Language and Society (220-0-20)
Instructors
Annette Kumsun D'onofrio
847/491-8052
2016 Sheridan Rd,, Room 106
Office Hours: By appt.
Meeting Info
Harris Hall L07: Mon, Wed 2:00PM - 3:20PM
Overview of class
This course will focus on the study of linguistic variation and change from a variety of perspectives on the social. We'll examine how linguistic variation corresponds to large-scale social categories like age, gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic class, as well as how individual speakers use language to construct identities, portray stances, and achieve interactional goals. We'll explore how language is a social practice that is situated in history, and how language can reflect, reinforce, create, and contest societal power structures. Students will participate in hands-on quantitative research in sociolinguistic variation to examine directly how the social and linguistic are intertwined.
Learning Objectives
Through successfully completing this course, you will know the difference between descriptive and prescriptive views on language, understand the ways that language can vary, and the social factors that can condition this variation, learn to conduct and present quantitative linguistic variation analysis, and understand the broader implications of sociolinguistic variation and linguistic discrimination.
Teaching Method
Lecture and Discussion
Evaluation Method
Assignments (reading responses), project papers
Class Materials (Required)
No required texts (all will be provided by instructor)
Class Attributes
Social & Behavioral Sciences Distro Area
SDG Reduced Inequality
SDG Gender Equality