Sociolinguistics

Credit Units

Credit Hours 

Course Title

Course Code

Theory:  2

Practical: 0

Clinic, Field,: 

2

Sociolinguistics

English

ENGL 454

علم اللغة الاجتماعي

Arabic

Corequisites

Prerequisites

Study Level

-

Semantics & Pragmatics 

ENGL 309

7

Course Main Objective (concise and precise statement without bullets): 

The main objective of course is 

Sociolinguistics introduces the main areas of studying language in its social context. The course elaborates on sociolinguistics as different from the sociology of language. Language determines and hence controls social factors such as social class, socio- cultural variables, gender, race, and other situational parameters. The course focuses on British and American Sociolinguistics, including dialects and other social factors (e.g. age, race, gender) in addition to variation according to use.

Course Learning Outcomes (CLO) (limit 4-6 CLOs):

By the end of this course, the student will be able to:

1

Knowledge and Comprehension

Aligned PLOs*

1.1

Discuss  key terms and concepts in the field of sociolinguistics.

K.2

2

Skills 

2

2.1

Apply the key methodologies in analysing linguistic variation at different levels, contexts and usages of language. 

S.1

2.2

Conduct a sociolinguistic case study.

S.2

2.3

Utilize information and communication technology effectively in sociolinguistic research.

S.3

3

Values

3

3.1

Work effectively in groups to facilitate teamwork.

V.1

Course Content:                                                                                                                                

• Introduction to sociolinguistics: social dimensions 
• Language choice in multilingual communities 
• Diglossia & polyglossia 
• Codeswitching and borrowing 
• Variation along social factors: 
• Regional dialects 
• Accent vs dialect 
• Social dialects 
• Age 
• Gender 
• Gender, politeness & stereotypes 
• Linguistic variation: 
• Vernacular vs standard 
• Lingua franca 
• Pidgins and creoles 
• Language change: 
• Language maintenance & shift 
• Language death & revival 
• National & official language 
• Language planning 

Textbook (s) (include the latest references with full details using standard format e.g. APA, MLA etc):

Holmes, Janet and Nick Wilson. (2017) An Introduction to Sociolinguistics.5th Edition.

Routledge