The English Writing System

The English Writing System
Vivian Cook, ECLS, Spring Term 2008
Mondays 10-1, from 21st January
*Aim:*	to introduce students to the main features of the English writing system
*Objective:*	to enable them to analyse the properties of English texts in terms of current orthographical theories and descriptive techniques
*Teaching schedule:*	starting Monday 10-1, 21st January weekly except 3^rd March when I am away; it should finish before Easter but will continue in the summer term if necessary
*Website*:	all the information for the course is online here (i.e. not on Blackboard), which also has a large collection of writing system materials, data, reading lists etc, and is vital to the course
*Syllabus:* (more or less in teaching order).	The links in blue are to relevant parts of the web-site Writing System Topics http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c/wstopics.htm 1. Different types of writing system for language (the two routes); writing direction Direction; signs Signs and Writing alphabets Different Scripts for Writing; Definitions 2. Spoken and written English; Quotations on Speech and Writing; Speech and writing in Linguistics Rough Notes 3. Rules of English spelling; adult English spelling; spelling mistakes in the street The I before E rule in English Spelling English Consonant Doubling Common Patterns of English Spelling Rule for spelling English Placenames 4. Linguists' accounts of English spelling: (i) Venezky. Venezky's English Spelling Exploiting the English writing system: businesses; 'funny Funny Spelling 5. Linguists' accounts of English spelling: (ii) Albrow. Albrow's English spelling systems Punctuation and graphic devices (the GreenGrocer's Apostrophe). English Punctuation Print: typefaces and conventions. Hyphens 6. Linguists' accounts of English spelling: (iii) Chomsky. Chomsky's Near-Optimal Spelling 7. Acquisition of English spelling by children. Children learning English spelling L2 learning of the English writing system. L2 learning of English; L2 Spelling; Summaries of L2 articles etc 8. Evolution of the English writing system (letters, sample texts) History of English letters Historical Samples of English Spelling 9. Teaching the writing system in L1 and L2
*Assessment:*	a descriptive project, such as the problems with English writing encountered by students from particular countries, the evolution of English spelling, etc, to be handed in by 1 pm Monday 28^th April in two hardcopies and electronic submission via Blackboard.
Main References	Albrow, K.H. (1972), The English Writing System: notes towards a description, Longman Baines, P. & Haslam, A. (2002), Type and Typography. London: Laurence King Baron, N.S. (2000), Alphabet to E-mail. London: Routledge. Carney, E. (1994), A Survey of English Spelling, London: Routledge Cook, V.J. (2004), The English Writing System, Edward Arnold COURSE BOOK Cook, V.J. & Bassetti, B. ed. (2005), Second Language Writing Systems, Multilingual Matters Coulmas, F. (1996), The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Writing Systems, Blackwell Nunberg, G. (1990), Linguistics of Punctuation, CSLI, Stanford Sampson, G. (1985), Writing Systems, Hutchinson Scragg, D.G. (1974), A History of English Spelling, Manchester U.P. Temple, C. et al (1993), The Beginnings of Writing, Allyn & Bacon Venezky, R.L. (1999), The American Way of Spelling, Guilford, New York I will also be making informal use of: Cook, V.J. (2004), Accomodating Brocolli in the Cemetary, Profile Books
	References on Writing Systems