Sociolinguists are broadly concerned with examining how our understanding of language can be informed through a consideration of the social contexts in which language is produced and interpreted. In this course we will discuss several of the topics that sociolinguists have studied, including code-switching, language and power, translation, the relationships between gender and identity, language in the Internet, performance and community, and the connections of these issues to ideologies about language. We will also examine and practice some of the methods for collecting and analyzing data that researchers have used. Throughout, we will also consider how the knowledge gained through this research can inform other academic disciplines, professional life, and public discourse more generally.

1. Identify research questions appropriate to the discipline of sociolinguistics and explain why they are important, i.e., how answering them could contribute to an understanding of the nature of human language. 2. Practice some of the methods that sociolinguists use to collect and analyze data. 3. Critically read and evaluate published research in sociolinguistics. 4. Apply knowledge gained from prior research in sociolinguistics to propose an original research project.

Ahearn, Laura. 2011. The Socially Charged Life of Language: Living Language. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Additional book chapters and articles will be distributed in class and are required as listed in the readings below.