Objectives and competences
Students:
– understand language as a dynamic process embedded in specific social circumstances and contexts;
– get acquainted with the concept of translanguaging in relation to multilingualism and the related integrative, dynamic and asymmetric aspect of communication competence
– increase awareness of the interconnectedness and interaction of language and social processes;
– get acquainted with the main theoretical topics that guide sociolinguistic research at the macro and micro level;
– raise awareness of the relationship between sociolinguistic variables and identity categories.
Content (Syllabus outline)
1. Definition of sociolinguistics, its historical and theoretical context, developmental beginnings and institutionalization of sociolinguistics as a scientific discipline.
2. Bilingualism - multilingualism – translanguaging: traditional and dynamic view on bilingualism; translanguaging and code-switching; translanguagung as pedagogy.
3. Language maintenance and language shift (language shift in different communities, language loss and language death, endangered language, language revival).
4. Sociolinguistics in the age of globalization:
– global multilingualism, world languages and language systems;
– The European Union in a sociolinguistic perspective;
– eco-linguistics and globalization.
5. Language, gender and sexuality:
– models of feminism;
– postmodernist conception of gender;
– poststructuralist approaches to language, gender and sexual identities.
6. Language, culture and interaction: sign language and the language in people with deafblindness.
Learning and teaching methods
Lectures, group discussion, problem tasks, audio and video, conversation analysis, practical exercises and activities.
The information and communications technology is used for educational purposes in the teaching and learning process.
Intended learning outcomes - knowledge and understanding
Students should be able to:
– distinguish between structuralist and poststructuralist conceptions of language;
– build a metalinguistic awareness;
– explain the role of language in social processes;
– identify, describe and explain changes and variations in language patterns in specific social contexts and circumstances;
– critically reflect on normative assumptions in the construction of identity categories;
– apply relevant sociolinguistic theories in the study of different language situations;
Readings
Temeljna literatura:
Maja BITENC, Marko STABEJ, in Andrejka ŽEJN (ur.), 2021: Sociolingvisticno iskrenje. Ljubljana: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani. Dostop: https://e-knjige.ff.uni-lj.si/znanstvena-zalozba/catalog/book/259.
Nikolas COUPLAND in Adam JAWORSKI, 2009: The New Sociolinguistics Reader. London: Palgrave.
Ofelia GARCIA in Li WEI, 2014: Translanguaging: Language, Bilingualism and Education. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Matejka GRGIC, 2016: Jezik: sistem, sredstvo, simbol: identiteta in ideologija med Slovenci v Italiji. Trst: SLORI.
Janet HOLMES in Nick WILSON, 2017: An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. 5. izdaja. London in New York: Routledge.
Revije:
Journal of Sociolinguistics. Dostop: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1467-9841.
Discourse & Society. Dostop: https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/journal/discourse-society#description.
Language in Society. Dostop: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/language-in-society.
Izbrani prispevki s sociolingvisticno tematiko v slovenskem znanstvenem tisku.
Additional information on implementation and assessment Participating in discussion. 20 %
Oral exam. 80 %
