Course Info: CS-0223

CourseCS-0223 Foreign accent
Long TitleForeign accent
Term2017F
Note(s) Satisfies Distribution
Textbook information
Meeting InfoR.W. Kern Center 202 on M,W from 2:30-3:50
FacultyDaniel Altshuler
Capacity25
Available7
Waitlist0
Distribution(s) Mind, Brain, and Information
Cumulative Skill(s)Writing and Research
Quantitative Skills
Multiple Cultural Perspectives
Additional InfoIn this course, students are expected to spend at least six to eight hours a week of preparation and work outside of class time. This time includes reading, writing, research.
Description

When you meet an individual for the first time, you are immediately confronted with their accent. This often leads to questions like “Where are you from?” as well as ethnic and racial profiling (often not conscious), which can lead to othering or solidarity. Despite the fact that we are constantly in contact with foreign accents and speak in a way that is foreign to others, we rarely ask how particular accents come about and why we are so drawn to them. Many can and want to simulate a British accent or that of a Russian spy, and many simulate accents without even knowing it, e.g., when singing along to a Tupac track or reciting lines from "The Wire." How do we do it? What are the implications? The aim of this course was to elucidate these questions through the study of linguistic theory, which can predict – in a systematic way – how a given person would pronounce an expression in a language that is foreign to them. Linguistic theory can also explain why sounds in a language change over time and vary across social situations by correlating complex linguistic patterns with social structures.