SOCIOLINGUISTICS COURSE INFORMATION
LINGUISTICS 415 (SUMMER 1997)
SOCIOLINGUISTICS
INSTRUCTOR:
Glenn Gilbert (Faner 3230, Faner 3226; tel. 453-3414 or 453-3410; ggilbert@siu.edu)
LECTURE TIME & PLACE:
Monday through Friday 1:20 - 2:55, Faner 2204; June 9, 1997 to July 18, 1997 (six weeks)
Course Prerequisites:
one previous course in linguistics or consent of the instructor; students may be undergraduate or graduate students; non-linguistics majors welcome
OBJECTIVES:
This is an introductory survey to sociolinguistics. This course is designed to give you an appreciation of the relationship between language and society and language and culture. Students will learn about a variety of topics dealing with the general theme of languge in its social context. There will be readings, videos, lectures by the instructor, lectures by invited specialists, class discussion, and student research projects. Topics include: regional and social dialects, styles and registers, pidgin and creole languages, diglossia, bilingualism, speech communities, networks and repertoires, language variation, language change, language and culture, ethnography and ethnomethodology, solidarity and politeness, acting and conversing, language and gender, language and disadvantage, and language planning.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
In addition to reading the textbook, students will be asked to carry out a project involving sociolinguistic research of their own design. Students are encouraged to send questions and comments to the instructor ggilbert@siu.edu
GRADING:
- final exam (2 hours) 45%
- research assignment 45%
- my judgment of your progress and learning in the course 10%
Textbook:
Ronald Wardhaugh [pronounced: wardhof]. (1992) An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, Second Edition. Paperback. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Research Assignment:
All students will conduct some original piece of research culminating in a written research report. Your project should be discussed, at various stages, with the instructor during his office hour or during some other mutually agreeable time. Details are given on a separate page Research Project, but the dates to remember are:
- half-page "abstract" giving the topic and describing the project is to be submitted by Friday, June 27th.
- the final report is due on Thursday, July 17th. [I will be leaving the country on July 19th; it is important to hold strictly to the July 17th deadline in order for you to complete the course satisfactorily.]
Please note that PLAGIARISM incurs severe penalties.
Assignment for the first day of class: If you should read this before the first class meeting, purchase a copy of Wardhaugh. Look over the topics in the book and compare them with the suggested research projects in order to make up a short list for yourself of the projects you would be most interested in. Bring the book and your list of topics to the first class meeting. If you have time, start reading Wardhaugh. Every bit of reading you can do before the class begins will mean less work to do once the course starts.
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