Sociolinguistics

Course goals

Students have knowledge and understanding of basic concepts, theories, insights and key figures in the field of sociolinguistics and further they have insight into the complex relationships between language and society. They can identify, analyse and research sociolinguistic problems at a basic level. They can participate in current debates on sociolinguistic matters in the public domain in a clear and articulate manner, both in written and oral form. 

Content

This course focuses on the relationships between language and society with special focus on those areas where Dutch is spoken. Questions about language variation are central to the course. How and why does variation emerge? What social, individual and linguistic factors are important?
Concepts that will be addressed include standard language, accent and dialect, youth language, ethnolect, gender differences in language and gendered language as well as the differences between language variation and language change, linguistic style differences, racist and sexist language and the social meaning and function of language differences. Other topics include language planning, multilingualism, codeswitching, the status of minority languages and their role in education, language loss and language shift among migrants.

Additional information

Please note: the time slot shown here is not yet final and may still be modified until the 3rd Wednesday in September. 

This course is part of the minor Linguistics.

NOTE: The courses (TW1V13001 Tlw-Sociolinguistics,or TW1V19002 Sociolinguistics and EN3V18004 Eng-The Sociolinguistics of Englishes) can not be both part of your programme because of equivalence in content. A student of English who has chosen the specialisation “The Social Life of English” and who follows the minor Linguistics, should replace Sociolinguistics (TW1V19002) with Digital Tools and Methods (TW2V23002). Contact your Study advisor.