Lingua e traduzione inglese II/M 2011-2012 Dominic Stewart
Contact me at: [email protected]
Check for posts and changes to my office hours at: http://docenti.unimc.it/docenti/dominic-stewart
Lingua e Traduzione Inglese II/M consists of:
- Module A (15 hours, first semester) - Module B (15 hours, second semester)
- The lettorato / esercitazioni linguistiche (annual). For information about the lettorato you should speak to Claire Hiscock and Sally Ashenhurst.
Module A: Regional varieties of English through animated film (15 hours, first semester) This module will focus on popular animated pictures from a sociolinguistic point of view. Particular focus will be given to the phonological and sociological differences between Standard American English and Standard British English, as well as between standard and non-standard varieties.
The films analysed will be The Lion King, The Aristocats, Beauty and the Beast, Dinosaur and, time permitting, Shrek.
Obligatory reading (photopies in the copy shop)
Giroux, H.A. The Mouse that Roared. Disney and the end of innocence. pp.102-109.
Gooding-Williams, R. ‘Disney in Africa and the inner city’: on race and space in The Lion King’. In Social Identities 1:2, 373-379.
Pandey, A. ‘“Scatterbrained apes” and “mangy fools”: lexicalisations of ideology in children’s animated movies’.
http://www.utpjournals.com/jour.ihtml?lp=simile/issue3/pandeyfulltext.html
Extra reading (not in the copy shop)
Trudgill, P. and Hannah, J. 2002. International English: a guide to the varieties of standard English. Arnold: London.
Ostman, R.E. (1996) ‘Disney and its conservative critics: images versus realities’. Journal of popular film and television, 24: 82-89
Modulo B: Typical word environment: using electronic corpora as linguistic backdrop (15 hours, second semester)
The aim of this module is to examine the typical lexical and grammatical environment of selected words and expressions. It is argued that collocation and co-occurrence are major hurdles in the acquisition of foreign languages, in part because they are so often outside the remit of dictionaries.
It is claimed that an efficient use of electronic archives and corpora can provide important help in offsetting such difficulties. A further focus of interest will be the way texts can consign meanings which are concealed or at least not immediately apparent. Text excerpts will be drawn from a broad range of text types.
Obligatory reading (photopies will be provided at the beginning of the module)
- Louw, B. 1993. ‘Irony in the text or insincerity in the writer? The diagnostic potential of semantic prosodies’. In Baker, M., Francis, G. and Tognini-Bonelli, E. Text and Technology, In Honour of John Sinclair. John Benjamins: Amsterdam / Philadelphia, pp.157-176.
- Sinclair, J. 1996. ‘The search for units of meaning’. Textus 9: 75-106.
Assessment of Lingua e Traduzione Inglese II/M
- Language exam / accertamento linguistico (written, 50% of total mark)
This corresponds to the lettorato taught by Sally Ashenhurst and Claire Hiscock.
- Regional varieties exam (Module A: oral, 25% of total mark)
This comprises the reading and translation of an excerpt from one of the films analysed, plus a discussion of the distribution of regional accents in those films.
- Word environment exam (Module B: 25% of total mark)
This will test your ability to investigate the collocation and co-occurrence of selected words and expressions in English.
Non-attending students
Non-attending students (those who attend less than 50% of the lessons) of Modules A and B are required to take all parts of the corresponding exams, and in addition are required to prepare texts on (i) regional accents and (ii) corpus linguistics, to be agreed with Prof. Stewart.
