CCEN4008 Introduction to Linguistics

Assignment: Linguistics Report Outline – instructions

1. Task

This assignment helps students prepare a proper plan, which will later be extended
into a linguistics report. Following the "Linguistics Individual Report Instructions”,
students will draft the introduction by selecting a topic, collecting background
information, and identifying a specific language feature to investigate. Additionally,
students must gather 2 academic sources and 2 English news reports related to the
chosen topic for analysis, with descriptions and proper APA references.

2. Deadline

Report Outline: Submit it via SOUL Turnitin link by 23:59, the day before Lesson 8

3. Topic Areas

Research on a sport/ education/ pop culture event reported by three to five different
English-speaking news media. *The news reports should describe the same event.
Choose one of the following and draw one feature for discussion:
(1) The morphology of English slang/jargon words used by the reporters
(2) The syntactic features of news reporting in English (written/spoken)
(3) The phonetic/phonological features of the news reporting in English

* Slight modifications or narrowing are acceptable e.g.

(1) The morphology of English slang/jargon words by British media
Please discuss your topic with your lecturer in advance if you have questions about it.

4. Assignment format

Do follow the sample below. Any missing parts will result in a mark deduction.
 CCEN4008 Introduction to Linguistics
Linguistics Report Outline (Sample)

Name: Class: Student no.

Essay topic
A Contrastive Quantitative Analysis of Chinese and British English in Sports News
Headlines: Focus on Nominalization

Introduction
Background
⚫ Amidst the various written communication media, newspapers have the
highest readership due to their accessibility and diverse content (Reah, 2002).
⚫ Among the elements in newspaper, as defined by Van Dijk (1988), headline
plays a substantial role in attracting a wide audience with accurate semantic
summaries under the suppression of space, thus indicating the most concise
lexical and syntactic choices.
⚫ Headline serves as a significant syntactic input for the Chinese EFL learners,
estimating of about 330 million and continually increasing (Bolton, 2008,).

Theis Statement (the one features to be discussed)

This paper aims to contrast nominalization, the received most adopted syntactic
feature in headline, between Chinese English newspapers (CEN) and British
English newspapers (BEN), and determine the authenticity of CEN for being the
EFL curriculum.
Brief literature review (Academic Source 1 - Journal)

Title
English in Asia, Asian Englishes, and the issue of proficiency

Authorities: Pick at least ONE below:

⚫ Author(s) and background of the Authors (One of the authors at least)

Kingsley Bolton, Professor Emeritus in English Linguistics at Stockholm University

⚫ Background of Journal

Social Sciences Citation Index , Arts & Humanities Citation Index

SJR Ranking: Q1 in Linguistics and Language, Impact factor: 1.2 (2-year)

Examples/ theories from scholar’s work

Luporini (2021) supported that both CEN and BEN exhibit a preference in adopting
nominalization in news headlines due to its competitiveness in economic grammar.
The feature requires the readers to comprehend and infer their own assumptions, as
demonstrated in the following example given by the researcher:
“Transparency and cooperation are crucial to contain new coronavirus”
The example shows (i) an absence of subject and temporal marker for “transparent
orcooperating”, and (ii) the assumption of someone/something needs to be
transparent or cooperating.

APA citation
Bolton, K. (2008). English in Asia, Asian Englishes, and the issue of
proficiency. English Today, 24(2):3-12.
http://doi:10.1017/S026607840800014X
Brief literature review (Academic Source 2 - Book)

Title
News as discourse

Authorities: Pick at least ONE below:

⚫ Author(s) and background of the Authors (One of the authors at least)

Teun A. van Dijk was a professor of discourse studies at the University of

Amsterdam from 1968 until 2004
⚫ Background of Journal

N/A

Examples/ theories from scholar’s work

Language and Power: News discourse reflects and reinforces power relations. For
example, the use of passive voice ("A protester was shot") can obscure
responsibility, while active voice ("Police shot a protester") assigns direct blame.

Representation and Bias: The language used to describe different groups (e.g.,
"freedom fighters" vs. "terrorists") can reveal bias and impact the portrayal of those
groups. Word choice, tone, and lexical patterns in news reports can subtly express
judgment or neutrality.

APA citation
Van Dijk, T. A. (2013). News as discourse. Routledge.
Methodology (News Media Source 1 - Youtube)

Name of Media
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network. [ESPN]

Reasons for choosing the media (Authorities)

ESPN is known for its live sports commentary, which provides a dynamic genre for
linguistic study.
Source: Ferguson, C. A. (1983). "Sports Announcer Talk: Syntactic Aspects of
Register Variation." Language in Society.

