The course will consist of lectures (for all participants) in the first period with associated tutorials (2 groups) in the second period.

The aim is to learn to read theoretical texts, some of which are highly
complex, and discover their line of argumentation. An important part of the
effort is to become aware of the historical dialogue in which the theories
are engaged, and to understand how one might take part in it.

The course will touch on the fields of New Criticism, structuralism, Marxism,
psychoanalysis, feminism, poststructuralism, deconstruction, the New
Historicism, cultural materialism, postcolonial and queer theory, as well as
recent developments in ecocriticism and cognitive poetics.

Each student is expected to purchase Hans Bertens: Literary Theory: The
Basics (3rd ed., 2014; available at the university bookstore), which will
provide preliminary reading for each lecture.

In the tutorials, students will work in teams to apply the methods learned
to literary texts and see how readings change according to theoretical
position, broadening one's view of the text. Assessment will be based on
class participation and a process learning diary.

NB: Unfortunately the electronic course enrolment system does not allow us to run long enrolment periods. Thus, we have had to fool around with it a bit. The enrolment period for seminars will be from 9th May to 28th August, however, the system will at first indicate it as 9th May to 30th May. The enrolment period will be manually extended to 28th August at the end of May.

As a side effect of the aforementioned fooling around the start date for teaching will initially be displayed for June, however, teaching starts in September as it usually does.

Another side effet is that if you enrol after the initial 9.5.-30.5. enrolment period you will need to first enrol into the university for 2014-2015.

We apologize for any confusion caused by this arrangement.

Description of Professor Klemola's seminar (group 2)

Linguistics, especially language variation and change

My seminar is open for students interested in all kinds of linguistics topics. However, I would recommend the seminar especially for those students who are interested in corpus-based studies of variation and change in English. Possible seminar (and pro gradu) projects may focus, for example, on grammatical variation in regional varieties of English. The study of regional variation in English is facilitated by the recent International Corpus of English (ICE) family of corpora, which provide an easy access to a wide range of varieties of English from all over the English-speaking world.

The main task during the autumn term will be to write and present a research proposal (five to ten pages). In addition, each student will be expected to draft—in consultation with me—a personal study and research plan for the whole academic year. We will also focus on practical questions linked with writing a thesis, look at some examples of recent gradus completed in the English department, and read a number of articles linked with the topics you are working on.

During the spring term, each student will write a seminar paper (20+ pages), to be presented and discussed in the group. Ideally, the seminar paper will function as the first draft of your pro gradu thesis.

Description of Professor Pahta's seminar (group 3)

language in context, genre and discourse studies, applied linguistics

This seminar is primarily for students who are interested in analysing language in context, i.e. in relation to language-external factors. Their interests can relate, for example, to social or situational varieties of English, English as a global language, bi- and multilingualism, computer-mediated communication, or language use in the history of English. Students keen on topics in language learning and teaching are also welcome.

The seminar offers practical advice, guidance and support during the process of planning and writing the thesis, addressing each step in the research process. As working methods we will use collaborative group work, including discussions of relevant reading and the students' own projects, and a course diary.

During the first term, students are expected to produce a research proposal, specifying the main elements of their pro gradu thesis, to present it to the seminar group, and to start working on their thesis. In the second term, students continue to work on their thesis.

The aim during the seminar is to produce at least 3-4 draft chapters of the thesis, serving as “the seminar paper”, but it is highly recommended to try and finish at least a draft version of the entire thesis in the seminar. Towards the end of the seminar year, each student’s thesis draft is discussed in class.

To apply for a place, please act as instructed. If you want to start reading during the summer, please send an email to me as soon as possible to set up an appointment (paivi . pahta  @  uta . fi).

Description of Professor Rudanko's seminar (group 5)

Corpus-Based Approaches of Variation and Change in Recent English

During the coming academic year 2014/2015 I am planning to offer the following MA seminar (“pro gradu” thesis seminar): "Corpus-Based Studies of Variation and Change in English Complementation." The seminar is for corpus-based projects in complementation and grammar, with the focus on recent and current English. Projects may for instance focus on the grammar of an item (perhaps a suitable verb or adjective) or a construction as it has evolved from the eighteenth or nineteenth century to the present, either in British English or in American English (or both if appropriate). A large number of projects of this type have been successfully completed in the last few years, but there are still other good projects available.

               New electronic corpora, in addition to the BNC, have become available recently, making this an exciting area for thesis projects. For the study of complementation it is generally fairly easy to collect data from electronic corpora. I will help participants to devise suitable search strings for collecting data.

               Participants are expected to attend regularly and to write a proposal (at least five to ten pages) in the autumn, and a seminar paper (some twenty pages or more) in the spring. Longer contributions are very welcome in both terms. The purpose of the seminar is to help each participant to develop his/her project into a pro gradu thesis. It is not a requirement for participants to write a complete thesis in the course of the seminar, but this is the ideal outcome, and a number of participants have achieved it in recent years. This has been a source of satisfaction to them and to me.

               The seminar is planned for Wednesday evenings, from 6:05 to 7:35 p.m., seven meetings each term.

               To apply for a place, please act as instructed. Those who have already been in touch with me this spring, please also go through the formal application process. If I can help, my email address is: juhani.rudanko@uta.fi.

Juhani Rudanko

The course looks into the major socio-historical developments in the English-speaking world between the Restoration and mid-19th century, and the ways in which the English language and the attitudes towards it changed. Through introductory mini-lectures and homework reading assignments to be discussed in groups in class, we will examine the major historical events which shaped the British Empire, the rising trends in the writing of English grammars and dictionaries, and the ultimate spread of English around the world.

The course work will include weekly assignments including background reading and practical exercises examining the changes in English grammar and vocabulary through a number of electronic databases (e.g. The Oxford English Dictionary and different corpora of British and American English). The assessment will be based on an end-of-term exam and a final written course report.

