at the
Syllabus
ASU Listing : BCS 101 (Fall), BCS 102 (Spring), 4+4 credits,
NB: This course is offered in the fall and spring only, not in the summer
This is just a suplemental site, see www.asusilc.net/scr101 use 000000000 as your password.
More information here : www.asusilc.net/bcs.htm or e-mail the instructor at: Danko.Sipka@asu.edu
Home page: http://www.public.asu.edu/~dsipka
Please feel free to e-mail me any time you have any questions before, in the course of or after the course
If you have any comments,
questions or suggestions, please write them below and press the Send button: Introductory
Bosnia{c/n}/Serbian/Croatian Chat Introductory
Bosnia{c/n}/Serbian/Croatian Bulletin Board Students are expected to acquire
level 1+ in reading (limited working proficiency, with other skills exceeding level 1) language skills as defined
by the US Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR). This level of proficiency
corresponds to the high intermediate level as defined by the American Council
on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). This assumes the following skills: Listening: Sufficient
comprehension to understand short conversations about all survival
needs and limited social demands. Developing flexibility evident in
understanding into a range of circumstances beyond immediate survival
needs. Shows spontaneity in understanding by speed, although consistency
of understanding uneven. Limited vocabulary range necessitates repetition
for understanding. Understands more common time forms and most question
forms, some word order patterns, but miscommunication still occurs
with more complex patterns. Cannot sustain understanding of coherent
structures in longer utterances or in unfamiliar situations. Understanding
of descriptions and the giving of precise information is limited.
Aware of basic cohesive features; e.g., pronouns, verb inflections,
but many are unreliably understood, especially if less immediate in
reference. Understanding is largely limited to a series of short,
discrete utterances. Still has to ask for utterances to be repeated.
Some ability to understand the facts. Reading: Sufficient
comprehension to understand simple discourse in printed form for informative
social purposes. Can read material such as announcements of public
events, simple prose containing biographical information or narration
of events, and straightforward newspaper headlines. Can guess at unfamiliar
vocabulary if highly contextualized, but with difficulty in unfamiliar
contexts. Can get some main ideas and locate routine information of
professional significance in more complex texts. Can follow essential
points of written discussion at an elementary level on topics in his/her
special professional field. In commonly taught languages, the individual
may not control the structure well. For example, basic grammatical
relations are often misinterpreted, and temporal reference may rely
primarily on lexical items as time indicators. Has some difficulty
with the cohesive factors in discourse, such as matching pronouns
with referents. May have to read materials several times for understanding. Speaking: Can
initiate and maintain predictable face-to-face conversations and satisfy
limited social demands. He/she may, however, have little understanding
of the social conventions of conversation. The interlocutor is generally
required to strain and employ real-world knowledge to understand even
some simple speech. The speaker at this level may hesitate and may
have to change subjects due to lack of language resources. Range and
control of the language are limited. Speech largely consists of a
series of short, discrete utterances. Examples: The individual is
able to satisfy most travel and accommodation needs and a limited
range of social demands beyond exchange of skeletal biographic information.
Speaking ability may extend beyond immediate survival needs. Accuracy
in basic grammatical relations is evident, although not consistent.
May exhibit the more common forms of verb tenses, for example, but
may make frequent errors in formation and selection. While some structures
are established, errors occur in more complex patterns. The individual
typically cannot sustain coherent structures in longer utterances
or unfamiliar situations. Ability to describe and give precise information
is limited. Person, space, and time references are often used incorrectly.
Pronunciation is understandable to natives used to dealing with foreigners.
Can combine most significant sounds with reasonable comprehensibility,
but has difficulty in producing certain sounds in certain positions
or in certain combinations. Speech will usually be labored. Frequently
has to repeat utterances to be understood by the general public. Writing: Sufficient
control of writing system to meet most survival needs and limited
social demands. Can create sentences and short paragraphs related
to most survival needs (food, lodging, transportation, immediate surroundings
and situations) and limited social demands. Can express fairly accurate
present and future time. Can produce some past verb forms but not
always accurately or with correct usage. Can relate personal history,
discuss topics such as daily life, preferences, and very familiar
material. Shows good control of elementary vocabulary and some control
of basic syntactic patterns, but major errors still occur when expressing
more complex thoughts. Dictionary usage may still yield incorrect
vocabulary or forms, although the individual can use a dictionary
to advantage to express simple ideas. Generally cannot use basic cohesive
elements of discourse to advantage (such as relative constructions,
object pronouns, connectors, etc.). Can take notes in some detail
on familiar topics, and respond to personal questions using elementary
vocabulary and common structures. Can write simple letters, summaries
of biographical data and work experience with fair accuracy. Writing,
though faulty, is comprehensible to native speakers used to dealing
with foreigners. This level of proficiency, as defined
for the purposes of this course, stipulates acquisition of all regular and
frequent irregular grammatical patterns, the 1,500-unit lexical minimum (with
at least 500 units used in speech production), and an array of common pragmatic
patterns. Take a look at the IRL scale, justification
behind it and elaborate description of the levels: On the Defense Language Institute
scale of foreign language complexity, which ranges from 1 (simplest) to 4
(most difficult), the value of Bosnia{c/n}/Serbian/Croatian is three, with only languages
such as Arabic, Korean, Japanese and Chinese being more difficult. Ample individual
work will be needed to reach the desired level during a two-month course. In addition, this course should
empower its student to be able to recognize common knowledge, beliefs, attitudes,
and behavioral patterns of the region, and to behave (verbally and non-verbally)
in compliance with such cultural norms. In other words, students should develop
elementary cultural competence. This assumes the knowledge of a catalog of
the most important facts in both high and everyday culture. Finally, students will be given
an opportunity to acquire certain basic facts relevant to their interests.
