Language and Society - AAA130196

• Title: Language and Society
• Guaranteed by: Department of the English Language and ELT Methodology (21-UAJD)
• Faculty: Faculty of Arts
• Actual: from 2022
• Semester: both
• Points: 0
• E-Credits: 3
• Hours per week, examination: 0/2, C [HT]
• Capacity: winter:unknown / unknown (unknown); summer:unknown / unknown (unknown)
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: not taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Additional information: https://dl1.cuni.cz/course/view.php?id=8745
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment; you can enroll for the course in winter and in summer semester
• Guarantor: doc. Dr. phil. Eva Maria Luef, Mag. phil.

Annotation

Last update: doc. Dr. phil. Eva Maria Luef, Mag. phil. (21.09.2022)

Sociolinguistics is a discipline within the field of linguistics concerned with the systematic investigation of human language in relation to the social life of its speakers. This course is designed to offer introductory knowledge of basic sociolinguistic concepts (e.g., accent, dialect, diglossia) and methodology (i.e., real-time, apparent-time experiments) used by researchers to investigate language in its social context. We will discuss several of the topics that sociolinguists traditionally study, including the relationships between social identity and language use, linguistic diversity, language variation and change, and language contact. We will also examine some of the methods for collecting and analyzing data. By the end of this course, students will have acquired the ability to understand aspects of sociolinguistic theory and data, based on knowledge of the scholarly research in the field.

Course completion requirements

Last update: doc. Dr. phil. Eva Maria Luef, Mag. phil. (21.09.2022)

Attendance, active participation, weekly readings = 20%

Assignments = 30%

Oral presentation  = 30%

Final exam = 20%

Literature

Last update: doc. Dr. phil. Eva Maria Luef, Mag. phil. (21.09.2022)

Boberg, C. (2004). Real and apparent time in language change: Late adoption of changes in Montreal English. American Speech, 79/3, 250-269.

Bybee, J. (2002). Word frequency and context of use in the lexical diffusion of phonetically conditioned sound change. Language Variation and Change, 14, 261-290.

Calude, A. S., Miller, S., & Pagel, M. (2020). Modelling loanword success: A sociolinguistic quantitative study of Maori loanwords in New Zealand English. Corpus Linguistics and Ling. Theory, 16/1, 29-66.

Crystal, D. (2003). English as a global language (2nd edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Dailey-O’Cain, J. (1997). Canadian raising in a midwestern U.S. city. Language Variation and Change, 9, 107-120.

Dowling, T., McCormick, K., & Dyers, C. (2019). Language contact in Cape Town. In R. Hickey (Ed.), English in Multilingual South Africa: The Linguistics of Contact and Change (Studies in English Language, pp. 129-150). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Drager, K. (2012). Pidgin and Hawai'i English: An overview. Int. J. Lang. Transl. Intercult. Comm. 1/1, 61-73.

Eisenstein, J., O’Connor, B., Smith, N. A., & Xing, E. P. (2014). Diffusion of lexical change in social media. PLoS One, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0113114

Goria, E. (2021). Complex items and units in extra-sentential code switching: Spanish and English in Gibraltar. Journl of Language Contact, 13, 540-572.

Guy, G. (2011). Language, social class, and status. In R. Mesthrie (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Sociolinguistics (Cambridge Handbooks in Language and Linguistics, pp. 159-185). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Giles, H. & Ogay, T. (2007). Commmunication accommodation theory. In: B. B. Whaley & W. Samter (Eds.), Explaining communication: Contemporary theories and exemplars (pp. 293-310). Mahway, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Handman, C. (2013). Text messaging in Tok Pisin: Etymologies and orthographies in cosmopolitan Papua New Guinea. Culture, Theory and Critique, 54/3, 265-284.

Horvath, B. M., & Horvath, R. J. (2002). The geolinguistics of /l/ vocalization in Australia and New Zealand. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 6/3, 319-346.

Kim, S. Y, & Chao, R. K. (2009). Heritage language fluency, ethnic identity, and school effort of immigrant Chinese and Mexican adolescents. Cultur. Divers. Ethnic. Minor. Psychol., 15/1, 27-37.

Kirkpatrick, A. (2014). World Englishes. In: C. Leung & B. V. Street (Eds.), The Routledge companion to English studies. London: Routledge.

Kleinman, S. (2002). Why sexist language matters. Qualitative Sociology, 25/2, 299-304.