The aim of the course is to give the participants an overall picture of the principles of the study of words. We shall begin by looking at the varieties of English (e.g. geographical, dialectal, social, formal, informal, slang, technical, pejorative) and how these are reflected on the level of vocabulary. The labelling of the different types of variety in dictionaries will also be discussed. After this, the course moves on to examine the main sources of English vocabulary (techniques of word-formation, foreign adoptions). Next, aspects of meaning will be addressed, including the ways in which the meanings of words change along dimensions such as gender (e.g. guy, certain articles of clothing) and pejoration (e.g. idiot, imbecile, moron). We shall finally discuss larger structures pertaining to the lexicon. These may be either paradigmatic relations (e.g. synonymy, polysemy, antonymy, lexical fields, lexical sets) or syntagmatic ones (e.g. collocations).

Course work includes regular attendance of the weekly sessions, homework assignments (practical exercises relating to various aspects of vocabulary), and an essay on a specific topic relating to the study of words.

The course explores selected clausal argument structure constructions in English, and the idea that they carry particular meanings as constructions. Constructions are viewed as “form-meaning correspondences that exist independently of particular verbs” and in this framework “constructions themselves carry meaning” (Adele Goldberg, 1995, Constructions, p. 1).

The course begins with an introduction to basic assumptions and principles in the study of sentential complementation, including the postulation of understood subjects. It then turns to the discussion of selected constructions in English involving sentential complements, with a focus on the matrix verbs selecting them and on the syntactic and semantic properties of the constructions. These include patterns with to infinitives and -ing complements, especially the types of I remembered to mail the letter and I remembered mailing the letter. Authentic data from electronic corpora, including the BNC and the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) are made use of in the course. The course is also meant to help participants with thesis projects in the area of the course.

The course is largely a lecture course, with a small number of homework assignments and readings. Course work includes regular attendance, class participation, a brief essay presented in class on an approved topic in the area of the course in the second half of the term, and a final exam.

The course aims at exposing some of the many roles that the city, as a specific source of human experience, has played in literature from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century. To some extent, the course also explores literature’s influence on how individual cities are seen and understood. Our analysis will make use of a number of viewpoints, some of them solidly rooted in socio-historical conditions and others more clearly based on metaphorical (or metonymical) approaches to the city. In addition to examining several stories set in well-known cities, we will take a look at urban studies as a field and find ways of using its perspectives in readings of literary texts.

During the last few weeks of the course, students will give presentations on a literary or cinematic text not included in course materials.

Assessment: class participation, a group presentation, and a course diary.

Note: If you have taken the Literary Landscapes course in or before 2013, there will be some overlap, as previously that course also touched upon city literature.

This course will address the question “What is Scottish Literature?” by examining the works of key authors from the Middle Ages to the present day to identify the social, historical, and cultural contexts and significant themes that have defined the Scottish literary canon. We will explore themes such as religion, duality, fantasy and the supernatural, language, and gender, and investigate the contributions of Scots, Gaelic, and Nordic cultures to identify the diverse influences that have shaped Scottish culture through the centuries. We will also discuss the theoretical controversies and social conflicts that have informed debate over the construction of the Scottish literary canon.

This course will examine the development of British drama from the late seventeenth and eighteenth-century. Studying a selection of plays from genres including comedy, tragedy, satire, and ballad-opera, and attending to changes in the staging conventions of the period, we will examine the historical and social contexts of the drama and look at the theatre as a site of political and social debate that engaged with topics such as gender and power, imperialism, British identity, and political corruption.

In this course we will trace the development of detective fiction from the end of the 19th century to the present. We will specifically examine how detective fiction represents and constructs gender, class and ethnicity. For example, we will analyse how Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective Sherlock Holmes protects the empire against foreign influence, and how African-American writers (e.g. Pauline Hopkins, Barbara Neely, Walter Mosley) discuss race and crime in their fictions. Further, we will examine how the feminist movement has influenced the field of crime writing – how it introduced new themes into the genre, such as child abuse, sexism, and racism.

Assessment: essay and class contribution.

This course reviews linguistic as well as various socio-cultural aspects of English as a global language, paying attention to both theory and practice. The course has three main aims. Firstly, it briefly outlines the development and characteristics of English as a global language – the variation, change and diversification of English in different regions, societies, communities and settings in the world – with specific emphasis on non-native-speaker contexts. Of particular interest here is the role and use of English in Finland. Secondly, the course provides a critical overview of issues around and debates on the impact of the spread of English in the world. Thirdly, it familiarizes students with a range of linguistic and discourse-pragmatic approaches to studying English as a global language, also providing suggestions and support for pro gradu research in this area. Course work includes weekly sessions, background reading, and a mini project, its oral presentation and written report.

This course will focus on the social aspects of language variation. The first half of the course will be devoted to a detailed discussion of some of the central issues in so-called Labovian sociolinguistics/microsociolinguistics. During the second half of the course the focus will be on a number of sociolinguistic topics including language and ethnicity, language, sex, and gender, language contact and language change.

A reading list will be provided at the beginning of the course.

Course work includes weekly sessions, background reading, oral presentation in the class, and a final essay.

New Zealand English is one of the world's youngest varieties of English. We discuss its origins and development, looking at theories of new dialect formation and the development of postcolonial Englishes in general, and get to know the defining characteristics of NZE at the levels of pronunciation, lexis, and grammar. Comparisons are made between NZE, its closest relative Australian English, and the parent variety, British English. Assessment is based on class participation, a presentation, and a final essay.

During this course, we will firstly examine stereotypes and representations of the Chinese and Chinese Americans in the United States. These stereotypes of the Chinese – and Asian Americans in general – range from the figure of the Yellow Peril to the Dragon Lady and the model minority. Secondly, we will read texts by Chinese American writers and analyze how they have responded to these white-produced stereotypes and how they have perceived such issues as ethnic origin, cultural heritage, gender and sexual identity. The texts examined include, for instance, stories by Sui Sin Far, Jade Snow Wong, Frank Chin, Maxine Hong Kingston and David Wong Louie as well as early Angel Island poems by Chinese immigrants.

This is an introductory survey course that will enable students to understand major research questions and goals in second language acquisition, the extent of current knowledge in this area of inquiry, and how we can view the same questions from different theoretical vantage points. Two of the central questions for discussion will be whether there is a critical period for the native-like acquisition of a second language and the extent to which second language grammars (including systematically occurring non-native errors in syntax, morphology, and phonology) can be directly attributed to the influence of the grammar of the learner's native language.

