Lisa Minnick

ENGL 3710

Credit hours: 4

Course title: Structure of Modern English

How frequently taught : Fall and spring.

When taught, number of sections offered: One section

Course Instructor(s): Paul Johnston

Brief description of course content/focus: see Paul Johnston for course description.

ENGL 3720

Credit hours: 4

Course title: Development of Modern English

How frequently taught: Fall and spring.

When taught, number of sections offered: One section

Course Instructor(s): Alternates between Paul Johnston and Lisa Minnick

Brief description of course content/focus: Linguistic and social history of the English language.

ENGL 4720

Credit hours: 4

Course title: American Dialects (course title changing to Language Variation in American English)

How frequently taught: Fall, spring, and summer 1.

When taught, number of sections offered: Two sections every fall and spring, one section summer 1.

Course Instructor(s): Paul Johnston and Lisa Minnick

Brief description of course content/focus: Study of regional and social varieties of American English from sociolinguistic perspectives, focusing on the forces that influence different types of language variation. Examines issues of linguistic bias and offers a multi-cultural perspective on the role of language in daily life.

ENGL 5220

Credit hours: 3

Course title: Studies in American Literature. Special topic: The Language of American Lit

How frequently taught: Occasionally

When taught, number of sections offered: 1 section

Course Instructor(s): Lisa Minnick

Brief description of course content/focus: Considers the relationships between linguistics and literature, exploring particularly the functions and effects of literary dialect and other literary-linguistic strategies as deployed in American literature. Explore the ways that literature can add to knowledge about linguistic variation, language attitudes, and language change among real speakers, as well as how a linguistic-analysis approach can open works of literature to new levels of interpretation.

ENGL 5970

Credit hours: 3

Course title: Studies in English. Special topic: Politics and the English Language

How frequently taught: New for Spring 2008

When taught, number of sections offered: 1 section

Course Instructor(s): Lisa Minnick

Brief description of course content/focus: Focuses on linguistic authority and social organization, covering language policy issues such as 'English-only' and 'official language' legislation, as well as linguistic prescriptivism and ideas about standardness. Also considers language attitudes and the ways that language can be implicated in ideologies about race, class, gender, and sexuality.

ENGL 6720

Credit hours: 3

Course title: Language, Dialect, and Sociolinguistics

How frequently taught: Approximately every two years.

When taught, number of sections offered: 1 section

Course Instructor(s): most recently taught by Paul Johnston; may also be taught by Lisa Minnick

Brief description of course content/focus: (see Paul Johnston for course description)