LING 1102 - Introduction to Language in Culture and Society

This course looks at the use of language in society and its relationship to the culture(s) of its speakers. Students are introduced to the broad fields of socio-linguistics and anthropological linguistics. The course studies language variation across regions, ethnicity, social class, gender, age, religion, level of education etc. The course also looks at language as a window into the culture of its speakers, thus serving as a useful tool for anthropologists in coming to understand cultural institutions and the world-view of speakers. A major focus will be on how different languages and language varieties co-exist, complement or replace other languages and language varieties or even result in new languages. The course will be activity-based and will encourage students to observe language as it is used around them. They may be required to collect and analyse authentic language data in use within the community.