- Basic Examples for Non-English Sources
- Knight Cite Bibliography Creation Tool This will help you to write your references. If you use examples from a TV show or Movie, be sure to use this to find the format for writing your reference.
- Diana Hacker's Web Site on References
- It might also be helpful to look at this guide to Finding, Evaluating, and Referring to On-Line Sources
On-line Dictionaries of Linguistics Use these to help with the reading assignments.
- Glossary of Linguistic Terms from the Summer Institute of Linguistics
- Lexicon of Linguistics at Utrecht University.
- The Linguistics Definition Page by Kickapoo High School. This page has a lot of basic definitions.
- Glossary of Translation and Interpretation Terminology provided by Trans-k, a company that specializes in German to English translation services.

Links for Linguistics and Language Issues

PC (Politically Correct) Language
- American Indian versus Native American Which is better term to use? Which term do American Indians/Native Americans prefer? Find out here.
- Wikipedia article on Political Correctness
- Wikipedia article on the term "deaf" in contrast to "hearing-impaired?h
- Humor about PC Language At the end of the article, there is a list of suggested new terms; some are ones that are actually widely used, like "firefighter" instead of "fireman", but others are just silly, like "comb free" for "bald".
Bilingual Education
- Katoh Gakuen A Bilingual Immersion School in Japan
Okinawan Language
- An article in English about Okinawan language
- A Japanese web site about Okinawan, which includes some sound files of spoken Okinawan.
- An article in Japanese about Okinawan language
Varieties of English
- International Corpus of English Click on "Sound Files", and you can hear examples of many different English accents.
- Wikipedia article about English- Along the right side of the page, there are links to many different varieties of English.
- A list of obsolete English words
- A list of archaic English words
Personal Names in Japan
- The kanji which can be used in personal names in Japan,including the 588 kanji which the government proposed adding in 2004.
- The new 488 kanji which were actually approved.

Fun Links about Language

Language Learner's Mistakes
- Engrish.com Shows strange and sometimes embarrassing mistakes in English found around the world, including many from Japan.
- Funny Japanese in Hawaii
- Nihonkongo Funny Japanese in China.
Native Speakers' Mistakes
- Kiss This Guy: Archive of Misheard Lyrics. The name of this web site is from the lyrics of of a song by Jimi Hendrix. When he was singing, "Excuse me while I kiss the sky," many people heard it as "Excuse me while I kiss this guy". This site lists lots of English song lyrics that people have misheard. You can view them by song or by artist.
Crazy Kanji Tattoos! In many western countries, it is fashionable to get tatoos with Chinese characters. However, most of the tatoo artists don't know Chinese or Japanese, and the results are really crazy tattoos. The Hanzi Smatter blog has many, many examples, with photos
For word lovers: New words and slang
- McMansions
  - Newsweek article
  - McMansion Invasion
- The Word Spy site is about new and strange words in English. Includes McMansion and McTheater.
- Slang in the U.K.