Sociolinguistics

Dozent/in:

Laurentia Schreiber

Termine:

Do, 14:15 - 15:45, SP17/02.19
ab 27.10.2022

Inhalt:

In this course, we are dealing with the basics of how humans use language. This question is located at the intersection of language and society. We will discuss the field of language and power, i.e., the role of language in politics and nation states and the emergence of minority languages as opposed to majority languages. Furthermore, we will discern the differences in speaking a dialect versus the language of a certain social group such as youth language. Dealing with these types of linguistic variation, we will come across certain social variables that shape the way how we speak; among them social variables such as gender, age, socioeconomic class, and profession but also sociolinguistic variables such as language identity and attitudes. In the intersection of who we are and how we want to be seen, we will ultimately investigate on a pragmatic level what we are doing with language when we speak.

The course is built on active participation of the group and will grant a lot of freedom for individual interests and student investigations.

Empfohlene Literatur:

• Meyerhoff, Miriam. 2011. Introducing sociolinguistics. London & New York: Routledge.
• Romaine. 2010. Language in society: An introduction to sociolinguistics. Oxford: OUP.