Language and Society

This course explores the social life of spoken language. Students learn to address the following big questions about language and society: Why do languages vary across different time periods, locations, and social groups? What do our opinions about the way other people speak tell us about society? How do our social identities and goals influence the way we speak? And how do we use language to alter our social relationships? In addition to weekly reading responses, students complete two projects during the quarter: a transcription of spoken interaction and a quantitative analysis of linguistic variation. Students taking the course for four units write a literature review and project proposal for their final papers. Students taking the course for three units complete a shorter final paper that aims to improve public awareness about sociolinguistics.