Labov, W. (2010). Introduction to cognitive and cultural factors in linguistic change. In W. Labov (Ed.), Principles of linguistic change: Cognitive and cultural factors (pp. 1-18). Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

Maxwell, O., Diskin-Holdaway, C., & Loakes, D. (2021). Attitudes toward Indian English among young urban professionals in Hyderabad, India. World Englishes, 1-20.

McCarthy, C. (2007). Social correlates of vowel shifting in Chicago. McGill Working Papers in Linguistics, 21/1.

McFaul, S. (2016). International students’ social network: Network mapping to gauge friendship formation and student engagement on campus. Journal of International Students, 6/1, 1013.

Meyerhoff, M, & Ehrlich, S. (2019). Language, gender, and sexuality. Annual Review of Linguistics, 5, 455-475.

Milroy, L. (2004). Social networks. In: K. Chambers, et al. (Eds.), The handbook of language variation and change (pp. 549-572). London: Blackwell Publishing. 

Milroy, J., & Milroy, L. (1985). Linguistic change, social network and speaker innovation. Journal of Linguistics, 21, 339-384.

Pearson, P. (2013). Policy without a plan: English as a medium of instruction in Rwanda. Current Issues in Language Planning, 15/1.

Sankoff, G. (2004). Linguistic outcomes of language contact. In: J. K. Chambers, P. Trudgill & N. Schilling-Estes (Eds.), The handbook of language variation and change (pp. 638-668). Malden MA: Blackwell.

Thomason, S. G. (2001). Language contact. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Torgersen, E., & Kerswill, P. (2004). Internal and external motivation in phonetic change: Dialect levelling outcomes for an English vowel shift. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 8/1, 23-53.

Wardhaugh, R. (2006). An introduction to sociolinguistics. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

Wardhaugh, R. & Fuller, J. (2015). An introduction to sociolinguistics. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell.

Youssef, V. (2010). Sociolinguistics of the Caribbean. In: M. J. Ball (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of sociolinguistics around the world (pp. 52-64). Oxon, UK: Routledge.

Requirements to the exam

Last update: doc. Dr. phil. Eva Maria Luef, Mag. phil. (07.02.2022)

 Attendance, active participation, weekly readings = 20%

 Assignments = 30%

 Oral presentation  = 30%

 Final exam = 20%

Syllabus

Last update: doc. Dr. phil. Eva Maria Luef, Mag. phil. (21.09.2022)

Session	Topic	Recommended Readings
1	Introduction to sociolinguistics: What do sociolinguists study?
2	Social dialects, varieties	Wardhaugh, 2006, chapter 2
3	Standardization of English in Sub-Saharan Africa (e.g., Rwanda) Dialect levelling in the UK The status of English in the Caribbean Age-grading in dialects Ethnic identity and heritage languages	Boberg, 2004 Kim & Chao, 2009 Pearson, 2013 Torgersen & Kerswill, 2004 Youssef, 2010
4	Linguistic variation and change	Labov, 2010 Wardhaugh, 2006, chapter 8
5	Great Lakes Vowel Shift (Northern Cities Vowel Shift) Canadian Raising and its dissemination in North America Vocalization of /l/ in English varieties Frequency effects in language changes Role of social media in language change	Bybee, 2002 Dailey-O’Cain, 1997 Eisenstein et al., 2014 Horvath & Horvath, 2002 McCarthy, 2007
6	Language, identity, and social class	Guy, 2011
7	Language contact	Drager, 2012 Sankoff, 2004 Thomason, 2001, chapter 1
8	English-based creoles and pidgins (e.g., Tok Pisin) English as a lingua franca in India Language contact and code switching in South African English Contact between Maori and New Zealand English Gibraltarian English (Llanito)	Calude, et al., 2020 Dowling et al., 2019 Goria, 2021 Handman, 2013 Maxwell et al., 2021
9	Language, sex, and gender	Kleinman, 2002 Meyerhoff & Ehrlich, 2019 Wardhaugh & Fuller, 2015, chapter 12
10	Language and social interaction: Communication Accommodation	Giles & Ogay, 2007
11	Political correctness	This American Life (podcast): “Words you can’t say“
12	Social and linguistic networks	McFaul, 2016 Milroy, 2004 Milroy & Milroy, 1985
13	World Englishes	Crystal, 2003: 86-122 Kirkpatrick, 2014