It is expected that two principal groups of students at this course will be
heritage learners and Slavists. The course will principally use
the communicative contrastive approach. Elements of grammar-and-text methodology
will be mediated by simplified decision-making schemata and heuristics. Special
emphasis will be put on the cross-cultural differences. See the explanation of how
schemata and heuristics have been used in teaching morphology at http://www.public.asu.edu/~dsipka/fdslsam.htm The coursework consists of the
following: a. classes centered around the textbook with ample role-playing
exercises (Mon-Thu), b. homework assignments (Mon-Wed), c. individual audio
and computer lab work (Mon-Fri). The course will encourage cooperative
rather than competitive relations among students in a relaxed and friendly
atmosphere. Students will be graded on the
A (excellent) to E (fail) scale depending on proficiency level reached, as
defined by the ACTFL. See
the description of these levels at the SIL pages. Grade Level Percentage
of the required skills A Intermediate
- high 90
% and above B Intermediate
- mid 80
% and above C Intermediate
- low 60
% and above D Novice
- high 40
% and above E Novice
- mid 39
% and below The coursework will contribute
toward the final grade approximately as follows: Attendance
and participation: 20
% Homework: 15
% Quizzes: 15
% Midterm
exam: 20
% Final
exam: 30
% The textbook for this course is
Sljivic-Simsic/Price Bosnia{c/n}/Serbian/Croatian Just for You, 2 vols, OSU, 1985.
The textbook will be supplemented by additional texts and multimedia materials,
primarily available on-line. Although the textbook contains a glossary, students
are encouraged to obtain a SerboCroatian - English and English - SerboCroatian
dictionary, preferably Morton Benson's. Students should have at least one
hundred sheets of paper, index cards, black and red pencils, as well as markers.
Ample material is available on-line (see H. below). You can also order both
Benson's dictionary and Sljivic-Smsic/Price's book at http://www.amazon.com/ Q=Quiz, ME=Midterm Exam, FE=Final
Exam, SS=Sljivic-Simsic/Price's book Week Cluture Structures Lexical
fields Skills Norms Text Q/E One (15 hours) General
information about the language and the region Pronunciation
and spelling rules (Latin script, with Cyrillic script offered facultatively);
Verb to be in the present tense; Demonstrative adverbs; Gender of
the nouns common
objects; professions; pronouns; spatial designations Greeting;
Introducting oneself and others; Taking leave of somebody; Pointing Correspondence
between characters and sounds; Spelling of personal pronouns SS
Intro Q:Fri Two
(15 hours) Regions,
major centers; Ethnic and religious affiliation; Differences in attitudinal
and behavioral patterns Gender
of the Nouns and Adjectives; Matching the Gender of the Adjectives
with the Gender of the Nouns; Number of the Nouns and Adjectives;
Matching the Number and the Gender the Adjectives with the Number
and the Gender of the Nouns; Adjectives vs. Adjectival Pronouns; Exceptions
in Noun and Adjective forms; Verb to be in the negative and iterrogative
form common
objects, professions; ethnic and religious designation; names; possessives;
features;
colors; intensifiers Expressing
features and qualities; Expressing posession; Asking about professions,
ethnic and religious background; Affirming and negating; Contrasting Spelling
of ethnic and religious designations; Ekavian vs ijekavian form SS
1-2 Q:Fri Three
(15 hours) School
system; Popular athletes and teams; Flora and fauna of the region;
Climate and Weather Verbs,
Present Tense – affirmative, interrogative, negative; Cases, General; Accusative; Wh-pronouns and adverbs;
Quantitative adverbs; Prepositions with the Accusative School
subjects and coursework; Sports and hobbies; Kinship terms; Plants
and animals; Basic actions; Directions; Numerals; Days of the week;
Months Relating
about actions and states; Expressing relations; Expressing time; Quantifying Spelling
of school subjects, days of the week, months; Spelling of the negation;
Spelling of the particle li SS
3-4 Q:Fri Four
(15 hours) Social
and health care system; Further attitudinal and behavioral differences;
Conceptualizing differences Genitive;
Basic sentence patterns; Agreement of the numerals; Prepositions with
