Sociology of Language

Aims of the Course 

This course explores the relationship between language and Nationalism, building on theories of the sociology of language discussed in the companion course. It examines a series of case studies in history of nationalist attitudes toward language and language planning, applying sociolinguistic theories to theories of nationalism. The course takes case studies from Ukrainian, German, Chinese, Vietnamese, Slovak and Norwegian and African language planning. This course is intended as a research seminar, students will be expected to produce an original piece of work based on self-chosen research. The final week of the course will be devoted to student presentations of their own work.

Class Requirements:  Students will write a research paper and present it to class.

Paper (70% of grade) 15 pages long, not counting bibliography and diagrams/illustrations. Times New Roman, 12 pt double spaced, default margins. This paper must present primary sources, a theoretical concept that the sources illustrate or call into question, and discuss the applicability of sources and theory to each other.  Students must present their findings to the class in conference-style format, then answer questions from the class. Students must find a journal which they believe might hypothetically publish their paper, and write their paper in conformity with the style sheet of that journal. Each student will be assigned a commentator who will be responsible for leading discussion and managing the question-answer session for the presenter. Students presenting Monday will be responsible for asking questions on Thursday, and vice-versa.

Final (30% of grade) will ask students to define key terms or explain the significance of key concepts discussed in the class. 

Attendance is mandatory. At the instructor’s discretion, outstanding participation or absence from class may raise or lower your final grade.

 

Week 1
Intoduction to class, course requirements                                          Terminological Questions: Language, Dialect, Variety

Sociolinguistics as a scholarly discipline.                                                   Ammon,  Sociolinguistics  vol. 1,           
Choose presentation topics. Handout on world languages.                        “Language - Variety/Standard Variety - Dialect” 316-335
(28 pages) 
                                                                                                                Ausbau- and Abstandsprachen, standardization
                                                                                                                William Dawnes Language and Society “A Tapestry in Time and
Space.” 16-45

Week 2
Language as an icon of group identity                                               Labov: empirically documenting linguistic affiliation

Joshua Fishman In Praise of the Beloved Language, 1-60.                       William Labov “The Social Motivation of a sound change”
Group affiliation to linguistic markers. The poverty of folk                      Sociolinguistic Patterns 1-42 = 42 pages. Methodological
linguistics.                                                                                                techniques for studying linguistic patterns.

 Week 3
Dialect and Language – overview of research                                   Introduction to conversation analysis                               

Dawnes Language and Society “Rhoticity” and “At the inter-                James, Clarke “Women, Men and Interruption” from Tannen, ed
Section of Social Factors” 133-232.                                                         Gender and Conversational Interaction 231-274.

 
Week 4
Linguistic Diversity as Cultural Wealth                                           Hierarchy and Language: Motives for Language Shift

Suzette Elgin The Language Imperative: The Power of Lang.                  Laponce Languages and their Territories “Language territory,
to Enrich your Life and Expand your Mind, 27-71 = 44 pages.                Hierarchy,” 53-93 = 40 pages
Linguistic diversity, language death.

Week 5
The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: Introduction                                     Sapir-Whorf: Evidence                        

John Lucy Language Diversity and Thought: A Reformulation of            John Lucy Grammatical Categories and Cognition: A Case Study
the Saphir-Whorf hypothesis Words  Ch. 1,4,5:  11-68, 84-185                in the Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis
Whorfianism: The quest for evidence.                                                      (skim it until you figure out the argument)

Week 6
Werzbicka and Linguistic Universals                                              Gender marking in English, Feminism and anti-Feminism          

Anna Werzbicka Understanding Cultures Through their Key                    Dale Spender Man Made Language ch. 5, 6 “Language and
Words Introduction 1-30, “Freedom” 125-154 = 59 pages                       Reality” 138-162; Johnson, Meinhof Language and Masculinity
Linguistic universals as a solution to Whorfianism?                                  “Performing Gender Identity” 47-64

                                                                                             