The course will consist of weekly instruction, weekly readings to be summarized orally by pairs of students, active participation in discussions, short data collection assignments, and a final exam.

The course considers the challenges that language variation poses for language teaching. It is specially designed for future professionals in language learning and teaching, and offers suggestions and support for pro gradu research in this area, but it is useful for any students interested in language variation. The course reviews some of the many dimensions along which a language can vary, such as mode and register (spoken and written language, formal and informal styles), domain (special languages), social class, gender (men's and women's language) and geographical region (Englishes), and the ways in which these dimensions are and can be taken into account in the classroom. The course includes lectures and discussions of different dimensions of language variation, background reading, and a small-scale project and its written report.

This course will provide insights into Gothic Fiction, ranging from the emergence of the mode – the late eighteenth-century England – to the present day. Besides examining historical, theoretical, and critical perspectives that have arisen in relation to this mode, we will examine the role of time in Gothic Fiction. Particular focus will be placed on how temporal motifs allude to alternative meanings and realities, discussing connections such as between monstrosity and ethnicity, or vampires and gender.

We will read theoretical and critical texts on the Gothic, as well as excerpts from Gothic short stories and novels, including Frankenstein, A Christmas Carol, and Dracula. In addition, we will be viewing Jim Jarmusch's film Only Lovers Left Alive (2013).

Assessment: class participation, group assignments, final essay of 2500 words OR a course diary

Basic Perl programming for (corpus) linguists

This intensive course is intended to lay the groundwork for students who want to become independent of standard corpus tools such as AntConc or Wordsmith in their analyses of large electronically stored texts (i.e. corpora). This will be achieved with the help of the programming language Perl (http://www.perl.org), if time permits in combination with a relational database tool such as MySQL (http://www.mysql.com). No previous programming experience is required; in fact, students who already know Perl (or a similar language such as Ruby or Python) will probably not benefit a lot from this course. Although I will be using English data to demonstrate the power of Perl scripting, students of other languages are explicitly invited to participate, as the strategies presented can easily be adapted to non-English data.

The course will run on the following dates:

• Wednesday, 1 October - Friday, 3 October
• Wednesday, 8 October & Thursday 9 October

We’ll start in the first session by writing a simple concordancing tool, which will be expanded as additional functionality of Perl is introduced in later sessions. A second project will be a set of scripts that automatically downloads data from the Internet and converts them to a format that is suitable for corpus analysis. In both cases, writing a script rather than having to rely on off-the-shelf tools empowers the user to be as flexible and specific as they wish – thereby potentially saving days, weeks or possibly even months of their time that would otherwise have to be spent on tedious manual work.

1.10. 12:00-13:00 Sign-up to external UNIX account, technical set-up, etc.
1.10. 13:00-15:00 Session 1
1.10. 15:00-17:00 Guided practice 1
1.10. 17:00-18:00 Individual support (if required)

2.10. 12:00-15:00 Session 2
2.10. 15:00-17:00 Guided practice 2
2.10. 17:00-18:00 Individual support (if required)

3.10. 09:00-12:00 Session 3

8.10. 13:00-15:00 Session 4
8.10. 15:00-17:00 Guided practice 4
8.10. 17:00-18:00 Individual support (if required)

9.10. 12:00-15:00 Session 5
9.10. 15:00-17:00 Guided practice 5
9.10. 17:00-18:00 Individual support (if required)

Participation would be essential for the actual sessions and strongly encouraged for guided practice (but not required).

The course will consist of lectures (for all participants) in the first period with associated tutorials (2 groups) in the second period.

The aim is to learn to read theoretical texts, some of which are highly
complex, and discover their line of argumentation. An important part of the
effort is to become aware of the historical dialogue in which the theories
are engaged, and to understand how one might take part in it.

The course will touch on the fields of New Criticism, structuralism, Marxism,
psychoanalysis, feminism, poststructuralism, deconstruction, the New
Historicism, cultural materialism, postcolonial and queer theory, as well as
recent developments in ecocriticism and cognitive poetics.

Each student is expected to purchase Hans Bertens: Literary Theory: The
Basics (3rd ed., 2014; available at the university bookstore), which will
provide preliminary reading for each lecture.

In the tutorials, students will work in teams to apply the methods learned
to literary texts and see how readings change according to theoretical
position, broadening one's view of the text. Assessment will be based on
class participation and a process learning diary.

NB: Unfortunately the electronic course enrolment system does not allow us to run long enrolment periods. Thus, we have had to fool around with it a bit. The enrolment period for seminars will be from 9th May to 28th August, however, the system will at first indicate it as 9th May to 30th May. The enrolment period will be manually extended to 28th August at the end of May.

As a side effect of the aforementioned fooling around the start date for teaching will initially be displayed for June, however, teaching starts in September as it usually does.

Another side effet is that if you enrol after the initial 9.5.-30.5. enrolment period you will need to first enrol into the university for 2014-2015.

We apologize for any confusion caused by this arrangement.

Description of Professor Klemola's seminar (group 2)

Linguistics, especially language variation and change

My seminar is open for students interested in all kinds of linguistics topics. However, I would recommend the seminar especially for those students who are interested in corpus-based studies of variation and change in English. Possible seminar (and pro gradu) projects may focus, for example, on grammatical variation in regional varieties of English. The study of regional variation in English is facilitated by the recent International Corpus of English (ICE) family of corpora, which provide an easy access to a wide range of varieties of English from all over the English-speaking world.

The main task during the autumn term will be to write and present a research proposal (five to ten pages). In addition, each student will be expected to draft—in consultation with me—a personal study and research plan for the whole academic year. We will also focus on practical questions linked with writing a thesis, look at some examples of recent gradus completed in the English department, and read a number of articles linked with the topics you are working on.

During the spring term, each student will write a seminar paper (20+ pages), to be presented and discussed in the group. Ideally, the seminar paper will function as the first draft of your pro gradu thesis.

Description of Professor Pahta's seminar (group 3)

language in context, genre and discourse studies, applied linguistics

This seminar is primarily for students who are interested in analysing language in context, i.e. in relation to language-external factors. Their interests can relate, for example, to social or situational varieties of English, English as a global language, bi- and multilingualism, computer-mediated communication, or language use in the history of English. Students keen on topics in language learning and teaching are also welcome.