APA citation
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network. [ESPN]. (2024, April 16). The LA
Sparks select Rickea Jackson with the No. 4 pick | WNBA Draft [Video].
YouTube. https://youtu.be/A0IORYy34p4?si=KW3_oSvY8yKnopto
Transcription/ Subtitles of Video
0:00 [Applause]
0:04 with a fourth pick in the 2024 WNBA
0:08 draft the Los Angeles Sparks select
0:12 rakia Jackson University of
0:19 Tennessee well rakia
0:23 Jackson the number four overall pick
0:27 after a fantastic finish
0:30 to her senior
0:32 season Drea talked earlier about the
0:35 possibility of having Jackson's Wing
0:38 guard skills with size joining one of
0:41 the posts that's exactly what La gets
0:44 Cameron Brink it to and now rakia
0:46 Jackson at four a foundation for the
0:50 Sparks to build upon and one that has to
0:52 be very exciting for that fan base how
0:55 about Jackson just one of five SEC
0:57 players to average at least 20 points
1:00 and five rebounds in multiple seasons
1:02 over the last 25 Seasons Raa Jackson was
1:05 the most coveted Wing in this draft
1:07 great size and athletic ability has an
1:09 explosive First Step that gets her to
1:11 the rim can post up smaller players and
1:14 has terrific footwork to finish around
1:17 the she's shown that she can be very
1:19 good in the pick and roll and isolation
1:21 situations as a former Lady B I have to
1:23 say we are all so proud of Ria and her
1:25 journey and as a basketball analyst I've
1:27 been saying all season she's a pro her
1:30 ability to hit tough shots in her last
1:32 game at Tennessee she put up 33 points
1:34 on 60% from the field she's a bucket
1:37 she's a natural scorer and a great
1:39 choice for LA and in La yeah they're
1:43 excited little watch party they're ready
1:45 to go rakia Jackson is the newest member
1:48 of the LA Sparks and she is with
1:51 Holly well you know as we look at your
1:54 skill set Ria I believe that you are one
1:57 of the most ready-made Pros to step and
2:00 make an impact this season in the WNBA
2:02 what is it about your game that the
2:03 Sparks are going to be like okay yes she
2:06 is ready to go yeah um I feel like I'm
2:08 just very versatile I can play multiple
2:11 positions um there's still room to grow
2:13 and I'm willing to just be a sponge and
2:15 continue to be a better player you're of
2:18 course yes your mom Cayenne is here
2:21 tonight she was a great player herself
2:24 she won a championship at a a lower
2:26 college division but was a terrific
2:28 player how has your family helped you
2:30 get to this moment uh my family is the
2:33 reason why I'm here I do everything for
2:35 them you know if it wasn't for my
2:36 brothers I wouldn't have even picked up
2:38 a basketball and you know my mom just
2:41 instilling greatness and knowledge and
2:43 you know always keeping God number one
2:45 um that just really just made me to the
2:47 player who I am today okay to the LA
2:49 Sparks fans you are the first draft that
2:51 I think did a wardrobe change from the
2:52 orange carpet to here they're getting a
2:55 little s a little Sizzle a little bazzle
2:57 tell us what the Sparks fans are going
2:59 to be falling in in love with um they're
3:01 just going to be fall in love with my
3:02 personality you know I just like
3:06 the as they
3:09 should uh just everything you know I'm
3:11 just excited to build new relationships
3:14 and I'm just ready to win the greats of
3:17 the vs lady vs Candace Parker played
3:19 there you are now stepping into that
3:21 kind of similar Dynasty what does that
3:23 mean to you as a lady balb it means a
3:25 lot you know Candace with the Tennessee
3:27 was at La and just even being in that
3:30 conversation is just crazy in itself so
3:33 you know I just think it's pretty cool
3:35 all right very cool congratulations the
3:38 Sparks are so lucky thank you
3:44 [Music]
Methodology (News Media Source 2 – News Article)

Name of Media
Los Angeles Daily News

Reasons for choosing the media (Authorities)

The Los Angeles Daily News provides opportunities to explore regional dialects and
language use. Being based in Southern California, the newspaper can reflect local
linguistic features, such as Chicano English and California English, especially in its
coverage of local communities, politics, and social issues.

Source: Eckert, P. (2008). "Where Do Ethnolects Stop?" International Journal of

Bilingualism.

APA citation
Davis, J. (2024, April 15). WNBA draft: Sparks have big options with No. 2 and No.
4 picks. Los Angeles Daily News.
https://www.dailynews.com/2024/04/14/wnba-draft-sparks-have-big-
options-with-no-2-and-no-4-picks/