English linguistics: sociolinguistics

Teacher(s)

De Cock Sylvie;

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.

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

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the information in this section is particularly likely to change.

Seminar-like course ; reading list ; classroom discussions ; paper presentations.
The seminars are given face to face (or online via Teams or using dual mode teaching if face to face sessions are impossible in case of a health crisis for example).

Evaluation methods

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the information in this section is particularly likely to change.

• oral presentation of a scientific paper that covers one of the topics of the course (30%).
• written exam (60%).
• continuous assessment (group work, participation in discussions) (10%).

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)

Online resources

Moodle

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.

Teaching materials

• Documents and articles on Moodle

Faculty or entity

ELAL