The seminar offers practical advice, guidance and support during the process of planning and writing the thesis, addressing each step in the research process. As working methods we will use collaborative group work, including discussions of relevant reading and the students' own projects, and a course diary.

During the first term, students are expected to produce a research proposal, specifying the main elements of their pro gradu thesis, to present it to the seminar group, and to start working on their thesis. In the second term, students continue to work on their thesis.

The aim during the seminar is to produce at least 3-4 draft chapters of the thesis, serving as “the seminar paper”, but it is highly recommended to try and finish at least a draft version of the entire thesis in the seminar. Towards the end of the seminar year, each student’s thesis draft is discussed in class.

To apply for a place, please act as instructed. If you want to start reading during the summer, please send an email to me as soon as possible to set up an appointment (paivi . pahta  @  uta . fi).

Description of Professor Rudanko's seminar (group 5)

Corpus-Based Approaches of Variation and Change in Recent English

During the coming academic year 2014/2015 I am planning to offer the following MA seminar (“pro gradu” thesis seminar): "Corpus-Based Studies of Variation and Change in English Complementation." The seminar is for corpus-based projects in complementation and grammar, with the focus on recent and current English. Projects may for instance focus on the grammar of an item (perhaps a suitable verb or adjective) or a construction as it has evolved from the eighteenth or nineteenth century to the present, either in British English or in American English (or both if appropriate). A large number of projects of this type have been successfully completed in the last few years, but there are still other good projects available.

               New electronic corpora, in addition to the BNC, have become available recently, making this an exciting area for thesis projects. For the study of complementation it is generally fairly easy to collect data from electronic corpora. I will help participants to devise suitable search strings for collecting data.

               Participants are expected to attend regularly and to write a proposal (at least five to ten pages) in the autumn, and a seminar paper (some twenty pages or more) in the spring. Longer contributions are very welcome in both terms. The purpose of the seminar is to help each participant to develop his/her project into a pro gradu thesis. It is not a requirement for participants to write a complete thesis in the course of the seminar, but this is the ideal outcome, and a number of participants have achieved it in recent years. This has been a source of satisfaction to them and to me.

               The seminar is planned for Wednesday evenings, from 6:05 to 7:35 p.m., seven meetings each term.

               To apply for a place, please act as instructed. Those who have already been in touch with me this spring, please also go through the formal application process. If I can help, my email address is: juhani.rudanko@uta.fi.

Juhani Rudanko

The aim of the course is to give the participants an overall picture of the principles of the study of words. We shall begin by looking at the varieties of English (e.g. geographical, dialectal, social, formal, informal, slang, technical, pejorative) and how these are reflected on the level of vocabulary. The labelling of the different types of variety in dictionaries will also be discussed. After this, the course moves on to examine the main sources of English vocabulary (techniques of word-formation, foreign adoptions). Next, aspects of meaning will be addressed, including the ways in which the meanings of words change along dimensions such as gender (e.g. guy, certain articles of clothing) and pejoration (e.g. idiot, imbecile, moron). We shall finally discuss larger structures pertaining to the lexicon. These may be either paradigmatic relations (e.g. synonymy, polysemy, antonymy, lexical fields, lexical sets) or syntagmatic ones (e.g. collocations).

Course work includes regular attendance of the weekly sessions, homework assignments (practical exercises relating to various aspects of vocabulary), and an essay on a specific topic relating to the study of words.

The course explores selected clausal argument structure constructions in English, and the idea that they carry particular meanings as constructions. Constructions are viewed as “form-meaning correspondences that exist independently of particular verbs” and in this framework “constructions themselves carry meaning” (Adele Goldberg, 1995, Constructions, p. 1).

The course begins with an introduction to basic assumptions and principles in the study of sentential complementation, including the postulation of understood subjects. It then turns to the discussion of selected constructions in English involving sentential complements, with a focus on the matrix verbs selecting them and on the syntactic and semantic properties of the constructions. These include patterns with to infinitives and -ing complements, especially the types of I remembered to mail the letter and I remembered mailing the letter. Authentic data from electronic corpora, including the BNC and the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) are made use of in the course. The course is also meant to help participants with thesis projects in the area of the course.

The course is largely a lecture course, with a small number of homework assignments and readings. Course work includes regular attendance, class participation, a brief essay presented in class on an approved topic in the area of the course in the second half of the term, and a final exam.

The course aims at exposing some of the many roles that the city, as a specific source of human experience, has played in literature from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century. To some extent, the course also explores literature’s influence on how individual cities are seen and understood. Our analysis will make use of a number of viewpoints, some of them solidly rooted in socio-historical conditions and others more clearly based on metaphorical (or metonymical) approaches to the city. In addition to examining several stories set in well-known cities, we will take a look at urban studies as a field and find ways of using its perspectives in readings of literary texts.

During the last few weeks of the course, students will give presentations on a literary or cinematic text not included in course materials.

Assessment: class participation, a group presentation, and a course diary.

Note: If you have taken the Literary Landscapes course in or before 2013, there will be some overlap, as previously that course also touched upon city literature.

This course will address the question “What is Scottish Literature?” by examining the works of key authors from the Middle Ages to the present day to identify the social, historical, and cultural contexts and significant themes that have defined the Scottish literary canon. We will explore themes such as religion, duality, fantasy and the supernatural, language, and gender, and investigate the contributions of Scots, Gaelic, and Nordic cultures to identify the diverse influences that have shaped Scottish culture through the centuries. We will also discuss the theoretical controversies and social conflicts that have informed debate over the construction of the Scottish literary canon.

This course will examine the development of British drama from the late seventeenth and eighteenth-century. Studying a selection of plays from genres including comedy, tragedy, satire, and ballad-opera, and attending to changes in the staging conventions of the period, we will examine the historical and social contexts of the drama and look at the theatre as a site of political and social debate that engaged with topics such as gender and power, imperialism, British identity, and political corruption.

