University of Victoria Courses

Fall/Winter 2004-2005

ENGL 135: Academic Reading & Writing
Practice of skills needed for successful academic writing in a variety of subject areas. Analysis of rhetorical, stylistic, research and documentation techniques; development of these techniques through practical writing assignments. Balance of lectures and discussion.

GRS 250: The Contribution of Greek and Latin to the English Language
Out of 20,000 common words in English, 10,000 came from Latin directly or through French. The Greek element is also impressive, particularly in the ever-expanding vocabulary of science. Among topics studied will be the Greek script, principles of transliteration, the formation of nouns, adjectives and verbs, hybrid words, neologisms and semantic changes.

HIST 240: History of Modern Europe
After providing a brief background in medieval institutions, this course surveys European history from the Renaissance to the mid-20th century. The lectures will focus on political, intellectual, cultural, and social aspects of European society and the modern state as it emerges in the contemporary world.

HIST 365A: Social and Cultural History of Modern Europe: 1770-1848
An examination of cultural changes in Europe under the impact of the French and industrial revolutions.

HIST 365B: Social, Cultural, and Political History of Modern Europe: 1848-1914
An examination of the cultural preoccupations of bourgeois Europe towards the fin-de-siecle.

HIST 393: Topics: War and Society Prior to 1700
Selected aspects of military history and peace studies. Topics to be considered may include war and society; naval history; science, technology, and war; and the history of pacifism.

MEST 308: Fascism in the Hispanic and Italian World
Modules may include "Fascism in Mussolini's Italy," "Fascism in Franco's Spain," "Fascists and Nazis Transplanted to South America" and "Exile."

RUSS 100A: Beginner's Russian I
Introduction to the fundamentals of Russian grammar; basic reading, writing, and conversational skills. Includes practice in the Language Centre.

RUSS 100B: Beginner's Russian II
Continuation of 100A. Development of basic reading, writing and conversational skills. Practice in the Language Centre will reinforce basic speech patterns and idioms.

Summer 2005

HIST 318: Topics: History of United States' Foreign & Defence Policy
An intensive study of selected aspects of American history.

HIST 345: Canadian-American Relations
An exploration of selected issues in the economic, cultural, political, and diplomatic aspects of Canadian-American relations.

HIST 366: Europe Between the Two World Wars
This course will examine the impact of the First World War on European society through its effect on the international order and the rise of totalitarian ideologies such as communism and fascism.

HIST 376: The Soviet Union and Its Successor States, 1917-2000
A history of the Soviet Union and its aftermath. This lecture course examines political, economic, social, and cultural transformations that shaped the Soviet socialist experiment, as well as the causes of its collapse and the difficulties of post-communist transition in Russia and non-Russian republics. Through reports and discussions, emphasis is given to social history, gender, and everday life.

LING 373: Second Language Acquisition
This course examines the process of acquiring a second or additional language. Topics include the nature of learner language, individual differences in language acquisition, the role of input and interaction, similarities and differences in L1 and L2 acquisition, instructed acquisition and the relationship between acquisition research and second language teaching.

LING 388: Introduction to the Grammar of English Usage
A basic functional treatment of the grammar of English, with special emphasis on standard Canadian English usage. The parts of speech and their functional relations will be examined.

Fall/Winter 2005-2006

GERS 487: A Cultural History of Vampires in Literature and Film
A study of literary and cinematic vampires in historical context. Without focusing exclusively on German literature and film, this course will follow the vampire myth and its various guises from classicism to postmodernism in novels, short stories, and films.

HIST 328: Death and the Afterlife in England
A cultural history of death and attitudes towards the afterlife and the supernatural in England from the late Middle Ages to modern times. Subjects include beliefs about heaven, hell and purgatory; medieval ars moriendi; martyrdom and public execution; murder and providential murder sheets and ghost stories; suicide; the emergence of cemeteries; medicine, hospitals and the modern secularisation of death; spiritualism and recent New Age approaches.

HIST 339: Topics: Crime and Society in Early Modern England
An intensive study of selected aspects of British History.

HIST 389: Topics: History of Sexuality
Selected topics in European history.

LING 326: Meaning in Language
Word (lexical) and compositional semantics. This course investigates topics in linguistic theories of meaning, including components of meaning, lexical relations (antonymy, hyponymy, synonymy), thematic relations (agent, patient, theme), tense, aspect, and model-theoretic compositional semantics.

LING 390: Growth of Modern English
The linguistic history of the English language from its Proto-Indo-European origins to the eighteenth century. Topics will include the causes of language change, the development of the phonological, morphosyntactic and lexical systems of English, and the significance of social and regional dialects.

LING 396: Sociolinguistic Issues in Japanese
An examination of the Japanese language in its social context. A wide range of sociolinguistic topics will be covered, including non-verbal communication and types of Japanese spoken outside of Japan. Attention will be given to linguistic, dialectal, and stylistic variation in speech communities, and to sociolinguistic considerations such as class, gender, and social setting.

LING 401: Salish
An introduction to the linguistic structures of the Salish family of languages, one of the major language families in British Columbia. The course may focus on a particular Salish language, and will include discussion of oral and written literature and related cultural topics. Language revitalization among Salish language communities will be discussed.

RUSS 460: Forbidden Books, Forbidden Film
A study of selected works of Russian literature and cinema which have been banned, censored and prohibited, from the Imperial to the Soviet period. Texts and films may include: Pushkin, The Bronze Horseman; Tolstoy, The Kreutzer Sonata; Chernyshevsky, What is to be Done?; Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita; Nabokov, Lolita; and Eisenstein, Ivan the Terrible.