the Genitive; Existential constructions; Verbal aspect – preliminaries Cognitive
and affective processes; Home and furniture; Garments; Basic medical
terms; Body parts Expressing
liking and disliking; Maintaining the stream of conversation; Asking
more complex questions Word
stress; Sentence prosody SS
5-6 ME:Fri Five (12 hours) Transportaion
infrastructure; Major cities; Major companies; Condtions of work Verbs,
the Past Tense; The Dative/Locative; Relative Pronouns Transportation;
City; Lanscape; Social life; Work Inviting;
Thanking; Relating about past events Word
order; Spelling of the enclitics SS
7 Q:Thu Six (15 hours) Forms
of shopping; Culture of shopping; Banks; Telecommunications; TV and
Radio Stations The
Imperative; The Vocative; Reflexive pronouns; Impersonal se-constructions;
Accusative and Dative Logical Subjects Shopping;
Groceries; Banking, monetary units; Post office, Internet; TV
and radio Requesting;
Issuing commands, giving directions; Expressing
satisfaction and dissatisfaction Punctuation SS
8-9 Q:Fri Seven (15 hours) Ethnic
foods and drinks; Major tourist points of interest; Popular music The
Future Tense; The Instrumental Case; Adverbs Sightseeing;
Restaurtants, bars, etc.; Cuisine Promissing,
giving assurances; Proposing and declining; Indicating mood Spelling
of the Future Tense SS
10-11 Q:Fri Eight
(15 hours) Major
artists and work of art; Musical traditions; Ethnic crafts; Major religious holidays and practices
The Comparative; The Conditional Mood; Collective Nouns and Numerals Arts;
Crafts; Holidays; Religions and religious life Comparing;
Indicating possibility; Indicating causes and consequences Pronunciation
and spelling of č,ć,dž,đ SS
12 Q:
Fri Nine (15 hours) Final
review Final
review, social events Final
review, social events Final
review, social events Final
review, social events SS
1-12 FE:Thu E. Links to Course
and Post-Course Materials Check
this section from time to time! More links to come in June and July! Get your fonts and keyboard
drivers at: http://clover.slavic.pitt.edu/~aatseel/index.html
or at: http://www.fontfreak.com/index2.htm Lexical and pragmatic formulae
lists Grammar aids On-line dictionaries http://www.yourdictionary.com/diction3c.html http://www.public.asu.edu/~dsipka/rjeynici.html#sslav Practice final exams Test # 1 http://www.public.asu.edu/~dsipka/AZTST1.TXT Test # 2 http://www.public.asu.edu/~dsipka/AZTXT2.TXT On-line excercises Lexical
Drills
Alphabets
Grammar
Drills
Text
Comprehension
Listening
Comprehension
Map orientation
Evaluated
Drills
Send-out
Forms
Answer keys to Šljivić-Šimšić -
Second book, Lesson 7 http://www.public.asu.edu/~dsipka/ZAD.TXT -
Second book, Lessons 8 and 9 http://www.public.asu.edu/~dsipka/ZAD2.TXT Bosnia{c/n}/Serbian/Croatian Corpora and Frequency
Lists Serbian: http://www.serbian-corpus.edu.yu/indexie.htm Croatian: http://www.hnk.ffzg.hr/default.htm Bosnian Muslim: http://www.tekstlab.uio.no/Bosnian/Corpus.html Turbo Serbo FAQ http://www.public.asu.edu/~dsipka/FAQ.HTM General information Media Music http://members.home.net/muzickegrane
(ample real audio recordings, contemorarry
Serbian, Croatian, and Bosniam Muslim music) Serbian Orthodox Chants http://www.sv-luka.org/ Chat Serbian Cafee http://www.serbiancafe.com/chat South-Slavic Lists http://www2.arnes.si/krpan/spiskiANG.html South Slavic Library Language schools in the former
Yugoslavia http://clover.slavic.pitt.edu/~aatseel/intensive-programs/iprograms.html General Slavic Resources AATSEEL http://clover.slavic.pitt.edu/~aatseel/ AAASS http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~aaass/ Slavophilia http://www.slavophilia.net/ REESWeb http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/reesweb/ Slavic Departments in German-Speaking
Countries and Worldwide Canadian Slavic Association http://www.utoronto.ca/slavic/cas/ RusWeb http://www.ruthenia.ru/web/rusweb.html BASEES http://www.gla.ac.uk/external/basees/index.html Maprjal http://www.maprjal.org Miscellaneous Bosnia{c/n}/Serbian/Croatian
links http://www.languages-on-the-web.com/links/link-serbo-croatian.htm http://aristotle.sils.umich.edu/youth/hello/serbocroat.html http://www.yusearch.com/cat/e1_3.html You can order food from the
former Yugoslavia at:
http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/uni/nss/jungslav/slavhome/slavdpts.html