Note: This is a draft syllabus. Readings and content are subject to change. Syllabus: of Computer-Mediated Communication LING 79300/SPAN 80100

Fall 2020 City University of New York, Graduate Center Departments: and LAILAC Tuesdays, 4:15-6:15 p.m. Classroom: Instructors: Matt Garley [email protected] ​ Office hours: Tuesday 2:00-3:00 and by appointment, room 7210 Cece Cutler [email protected] ​ Office hours: Tuesday 3:00-4:00 and by appointment, room 7208

Course Description: This course examines recent quantitative and qualitative sociolinguistic research on use, attitudes, ideologies, and practices in computer-mediated communication (CMC) with a special focus on Spanish language data. It explores research on topics such as multilingualism, creative orthography, script choice, language play, stance-taking, expressions identity and other topics across various CMC platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, online fora, blogs, microblogs, YouTube, SMS/texting, WhatsApp, and Instagram. The course will provide students with the chance to collect a small corpus of data and analyze it using sociolinguistic methods and frameworks.

Learning Objectives: Students in the course will... 1. Gain an appreciation of emerging trends in the sociolinguistic study of language in computer mediated communication. 2. Learn basic techniques for gathering a corpus of data from various online platforms (e.g. Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, etc.) 3. Identify relevant units of analysis in the corpus and gain familiarity with a range of pertinent frameworks for analyzing the data. 4. Identify implications of findings for the field of sociolinguistics and connect findings to larger social, economic, and political trends.

Required texts: Course readings are listed in the course schedule and will be provided by the instructors.

Course Technologies: ● CUNY Commons: The course website (including this syllabus) and blog posts will be available through CUNY Academic Commons. ● Blackboard: Blackboard will host a link to this syllabus and formal research assignments will be submitted to Blackboard. Grades and instructor feedback will also be available on Blackboard. ● Note: Google Drive/OneDrive may be used for assignment submission and feedback per instructor request.

Blog / Discussion sign-up sheet: Link will be provided at the beginning of the course. Breakdown of grading (assignment descriptions below): ​ 10% Contribution to class discussions and in-class participation 10% Blog entry (500 words) 10% Discussion leader: Lead class discussion on the readings assigned for one week and prepare a handout of up to 3 pages. 10% Research proposal with literature review (ca. 3 pages) for your research paper (due Nov. 6). 10% Brief presentation of your research paper data (10 minutes) either on Dec. 6 or Dec. 12 50% Research paper (ca. 15+ pages) on some data you have gathered (Due Dec. 12)

Brief description of assignments:

Blog entry: Students will be responsible for writing a blog entry on the course’s CUNY Commons site of about 500 words. Students will select one of the weekly course topics on which they are not leading discussion, and comment on the readings for that week in a holistic way. Students are encouraged to bring in links and other content which address thematic, argumentative, and/or theoretical issues and themes in the articles assigned for a given week.

Discussion leader and handout: Once per semester, students will be responsible for preparing a discussion handout (no more than 3 pages) and leading the course discussion of the articles and course topic for a particular week. Discussions should be about 45-50 minutes long (including class and instructor participation). The discussion should include a brief summary (~5 min) of each article, followed by a discussion focused around several provocative questions (at least one per article, and one overarching question addressing all of the week’s articles). The handout should relate 3-5 key points of each article, a brief (1-2 sentence) critical evaluation, and contain the discussion questions (at least one per article and at least one overarching question).For guidance on leading a good discussion see http://uvic470ecology.weebly.com/uploads/1/2/4/4/12445281/470_howtoleaddiscussi on.pdf. Depending on course enrollment, this may be done with a partner. ​

Research proposal with literature review (3-4 pages): This document should outline the topic and research question(s) of your proposed research project (~1 page), contain a literature review discussing at least four relevant sources (~1-2 pages), and outline your proposed methods for data collection and analysis with reference to the methods and theories we have discussed in the course. (~1 page).