In this course we will trace the development of detective fiction from the end of the 19th century to the present. We will specifically examine how detective fiction represents and constructs gender, class and ethnicity. For example, we will analyse how Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective Sherlock Holmes protects the empire against foreign influence, and how African-American writers (e.g. Pauline Hopkins, Barbara Neely, Walter Mosley) discuss race and crime in their fictions. Further, we will examine how the feminist movement has influenced the field of crime writing – how it introduced new themes into the genre, such as child abuse, sexism, and racism.

Assessment: essay and class contribution.

This course reviews linguistic as well as various socio-cultural aspects of English as a global language, paying attention to both theory and practice. The course has three main aims. Firstly, it briefly outlines the development and characteristics of English as a global language – the variation, change and diversification of English in different regions, societies, communities and settings in the world – with specific emphasis on non-native-speaker contexts. Of particular interest here is the role and use of English in Finland. Secondly, the course provides a critical overview of issues around and debates on the impact of the spread of English in the world. Thirdly, it familiarizes students with a range of linguistic and discourse-pragmatic approaches to studying English as a global language, also providing suggestions and support for pro gradu research in this area. Course work includes weekly sessions, background reading, and a mini project, its oral presentation and written report.

This course will focus on the social aspects of language variation. The first half of the course will be devoted to a detailed discussion of some of the central issues in so-called Labovian sociolinguistics/microsociolinguistics. During the second half of the course the focus will be on a number of sociolinguistic topics including language and ethnicity, language, sex, and gender, language contact and language change.

A reading list will be provided at the beginning of the course.

Course work includes weekly sessions, background reading, oral presentation in the class, and a final essay.

New Zealand English is one of the world's youngest varieties of English. We discuss its origins and development, looking at theories of new dialect formation and the development of postcolonial Englishes in general, and get to know the defining characteristics of NZE at the levels of pronunciation, lexis, and grammar. Comparisons are made between NZE, its closest relative Australian English, and the parent variety, British English. Assessment is based on class participation, a presentation, and a final essay.

During this course, we will firstly examine stereotypes and representations of the Chinese and Chinese Americans in the United States. These stereotypes of the Chinese – and Asian Americans in general – range from the figure of the Yellow Peril to the Dragon Lady and the model minority. Secondly, we will read texts by Chinese American writers and analyze how they have responded to these white-produced stereotypes and how they have perceived such issues as ethnic origin, cultural heritage, gender and sexual identity. The texts examined include, for instance, stories by Sui Sin Far, Jade Snow Wong, Frank Chin, Maxine Hong Kingston and David Wong Louie as well as early Angel Island poems by Chinese immigrants.

This is an introductory survey course that will enable students to understand major research questions and goals in second language acquisition, the extent of current knowledge in this area of inquiry, and how we can view the same questions from different theoretical vantage points. Two of the central questions for discussion will be whether there is a critical period for the native-like acquisition of a second language and the extent to which second language grammars (including systematically occurring non-native errors in syntax, morphology, and phonology) can be directly attributed to the influence of the grammar of the learner's native language.

The course will consist of weekly instruction, weekly readings to be summarized orally by pairs of students, active participation in discussions, short data collection assignments, and a final exam.

The course considers the challenges that language variation poses for language teaching. It is specially designed for future professionals in language learning and teaching, and offers suggestions and support for pro gradu research in this area, but it is useful for any students interested in language variation. The course reviews some of the many dimensions along which a language can vary, such as mode and register (spoken and written language, formal and informal styles), domain (special languages), social class, gender (men's and women's language) and geographical region (Englishes), and the ways in which these dimensions are and can be taken into account in the classroom. The course includes lectures and discussions of different dimensions of language variation, background reading, and a small-scale project and its written report.

This course will provide insights into Gothic Fiction, ranging from the emergence of the mode – the late eighteenth-century England – to the present day. Besides examining historical, theoretical, and critical perspectives that have arisen in relation to this mode, we will examine the role of time in Gothic Fiction. Particular focus will be placed on how temporal motifs allude to alternative meanings and realities, discussing connections such as between monstrosity and ethnicity, or vampires and gender.

We will read theoretical and critical texts on the Gothic, as well as excerpts from Gothic short stories and novels, including Frankenstein, A Christmas Carol, and Dracula. In addition, we will be viewing Jim Jarmusch's film Only Lovers Left Alive (2013).

Assessment: class participation, group assignments, final essay of 2500 words OR a course diary

This course, jointly organized by English Philology and Russian 
Language and Culture, takes a bicultural and contrastive look at 
current topics in digital media such as social networking, online 
news, netspeak, and memes; the working language of the course will be 
English. The course will offer new insights into the changing 
landscapes of computer-mediated communication and tools for the 
linguistic and discursive analysis of multicultural phenomena.

Coursework will comprise lectures, practical exercises and a final 
essay.

16 students will be selected to the course: 8 from the English degree programme and 8 from the Russian degree programme. If either quota is not filled students queueing in the other quota will be selected instead.

This course focuses on standard methods of studying text and discourse, and theories behind them, including both qualitative and quantitative methods of analyzing language use in its social context (e.g. critical discourse analysis, computer-mediated discourse analysis, and corpus-assisted discourse studies). The course readings include some classic studies and latest research in the field, and hands-on projects will familiarize students with the empirical analysis of text and discourse in practice. Course work includes weekly sessions, background readings, independent study, an oral presentation in the class, and a final essay (project paper).

NB: Unfortunately the electronic course enrolment system does not allow us to run long enrolment periods. Thus, we have had to fool around with it a bit. The enrolment period for seminars will be from 9th May to 28th August, however, the system will at first indicate it as 9th May to 30th May. The enrolment period will be manually extended to 28th August at the end of May.

As a side effect of the aforementioned fooling around the start date for teaching will initially be displayed for June, however, teaching starts in September as it usually does.

Another side effet is that if you enrol after the initial 9.5.-30.5. enrolment period you will need to first enrol into the university for 2014-2015.

We apologize for any confusion caused by this arrangement.

Description of Professor Klemola's seminar (group 2)

Linguistics, especially language variation and change

My seminar is open for students interested in all kinds of linguistics topics. However, I would recommend the seminar especially for those students who are interested in corpus-based studies of variation and change in English. Possible seminar (and pro gradu) projects may focus, for example, on grammatical variation in regional varieties of English. The study of regional variation in English is facilitated by the recent International Corpus of English (ICE) family of corpora, which provide an easy access to a wide range of varieties of English from all over the English-speaking world.

