English linguistics: sociolinguistics

lgerm2723  2019-2020  Louvain-la-Neuve

English linguistics: sociolinguistics
Note from June 29, 2020
Although we do not yet know how long the social distancing related to the Covid-19 pandemic will last, and regardless of the changes that had to be made in the evaluation of the June 2020 session in relation to what is provided for in this learning unit description, new learnig unit evaluation methods may still be adopted by the teachers; details of these methods have been - or will be - communicated to the students by the teachers, as soon as possible.
5 credits
15.0 h
Q2
Teacher(s)
De Cock Sylvie (compensates Meunier Fanny); Meunier Fanny;
Language
English
Main themes
Familiarize students with research issues in the anglo-saxon sociolinguistic field by reading scientific articles in the domain and analyzing the various interactions between society and language.
Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

1 By the end of the course, students will adopt a critical approach to sociolinguistics, its evolution, its place in linguistics and its methodology. The students will be familiar with the traditional sociolinguistic trends and research paradigms (W.Labov in the States and P.Trudgill in England, etc.) as well as the more recent developments about 'sociolects', 'ethnolects' and 'genderlects' (linguistic variations based respectively on social class, ethnic origin and gender). Students should also be able to carry out personal linguistic research in the field.
 

The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.
Content
Analysis of the English language in relation to its social context.
The course focuses primarily on social factors such as social class, ethnic origin, age and gender and their impact on language (e.g. accent, vocabulary, language interactions). Special emphasis will be placed on research methods and the types of data used in the field.
Teaching methods
Seminar-like course ; reading list ; classroom discussions ; paper presentations.
Evaluation methods
  • oral presentation of a scientific paper that covers one of the topics of the course (30%).
  • written exam (60%).
  • continuous assessment (attendance, group work, participation in classroom discussions) (10%).
Students who have more than 2 unjustified absences or who have not presented their oral communication will not be allowed to register for the exam.
In case of resit, evaluation will be based on a written exam (and an oral presentation of a scientific article if requested by the lecturer)
Bibliography
  • Scientific articles, documents and slide on Moodle.
  • Baker, P. (2010) Sociolinguistics and Corpus Linguistics. Edinburgh University Press.
  • Holmes, J. (2008) An introduction to sociolinguistics. Third edition. Harlow: Pearson Longman Education (3rd edition).
  • Spolsky, B. (1998) Sociolinguistics. Oxford. Oxford University Press.
  • Stockwell, P. (2007) Sociolinguistics : A resource book for students. Routledge (2nd edition).
  • Wardhaugh, R., and Fuller, J.M. (2015) An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. Wiley Blackwell.
Faculty or entity
LMOD


Programmes / formations proposant cette unité d'enseignement (UE)

Title of the programme
Sigle
Credits
Prerequisites
Aims
Master [120] in Modern Languages and Literatures : German, Dutch and English

Master [120] in Linguistics

Master [120] in Modern Languages and Literatures : General