Research paper: The course will culminate in a research project analyzing computer-mediated communication data through a sociolinguistic lens. Topics will be proposed by the students and approved by the instructors. The research project will constitute a research paper of 12-15 pages and an accompanying presentation with slides. Students will be responsible for identifying research questions of interest, and investigating those questions through the sociolinguistic analysis of linguistic data. The research project should include an introduction, a review of relevant literature, an overview of methodology and/or theoretical orientation, an analysis, and a discussion/conclusions section. The research paper assignment grade includes the on-time submission of a topic and research question, submission of a draft for instructor (and possibly also peer) feedback, and submission of the final research paper. Students will present their research in the last two course meetings (including the final examination week meeting), using a visual presentation aid (e.g. Powerpoint or Google Slides presentation).

Schedule (Readings pertaining to Spanish or Portuguese language and/or culture are ​ shaded for your reference): ​ DATE THEME ASSIGNED READINGS (subject to revision)

1-Sep Course introduction

7-Sep NO CLASS: Labor Day (observed)

13-Sep Development of the Baron, N. S. (1984). Computer mediated communication as a study of CMC: An force in language change. Visible Language 18.2, 118 ​ ​ overview Androutsopoulos, J. (2006). Introduction: Sociolinguistics and computer-mediated communication. Journal of ​ Sociolinguistics 10.4, 419-438. ​ Herring, S. C. (2018). The co-evolution of computer-mediated communication and computer-mediated . In P. Bou-Franch & P. Garcés-Conejos Blitvich (Eds.), Analysing digital discourse: New insights and ​ future directions, 25-67 ​ 19-Sep Methods for Deumert, A. (2015). Chapter 1: Media Sociolinguistics. analyzing language Sociolinguistics and Mobile Communication. ​ and communication Bolander, B., & Locher, M. A. (2014). Doing sociolinguistic online: Old research on computer-mediated data: A review of four frameworks or methodological issues. Discourse, Context & Media, 3, ​ ​ ​ ​ new? 14-26. Androutsopoulos, I. (2013). 14 Online Data Collection. In Mallinson et al. (eds.) Data collection in sociolinguistics: ​ ​ Methods and applications. 236-250. ​ 25-Sep NO CLASS: Classes follow a Monday schedule

1-Oct Doing ethnography Androutsopoulos, J. (2008). Potentials and limitations of online: discourse-centred online ethnography. Ethnographic Language@Internet 5 methods for CMC Lopez-Rocha, S. (2010). Nethnography in context: research Methodological and practical implications of virtual ethnography. International Journal of Interdisciplinary ​ Social Sciences 5.4, 291-301. ​ 7-Oct Digital Orality: How Androutsopoulos, J. (2013). Participatory culture and CMC approximates metalinguistic discourse: Performing and negotiating F2F communication German on YouTube. Discourse, 2, 47-71. Cutler, Cecelia. "“Ets jast ma booooooooooooo”: Social meanings of Scottish accents on YouTube." English in Computer-Mediated Communication: Variation, Representation, and Change 93 (2016): 69.

13-Oct Orthography, CMC, Sebba, M. (2007). Chapter 2: Orthography as social practice. and enregisterment Spelling and Society, 26-57. ​ Sebba, M. (2007). Chapter 5: Between language and : orthography in unstandardised and standardising vernaculars. Spelling and Society, 102-131. ​ ​ Squires, L. (2010). Enregistering internet language. Language ​ in Society 39.4, 457-492. ​ Ilbury, C. (2019). “Sassy Queens”: Stylistic orthographic variation in Twitter and the enregisterment of AAVE Journal of Sociolinguistics 24.2, 245-264. ​ 19-Oct Multimodality - Kress, G. (2013). Multimodal discourse analysis. In The ​ analyzing semiosis Routledge handbook of discourse analysis (pp. 61-76). ​ in digital spaces Routledge. Spitzmüller, J. (2015). Graphic variation and graphic ideologies: A metapragmatic approach. Social semiotics, 25(2), 126-141. Van Leeuwen, T. (2006). Towards a semiotics of typography. Information design journal, 14(2), 139-155.