The main task during the autumn term will be to write and present a research proposal (five to ten pages). In addition, each student will be expected to draft—in consultation with me—a personal study and research plan for the whole academic year. We will also focus on practical questions linked with writing a thesis, look at some examples of recent gradus completed in the English department, and read a number of articles linked with the topics you are working on.

During the spring term, each student will write a seminar paper (20+ pages), to be presented and discussed in the group. Ideally, the seminar paper will function as the first draft of your pro gradu thesis.

Description of Professor Pahta's seminar (group 3)

language in context, genre and discourse studies, applied linguistics

This seminar is primarily for students who are interested in analysing language in context, i.e. in relation to language-external factors. Their interests can relate, for example, to social or situational varieties of English, English as a global language, bi- and multilingualism, computer-mediated communication, or language use in the history of English. Students keen on topics in language learning and teaching are also welcome.

The seminar offers practical advice, guidance and support during the process of planning and writing the thesis, addressing each step in the research process. As working methods we will use collaborative group work, including discussions of relevant reading and the students' own projects, and a course diary.

During the first term, students are expected to produce a research proposal, specifying the main elements of their pro gradu thesis, to present it to the seminar group, and to start working on their thesis. In the second term, students continue to work on their thesis.

The aim during the seminar is to produce at least 3-4 draft chapters of the thesis, serving as “the seminar paper”, but it is highly recommended to try and finish at least a draft version of the entire thesis in the seminar. Towards the end of the seminar year, each student’s thesis draft is discussed in class.

To apply for a place, please act as instructed. If you want to start reading during the summer, please send an email to me as soon as possible to set up an appointment (paivi . pahta  @  uta . fi).

Description of Professor Rudanko's seminar (group 5)

Corpus-Based Approaches of Variation and Change in Recent English

During the coming academic year 2014/2015 I am planning to offer the following MA seminar (“pro gradu” thesis seminar): "Corpus-Based Studies of Variation and Change in English Complementation." The seminar is for corpus-based projects in complementation and grammar, with the focus on recent and current English. Projects may for instance focus on the grammar of an item (perhaps a suitable verb or adjective) or a construction as it has evolved from the eighteenth or nineteenth century to the present, either in British English or in American English (or both if appropriate). A large number of projects of this type have been successfully completed in the last few years, but there are still other good projects available.

               New electronic corpora, in addition to the BNC, have become available recently, making this an exciting area for thesis projects. For the study of complementation it is generally fairly easy to collect data from electronic corpora. I will help participants to devise suitable search strings for collecting data.

               Participants are expected to attend regularly and to write a proposal (at least five to ten pages) in the autumn, and a seminar paper (some twenty pages or more) in the spring. Longer contributions are very welcome in both terms. The purpose of the seminar is to help each participant to develop his/her project into a pro gradu thesis. It is not a requirement for participants to write a complete thesis in the course of the seminar, but this is the ideal outcome, and a number of participants have achieved it in recent years. This has been a source of satisfaction to them and to me.

               The seminar is planned for Wednesday evenings, from 6:05 to 7:35 p.m., seven meetings each term.

               To apply for a place, please act as instructed. Those who have already been in touch with me this spring, please also go through the formal application process. If I can help, my email address is: juhani.rudanko@uta.fi.

Juhani Rudanko

This is an introduction to linguistic pragmatics, with a particular focus on a range of information- structuring processes in informal native English discourse. This involves the foregrounding and backgrounding of elements within utterances, involving non-canonical word order (including clefting, topicalization, and left/right dislocation), the insertion of discourse particles (such as the infamous originally American English "like"), and intonational strategies. We will also look at how these pragmatic alternations are interpreted by non-native speakers, how competing strategies from other languages (including Finnish) may be transferred into non-native English usage, and how these competing strategies may persist in "ethnic" native varieties of English.

The course will consist of weekly instruction, weekly readings to be summarized orally by pairs of students, active participation in discussions, short data collection assignments, and a final exam.

This option will present students with an extensive coverage of the different ways in which new words are formed in English. The course will begin by a survey of the basic concepts relating to word-formation and morphology (affix, derivation, root, base, lexeme, opaqueness, transparency etc.). We shall then move on to examine the many different processes by which new words are formed in English (e.g. derivation, compounding, blending, clipping, sound-symbolism). The course ends with two relatively recent ways of putting together new words (cut-down puns and knock-knock words).

Course work includes regular attendance of the weekly sessions, homework assignments (theory handouts and practical exercises relating to various aspects of word-formation), and an end-of-term examination.

Close reading is a practice of reading literature in a way that allows one, as the name implies, to get closer to the text under analysis. This entails care and attention not only to WHAT a text is saying, but also to HOW the text says it and how one responds as the reader. In close reading, several factors (content, form, interpretation) are combined and put under scrutiny in order to produce readings of literature that transcend first impressions and instead seek to know and learn more about the text at hand.

In this option, we will first look into the tradition and practice of close reading as it has been understood in the history of literary criticism, and we will also consider its role in the advancement of literary theory in the 20th century. (This course is not highly theoretical, but it offers a good foundation for further courses in literary theory and methodology.)

After the background has been provided, the students will work in teams for the rest of the course and carry out a project assignment in close reading. The objective is to be able to work together, with defined tasks for each, choose a text for analysis, identify its vital factors, and negotiate how to present the results to the class. Assessment will be based on one's participation in the project assignment as a whole.

Recommended as a first literature option.

This course traces features of change and continuity in the core grammar of English from the eighteenth century to the present, with data drawn primarily from synchronic and diachronic computer corpora of English. The course focuses on complementation, but there are no formal prerequisites for attending. The option will offer suggestions on how to use computer corpora to write a pro gradu thesis on complementation.

Course-work includes class participation, homework assignments, a brief paper to be presented in class on complementation or another approved aspect of English grammar, and a final exam.

