Paper 1
Choose one of the poems below and transcribe it into the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) as it would be pronounced in Standard American English:
| Robert Frost (1874-1963) Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Whose woods these are I think I know. |
Walt Whitman (1819-1892) When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer When I heard the learn’d astronomer, When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me, When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them, When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room, How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself, In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars. |
Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000) Kitchenette Building We are things of dry hours and the involuntary plan, Grayed in, and gray. “Dream” makes a giddy sound, not strong Like “rent,” “feeding a wife,” “satisfying a man.” But could a dream send up through onion fumes Its white and violet, fight with fried potatoes And yesterday’s garbage ripening in the hall, Flutter, or sing an aria down these rooms Even if we were willing to let it in, Had time to warm it, keep it very clean, Anticipate a message, let it begin? We wonder. But not well! not for a minute! Since Number Five is out of the bathroom now, We think of lukewarm water, hope to get in it. |
After transcribing the poem into the IPA, write a short paper (5-7 pages) in which you analyze the sounds in the poem. Are there interesting patterns of consonant sounds within particular lines or phrases? Are there interesting patterns of vowel sounds? How do the sounds in the poem reflect the meaning of the lines? How do they contribute to the poem's overall effect?
Remember to talk about sounds -- not spelling. Turn in your phonetic transcription of the poem as an appendix to your paper.
I recommend to all students working on papers that you use the resources available through the WRITE Site at http://owl.department.tcnj.edu/. The WRITE Site offers online assistance with questions about writing and includes a link for making appointments with writing tutors at the Tutoring and Academic Enhancement Center on campus.
Click here to go to the syllabus.
Paper 2
Use the Oxford English Dictionary and/or other sources to research the history and linguistic properties of a single English word. Where and when did the word originate? From where did English originally take it? When did it come into English usage? How has it evolved over the centuries? What words have been derived from it and when? In 5-7 pages, trace your word's semantic, phonological, orthographic, and morphological changes from its origins (as far back as we know) to the present.
Choose a word that you like, but look for a word with an interesting and/or long history, such as a word with Indo-European roots or a word that has changed radically in usage over time.
Click here to go to the online Oxford English Dictionary. If you're interested in slang or ethnic words, you might want to take a look at a web project that is being created right here at TCNJ -- the Interactive Dictionary of Racial Language.
I recommend to all students working on papers that you use the resources available through the WRITE Site at http://owl.department.tcnj.edu/. The WRITE Site offers online assistance with questions about writing and includes a link for making appointments with writing tutors at the Tutoring and Academic Enhancement Center on campus.
Click here to go to the syllabus.