25-Oct Language attitudes, De Fina, A. (2016). Storytelling and audience reactions in language ideologies, social media. Language in Society 45, 473-498. ​ ​ and participation Lee, W. & Su, H. (2019). ‘You are in Taiwan, speak Chinese’: online Identity, language ideology, and sociolinguistic scales in online interaction. Discourse, Context, and Media 32

31-Oct Identity, Rosa, J., & Flores, N. (2017). Unsettling race and language: raciolinguistics, Toward a raciolinguistic perspective. Language in Society, transracialization, 46(5), 621-647. and language Flanagan dissertation chapter 5 (TBA) learning (potential Christiansen, M. S. (2019). “Listisimo para los# XVdeRubi:” guest speaker) Constructing a chronotope as a shared imagined experience in Twitter to enact Mexicanness outside of Mexico. Lingua, 225, 1-15. ​ ​ ​ ​ Subtirelu, N. C. (2017). Raciolinguistic ideology and Spanish-English bilingualism on the US labor market: An analysis of online job advertisements. Language in ​ Society, 46(4), 477-505. ​ ​ ​

6-Nov Gender and Perez Sabater, C. Linguistic accomodation in online Computer-Mediated communication: The role of language and gender. Revista signos. Estudios de Linguistica 50(94) 265-286. ​ Discourse (potential Bamman, D, Eisenstein, J., and Schnoebelen, T. (2014). guest speaker) Gender identity and lexical variation in social media. Journal of Sociolinguistics 18.2, 135-160. ​ Zimman, L. & Hayworth, W. (2020). How we got here: Short-scale change in identity labels for trans, cis, and non-binary people in the 2000s. Proceedings of the ​ Linguistic Society of America 5.1, 499-513. ​ Morikawa, N. (2019). #YesAllWomen’s language: Women’s style shifting in feminist discourse on Twitter. Discourse, Context, and Media 28, 112-120.

12-Nov Neoliberalism, Deumert, A. (2014), Chapter 3. Sociolinguistics and Mobile ​ Materiality and the Communication. political economy Del Percio, A., Flubacher, M. C., & Duchêne, A. (2017). online Language and political economy. The Oxford handbook ​ of language and society, 55-75. ​ Alvarado Pavez, G. E. (2020). Glotopolítica de la Desigualdad: Ideologías del Mapudungun y el Español en Chile (2009–2019).

18-Nov Politicians and Ahmar dissertation chapter - TBA political discourse Pinero-Pinero, G. (2017). A matrix of cognitive domains at the in political spaces service of the metaphoric delegitimisation of politicians. (potential guest Discourse, Context & Media, 18, 20-30. ​ ​ ​ speaker) Reading TBA

24-Nov Multilingualism, Røyneland, U., & Cutler, C. (2018). Multilingualism in the codemeshing, and Digital Sphere: The Diverse Practices of Youth Online. translanguaging Pérez-Sabater, C., & Moffo, G. M. (2019). Managing identity in ​ online football communities on Facebook: Language preference and language mixing strategies. Lingua, 225, 32-49. ​ ​ Garley, M. (2019). Choutouts: Language contact and US-Latin hip hop on YouTube. Lengua y Migracion 11.2, 77-107. ​ ​ Spilioti, T. (2019). The weirding of English, trans-scripting, and humour in digital communication. World Englishes ​ 39.1, 106-118.

30-Nov Populism Readings TBA (possible guest speaker)

6-Dec Research presentations

12-Dec Research presentations

Classroom Policies:

Information for Students with Disabilities

It is Graduate Center and CUNY policy to provide appropriate accommodations to students with disabilities. Any student with a disability who may need accommodations in this class is advised to speak directly to the manager of Student Disability Services, located in Student Affairs, room 7301, or call 212-817-7400 as early in the semester as possible. All discussions will remain confidential. https://www.gc.cuny.edu/Prospective-Current-Students/Current-Students/Disability-Services

Academic Integrity Policy

A violation of academic integrity is any instance when a student attempts to pass off someone else’s words or ideas as their own, no matter where they obtained those words or ideas, and no matter where these ideas are presented.

