Advanced Topics in Language Variation & Change - LAN00002H
Module summary
This module follows on from work on Intermediate Language Variation and Change, expanding the theoretical and empirical base. The focus is more firmly on language change, with an emphasis on language contact, dialect contact, demography and social structure. We take a relatively long time-line, so that we can see both the origins and the end-points of change (while recognising that change is continuous). Students will not be required to do independent research, while their critical skills will be honed through guided reading. There is also a strong emphasis on academic writing.
Related modules
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Spring Term 2022-23 to Summer Term 2022-23 |
Module aims
The module demonstrates how a sociolinguistic approach can benefit our understanding of language change. It emphasises language contact, dialect contact, demography and social structure. The module takes a relatively long time-line, so that we can see both the origins and the end-points of change (while recognising that change is continuous).
Module learning outcomes
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
- demonstrate knowledge and understanding of qualitative and quantitative approaches in the domains of language contact, dialect contact, sociolinguistic models of change and new, contact-based language varieties including multiethnolects.
- give a critical account of linguistic phenomena arising from contact, describing and contrasting them based on data contained in published articles.
- show an understanding of the problem of language change from several standpoints, including change derived from contact, the longer-term effects of multiethnic youth language, and the transmission of language from adults to children.
Module content
Coverage of topics will vary from year to year, but will be selected from the following list (and other related topics):
- Language contact
- Dialect contact
- Language shift
- The speech community as the locus of language change
- Transmission vs. diffusion
- New youth language(s) and language change
- Demography, social structure and language change
- Historical Sociolinguistics – window on the past
- Discourse variation and language change
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Module feedback
Feedback on formative work (literature review)
Oral feedback will be provided during the seminars.
Summative assessment and feedback
Written feedback available at the end of the summer term.
Indicative reading
Pre-reading for this module:
Kerswill, Paul (2004). Social dialectology/Sozialdialektologie. In Klaus Mattheier, Ulrich Ammon & Peter Trudgill (eds.) Sociolinguistics/Soziolinguistik. An international handbook of the science of language and society, 2nd edn., Vol 1. Berlin: De Gruyter. 22–33. [This is an introduction to variationist sociolinguistics, narrowly defined.]
Background reading:
Tagliamonte, Sali (2011). Variationist sociolinguistics: Change, observation, interpretation. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. Chapter 2 (= pp. 25–65). [This can be read as an overview of some of the areas we will be covering.] (ebook)
Weekly readings:
These will be posted on the VLE a week before each lecture.