Since Freud's ventures into literary aesthetics in the early 1900s, psychoanalysis and psychoanalytical criticism has provided, often quite controversially, plenty of food for thought in the study of literature. Over the years, theorists such as Jacques Lacan, Melanie Klein, Julia Kristeva, and Shoshana Felman have applied different approaches to shed light on the unpredictable workings of the human psyche and its effects on behaviour. On this course, we will study important texts written in this tradition to gauge their relevance in the reading of authors such as William Wordsworth, Edgar Allan Poe, and Henry James.

Methods of study include some lecturing, but mostly we will proceed in the form of a reading circle and team/pair work. An active role is therefore encouraged to get the full gain of the course. Assessment will be based on class participation and a process writing assignment.

This course concentrates on the significance of settings in fiction, and on how descriptions of landscape influence the thematic structure of texts. We will be considering the aesthetics of different kinds of landscapes, analyzing their social and psychological effects through their literary depictions. We will also be touching on various theoretical approaches, including ecocriticism, and using some concepts from spatial theory and cultural geography to make sense of the texts. Thematically, the emphasis will often – though not exclusively – fall on the relationship between humanity and nature. The texts will cover a wide range of historical circumstances and geographical locations. The course aims at suggesting, among other things, that descriptions of setting can be just as important in literature as the events narrated.
Assessment: class participation, a short presentation, and a course diary.

Most people in the world speak two or more languages. Language contact is thus a ubiquitous phenomenon which entails a wide range of social, political and linguistic consequences. This course provides a survey of language contact phenomena, focusing on contact-induced changes in varieties of English. Topics to be discussed during the course include Bilingualism and Multilingualism, Code-Switching, Contact-Induced Language Change, Second Language Acquisition and Language Shift, Language Death, Pidgins and Creoles.

What makes a language musical? What elements constitutive of linguistic systems are also constitutive of musical ones? And how do these elements figure in poetry? Through close readings of texts across disciplines, this course will consider concepts such as tone, timbre, meter and consonance in an effort to discern the affinities and distinctions between music, language and poetry. Three short response papers or extended final paper.

Readings (tentative):

Boethius, Music (excerpts)

Helmholtz, Sensations of Tone (excerpts)

Stevens, "The Idea of Order at Key West"

Heidegger, Poetry, Language, Thought

Jakobson, "Linguistics and Poetics"

Stein, "Poetry and Grammar"

Milner, L'amour de la langue

Bishop, "One Art"

Chomsky, Language and the Mind

Schönberg, Theory of Harmony

Kiparsky, "The role of linguistics in a theory of poetry"

Saariaho, "Timbre and Harmony"

This course focuses on standard methods of studying text and discourse, and theories behind them, including both qualitative and quantitative methods of analyzing language use in its social context (e.g. critical discourse analysis, computer-mediated discourse analysis, and corpus-assisted discourse studies). The course readings include some classic studies and latest research in the field, and hands-on projects will familiarize students with the empirical analysis of text and discourse in practice. Course work includes weekly sessions, background readings, independent study, an oral presentation in the class, and a final essay (project paper).

NB: Unfortunately the electronic course enrolment system does not allow us to run long enrolment periods. Thus, we have had to fool around with it a bit. The enrolment period for seminars will be from 9th May to 28th August, however, the system will at first indicate it as 9th May to 30th May. The enrolment period will be manually extended to 28th August at the end of May.

As a side effect of the aforementioned fooling around the start date for teaching will initially be displayed for June, however, teaching starts in September as it usually does.

Another side effet is that if you enrol after the initial 9.5.-30.5. enrolment period you will need to first enrol into the university for 2014-2015.

We apologize for any confusion caused by this arrangement.

Description of Professor Klemola's seminar (group 2)

Linguistics, especially language variation and change

My seminar is open for students interested in all kinds of linguistics topics. However, I would recommend the seminar especially for those students who are interested in corpus-based studies of variation and change in English. Possible seminar (and pro gradu) projects may focus, for example, on grammatical variation in regional varieties of English. The study of regional variation in English is facilitated by the recent International Corpus of English (ICE) family of corpora, which provide an easy access to a wide range of varieties of English from all over the English-speaking world.

The main task during the autumn term will be to write and present a research proposal (five to ten pages). In addition, each student will be expected to draft—in consultation with me—a personal study and research plan for the whole academic year. We will also focus on practical questions linked with writing a thesis, look at some examples of recent gradus completed in the English department, and read a number of articles linked with the topics you are working on.

During the spring term, each student will write a seminar paper (20+ pages), to be presented and discussed in the group. Ideally, the seminar paper will function as the first draft of your pro gradu thesis.

Description of Professor Pahta's seminar (group 3)

language in context, genre and discourse studies, applied linguistics

This seminar is primarily for students who are interested in analysing language in context, i.e. in relation to language-external factors. Their interests can relate, for example, to social or situational varieties of English, English as a global language, bi- and multilingualism, computer-mediated communication, or language use in the history of English. Students keen on topics in language learning and teaching are also welcome.

The seminar offers practical advice, guidance and support during the process of planning and writing the thesis, addressing each step in the research process. As working methods we will use collaborative group work, including discussions of relevant reading and the students' own projects, and a course diary.

During the first term, students are expected to produce a research proposal, specifying the main elements of their pro gradu thesis, to present it to the seminar group, and to start working on their thesis. In the second term, students continue to work on their thesis.

The aim during the seminar is to produce at least 3-4 draft chapters of the thesis, serving as “the seminar paper”, but it is highly recommended to try and finish at least a draft version of the entire thesis in the seminar. Towards the end of the seminar year, each student’s thesis draft is discussed in class.

To apply for a place, please act as instructed. If you want to start reading during the summer, please send an email to me as soon as possible to set up an appointment (paivi . pahta  @  uta . fi).

Description of Professor Rudanko's seminar (group 5)

Corpus-Based Approaches of Variation and Change in Recent English

During the coming academic year 2014/2015 I am planning to offer the following MA seminar (“pro gradu” thesis seminar): "Corpus-Based Studies of Variation and Change in English Complementation." The seminar is for corpus-based projects in complementation and grammar, with the focus on recent and current English. Projects may for instance focus on the grammar of an item (perhaps a suitable verb or adjective) or a construction as it has evolved from the eighteenth or nineteenth century to the present, either in British English or in American English (or both if appropriate). A large number of projects of this type have been successfully completed in the last few years, but there are still other good projects available.

