SOCIOLINGUISTICS

The course is one of the core educational activities of the degree course in Language Sciences. It is one of the linguistic disciplines promoting metalinguistic awareness, focusing on the various dimensions of language variation. In particular, the course aims to illustrate the principles and methods developed since the mid-XX century, and adopted for the description of language variation. Different phenomena and discourse domains will be examined, with a view to analysing how language forms are functional to communication and manifestation of identity issues.

Students will acquire the fundamentals of sociolinguistics. They will understand the concept of language as a diasystem and single out different dimensions of variation, exploring the possibility of analysing regularities behind and beyond variation.
On the basis of the acquired theoretical and methodological competence, students will be able to understand variation, applying their knowledge to the analysis of historical situations. Special attention will be devoted to the relationship between variation and language change, and between variation and language contact.
The analysis of cases and situations will make it possible for the students to develop critical awareness of language varieties, with a parallel improvement of their communicative competence.

No specific previous knowledge is required.

Sociolinguistics in a historical perspective
The fundamentals of language variation
The main dimensions of language variation: theory and application
Sociolinguistics and language change
Sociolinguistics and language contact
Multilingualism and language policies

Wodak, Ruth/Johnstone, Barbara/Kerswill, Paul (eds) (2011), Handbook of Sociolinguistics. London: Sage (a choice of chapters)

Further readings will be made available on the Moodle platform of the course

Oral exam: assessment of knowledge and understanding of theoretical and methodological principles; application to a historical case

Conventional lectures; examples and analysis of cases. Students are encouraged to participate to class discussion.

English

oral