Please consult the CUNY policy on academic integrity at: https://www2.cuny.edu/about/administration/offices/legal-affairs/policies-procedures/acade mic-integrity-policy/

INC Grade Policy

Grades of incomplete (INC) will only be granted at the instructors’ discretion, and are not guaranteed to be granted. The grade of INC becomes permanent after one year, and cannot be changed to a letter grade after a student has been advanced to candidacy and has been moved to level 3. See the Graduate Center policy here: https://www.gc.cuny.edu/About-the-GC/Governance,-Policies,-Procedures/Detail?id=4335

Classroom Civility and Rules of Engagement

One of our chief concerns as instructors is to establish an environment of academic freedom in the classroom that fosters students’ personal and intellectual development. In order to do this, I support the rights of all students, faculty and staff to explore new ideas and to express their views. A necessary condition for this environment is an acceptance of the spirit of inquiry and a respect for diverse ideas and viewpoints. For true academic freedom to exist, this acceptance and respect must guide interactions in the classroom.

While the principle of academic freedom protects the expression and exploration of new ideas, it does not protect conduct that is unlawful and disruptive. There is a high standard for the students in terms of mutual respect and civility. While each member of the community holds a number of rights, privileges and responsibilities, those individuals who disrespect the rights of others or who act in a way that discredit others violate the openness and the freedom of others in the classroom. As members of an academic community, we are obligated to be exemplary, both in our behaviors and in our attitudes. This obligation is especially important within the classroom context since this is one of the primary ways that learning and growth are fostered.

Expectations for Classroom Comportment

Learning and the exchange of ideas may take place in many settings, including the formal classroom, CUNY Commons, student blogs, social media and email. When students and faculty come together, the expectation is always that mutual respect and civility will prevail to ensure that every student has the optimum opportunity to learn and that each faculty member has the best opportunity to teach. Disruptions of any kind affect the atmosphere of civility that is expected and interfere with the opportunity for learning and growth to which both faculty and students are entitled.

Differences of opinions or concerns related to the class should be welcomed if presented in a mutually respectful manner. The challenging of viewpoints is part of the academic experience, but should occur in a manner that opens up dialogue and does not threaten any member of the learning community.

The instructor is responsible for the classroom environment, which includes creating a setting for the safe and open exchange of ideas by all students. Each student is responsible for ensuring that his or her own behavior promotes these goals. Disruption of the learning process will not be tolerated and may lead to disenrollment or disciplinary action, as outlined in the accompanying procedures.

Procedures Related to Disruptive Classroom Behavior

The instructor has the professional responsibility and authority to maintain order in instructional settings, which includes but is not limited to classrooms, libraries, group meetings, office hours, email and the CUNY Commons course blog. To assure the best presentation of the course material, the course instructor shall determine the manner and times during which students may ask questions, request clarification or express opinions or points of view in the instructional setting.

Student behavior or speech that disrupts the instructional setting or is clearly disrespectful of the instructor or fellow students will not be tolerated. Disruptive conduct may include, but is not limited to:

● rude or disrespectful behavior, e.g. insulting, scoffing at or belittling others (See Deborah Cameron’s blog for a good overview: https://debuk.wordpress.com/2016/08/22/familiarity-and-contempt/) ​ ● demeaning forms of address; vulgar or obscene language, slurs or other forms of intimidation

● unwarranted interruptions

● failure to adhere to instructor's directions

● physically or verbally abusive behavior

We will keep careful written records regarding any incident of disruptive behavior, including dates, times, names of those present, and details of the incident. Students are strongly encouraged to contact the instructor concerning any such incidents for a timely resolution. The instructor will inform the department Executive Officer and the Dean of Students of any such incidents and provide written documentation, if requested. The parties involved, in conjunction with the Executive Officer and Dean of Students staff will meet to formulate an acceptable solution or mediate appropriate intervention strategies. Please see us about patterns in the classroom or in online interactions that are troubling or that may be impeding full engagement by you or others. Share your concerns with with your department chair (Linguistics: Gita Martohardjono, [email protected]; LAILAC: Fernando Degiovanni, [email protected]), as well as your academic advisor.