               New electronic corpora, in addition to the BNC, have become available recently, making this an exciting area for thesis projects. For the study of complementation it is generally fairly easy to collect data from electronic corpora. I will help participants to devise suitable search strings for collecting data.

               Participants are expected to attend regularly and to write a proposal (at least five to ten pages) in the autumn, and a seminar paper (some twenty pages or more) in the spring. Longer contributions are very welcome in both terms. The purpose of the seminar is to help each participant to develop his/her project into a pro gradu thesis. It is not a requirement for participants to write a complete thesis in the course of the seminar, but this is the ideal outcome, and a number of participants have achieved it in recent years. This has been a source of satisfaction to them and to me.

               The seminar is planned for Wednesday evenings, from 6:05 to 7:35 p.m., seven meetings each term.

               To apply for a place, please act as instructed. Those who have already been in touch with me this spring, please also go through the formal application process. If I can help, my email address is: juhani.rudanko@uta.fi.

Juhani Rudanko

This is an introduction to linguistic pragmatics, with a particular focus on a range of information- structuring processes in informal native English discourse. This involves the foregrounding and backgrounding of elements within utterances, involving non-canonical word order (including clefting, topicalization, and left/right dislocation), the insertion of discourse particles (such as the infamous originally American English "like"), and intonational strategies. We will also look at how these pragmatic alternations are interpreted by non-native speakers, how competing strategies from other languages (including Finnish) may be transferred into non-native English usage, and how these competing strategies may persist in "ethnic" native varieties of English.

The course will consist of weekly instruction, weekly readings to be summarized orally by pairs of students, active participation in discussions, short data collection assignments, and a final exam.

This option will present students with an extensive coverage of the different ways in which new words are formed in English. The course will begin by a survey of the basic concepts relating to word-formation and morphology (affix, derivation, root, base, lexeme, opaqueness, transparency etc.). We shall then move on to examine the many different processes by which new words are formed in English (e.g. derivation, compounding, blending, clipping, sound-symbolism). The course ends with two relatively recent ways of putting together new words (cut-down puns and knock-knock words).

Course work includes regular attendance of the weekly sessions, homework assignments (theory handouts and practical exercises relating to various aspects of word-formation), and an end-of-term examination.

Close reading is a practice of reading literature in a way that allows one, as the name implies, to get closer to the text under analysis. This entails care and attention not only to WHAT a text is saying, but also to HOW the text says it and how one responds as the reader. In close reading, several factors (content, form, interpretation) are combined and put under scrutiny in order to produce readings of literature that transcend first impressions and instead seek to know and learn more about the text at hand.

In this option, we will first look into the tradition and practice of close reading as it has been understood in the history of literary criticism, and we will also consider its role in the advancement of literary theory in the 20th century. (This course is not highly theoretical, but it offers a good foundation for further courses in literary theory and methodology.)

After the background has been provided, the students will work in teams for the rest of the course and carry out a project assignment in close reading. The objective is to be able to work together, with defined tasks for each, choose a text for analysis, identify its vital factors, and negotiate how to present the results to the class. Assessment will be based on one's participation in the project assignment as a whole.

Recommended as a first literature option.

This course traces features of change and continuity in the core grammar of English from the eighteenth century to the present, with data drawn primarily from synchronic and diachronic computer corpora of English. The course focuses on complementation, but there are no formal prerequisites for attending. The option will offer suggestions on how to use computer corpora to write a pro gradu thesis on complementation.

Course-work includes class participation, homework assignments, a brief paper to be presented in class on complementation or another approved aspect of English grammar, and a final exam.

Since Freud's ventures into literary aesthetics in the early 1900s, psychoanalysis and psychoanalytical criticism has provided, often quite controversially, plenty of food for thought in the study of literature. Over the years, theorists such as Jacques Lacan, Melanie Klein, Julia Kristeva, and Shoshana Felman have applied different approaches to shed light on the unpredictable workings of the human psyche and its effects on behaviour. On this course, we will study important texts written in this tradition to gauge their relevance in the reading of authors such as William Wordsworth, Edgar Allan Poe, and Henry James.

Methods of study include some lecturing, but mostly we will proceed in the form of a reading circle and team/pair work. An active role is therefore encouraged to get the full gain of the course. Assessment will be based on class participation and a process writing assignment.

This course concentrates on the significance of settings in fiction, and on how descriptions of landscape influence the thematic structure of texts. We will be considering the aesthetics of different kinds of landscapes, analyzing their social and psychological effects through their literary depictions. We will also be touching on various theoretical approaches, including ecocriticism, and using some concepts from spatial theory and cultural geography to make sense of the texts. Thematically, the emphasis will often – though not exclusively – fall on the relationship between humanity and nature. The texts will cover a wide range of historical circumstances and geographical locations. The course aims at suggesting, among other things, that descriptions of setting can be just as important in literature as the events narrated.
Assessment: class participation, a short presentation, and a course diary.

Most people in the world speak two or more languages. Language contact is thus a ubiquitous phenomenon which entails a wide range of social, political and linguistic consequences. This course provides a survey of language contact phenomena, focusing on contact-induced changes in varieties of English. Topics to be discussed during the course include Bilingualism and Multilingualism, Code-Switching, Contact-Induced Language Change, Second Language Acquisition and Language Shift, Language Death, Pidgins and Creoles.

What makes a language musical? What elements constitutive of linguistic systems are also constitutive of musical ones? And how do these elements figure in poetry? Through close readings of texts across disciplines, this course will consider concepts such as tone, timbre, meter and consonance in an effort to discern the affinities and distinctions between music, language and poetry. Three short response papers or extended final paper.

Readings (tentative):

Boethius, Music (excerpts)

Helmholtz, Sensations of Tone (excerpts)

Stevens, "The Idea of Order at Key West"

Heidegger, Poetry, Language, Thought

Jakobson, "Linguistics and Poetics"

Stein, "Poetry and Grammar"

Milner, L'amour de la langue

Bishop, "One Art"

Chomsky, Language and the Mind

Schönberg, Theory of Harmony

Kiparsky, "The role of linguistics in a theory of poetry"

Saariaho, "Timbre and Harmony"