Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Examines “real-world” issues from a linguistic perspective. Topics may range across a wide spectrum: in-depth analysis of specific languages, social issues (stereotypes, inequality), business matters (linguistics in advertising, legal language), the role of linguistics in the technology sector, as well as more general workplace applications for linguistics. As topics examined may vary by term, this course may be repeated once for credit if the topic is different. Open to all students.

COURSE DETAILS:

This course introduces students to qualitative approaches in sociolinguistics, emphasizing ethnographic methods and interpretive analysis of language in social context. Rather than focusing on quantitative patterns of variation, we explore how people use language to construct identities, negotiate relationships, and create social meaning in their everyday interactions.

The course draws on interactional sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, and discourse analysis traditions, examining how speakers employ linguistic resources to accomplish social actions. We will analyze naturally occurring conversations, narratives, and interactions to understand how context shapes meaning and how language both reflects and constitutes social reality. Through close attention to actual language use, students will discover how speakers index social identities, enact power relations, and position themselves within communities.

Key topics include:

• Language ideologies and how beliefs about language influence social practices and foster inequalities.
• How communities develop local linguistic norms and how speakers navigate multiple speech styles across contexts.
• Identity construction through narratives, examining how people tell stories about themselves and others to create coherent interdependent social identities.
• Communities of practice: how shared engagement creates distinctive ways of speaking.

Selected interactional contexts demonstrate qualitative approaches in action in, for instance, institutional discourse in classrooms, courtrooms, medical settings, and other workplaces. Students will examine how institutional language practices can perpetuate inequalities and how critical awareness may help promote more equitable communication.

The class aims at developing skills in listening carefully, interpreting meaning in context, and presenting nuanced analyses of language as social practice grounded in real human experiences.

MODE OF INSTRUCTION: As a Blended course, this class will have a combination of 1 hour in-person instruction and 2 hours asynchronous (online) components.

For the asynchronous instruction, students will need to access a 2-hour lecture podcast posted in the course’s Canvas site each week by Thursday morning. Students are expected to listen to these lecture podcasts and complete assigned activities within 2 days, e.g. before 3:00 pm on Saturday.

For the in-person instruction, the class will meet for 1 hour on Mondays from 1:30 pm to 2:20 pm. The in-person sessions will focus on clarifying information in the podcasts and assigned readings as well as addressing student questions. Students will also complete brief group work assignments.

Grading

Materials

MATERIALS + SUPPLIES:

PLATFORM USED: Canvas & Zoom (if necessary)

TECHNOLOGY REQUIRED: laptop or cellphone for doing Canvas quizzes

REQUIRED READING:

REQUIRED READING NOTES: