This course is concerned with the English language
from a sociolinguistic perspective. It surveys the standard varieties of
English and how they have developed. It aims to provide insights into how
social structures and relationships influence language and how language plays a
role in shaping social structures and relationships. In addition to providing
students with the theoretical and analytical tools to understand current work
in sociolinguistics, it also prepares them to undertake their own research and
familiarizes them with the current trends in sociolinguistics in the broad
areas of language variation in text and discourse, attitudes towards language,
multilingualism, globalization, language contact and language policy. Both
quantitative and qualitative methods are discussed and evaluated in the course. Introduction
to the major regional dialects and contact varieties of the English-speaking
world and to the many dimensions of social variation in British and North
American English. This course will approach the
topic of language variation and change. The course content will focus on
language internal factors on variation.