LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY in Fall 2018 (LI1091FB4)

We often have preconceptions about the languages, dialects and accents spoken in our home countries or elsewhere. An accent, for example, may carry a particular status. One language might be used in schools, while another is spoken at home. A certain dialect might be used by news presenters, while another is not. Where do these ideas and customs come from? How do they affect speech communities and their relationships with other communities? What happens when different languages and dialects come into contact with each other? This course will begin to address these questions through an exploration of languages spoken in the Middle East and how these languages and dialects evolved. We will then follow the movement of people into Europe and the Americas, where a myriad of languages are spoken. The course will consider language interaction within multilingual communities and individuals, switching between languages, and the development of Pidgins and Creoles. Case studies, fieldwork, and reports of your own linguistic experience will be an integral part of the course.