Week 7
Feminist Language Planning                                                            Reforming the English Language                                      

Bodine “Androcentrism in prescriptive grammar” Feminist                     D. Baron “The Word That Failed” Grammar andGender: 190-216.  (40 pages)
Critique of Lang 124-38 = 14 pages, D. Spender                                      Epicine Pronoun _____________________________
Man Made Language “Politics of Names” 162-90                                    Shaw Alphabet_______________________________
                                                                                                                 Basic English ________________________________
                                                                                                                 Unifon _____________________________________

Week 8
Utopian Language Planning                                                               Voluntary Language Planning                                          

Class presentations: non-presenting students should also look at the web resources for each week.

Esperanto                                                                                                Sindarin                                                                   
Loglang                                                                                                   Slovio                                                                     
Lojban                                                                                                     “Speaking Forsoothly”                                            
L
áadan                                                                                                    Klingon                                                                   
 

Week 9
Dreaming of Perfect Languages: Religion                                        Dreaming of Perfect Languages: The Enlightenment     

Umberto Eco The Search for the Perfect Language “The                        Sophia Rosenfeld A Revolution in Language  Chapter 4
Mongenetic hypothesis,” “Perfect language of Images”                           123-180 (57 pages) Non-linguists as language planners.          
73-116, 144-177. (76 pages).                                                                  (for further reading: Richen Language, Anthropology, and

Also look at http://www.khm.de/~timot/Sentences.html                         Philosophy in the Enlightenment
 

Week 10
Language and Nationalism – The Ideological Approach                  Language and Nationalism – Marxist Structuralism

M. Olender The Languages of Paradise 1-50 (if you do French               B. Anderson: Imagined Communities, “Origins of National    
History, also read to page 81)  See also Excerpt from Herder                   Consciousness,” 37-46. Otto Bauer “The Nation” in Woolf, ed

Philosophy of History of Mankind, online at                                            Nationalism in Europe (a reader) 61-73.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1784herder-mankind.html               See also Ernest Gellner Nations and Nationalism “A Typology of
Nationalism” 88-109.
                                                                                              

Week 11
Planning the Chinese Character script.                                           Vietnamese: Dispensing with Characters

DeFrancis DeFrancis The Chinese Language Fact and Fantasy                Marr: Vietnamese Tradition on Trial, 136-189 = 56 pages
“Singlish Affair,” 1-22, “monosyllabic, indispensability myth,”               Indigenizing foreign scripts.
177-203. (49 pages)  Tradition versus efficiency.

 

Week 12
Language Planning in
Africa                                                              Diglossia vs. Bilingualism                  

Laitin Language Repertoires and State Construction in Africa                 Fergeson “Diglossia” Lang. Structure and Lang. Use, p 1-22
1-65, 149-164.                                                                                        Grosjean Life with Two Languages “Bilingualism in Society”  
113-166 
                                                                                             

Week 13
Borderline cases (1)
Ukraine: Bilingualism or Diglossia?             Borderline cases (2) Slovakia: Literary Dialects

Shevelov The Ukrainian Language in the first half of the                         Maxwell “Literary Dialects in Slovakia and China
Twentieth Century 21-66.  Total = 67 pages                                           “Why the Slovak Language has Three Dialects”
 

Week 14
Borderline cases (3) The Two Norwegians                                         Borderline cases (4) German Blackletter                        

Einar Haugen Language Conflict and Language Planning                       Blackletter: Type and National Identity, especially
(the whole book)                                                                                      Schwemer-Scheddin “Broken Images: Blackletter…”50-67

 

Week 15
Typgraphy                                                                                          Graffiti as a Linguistic Act                 


Sue Walker Typography & Language                                                     Armando Petrucci Public Lettering “The Signs of No” 117-126.

                                                                                                               John Bushnell Moscow Graffiti: Language and Subculture 
                                                                                                                ch.5, 6 88-108

Week 16
Student Presentations                                                                     Student Presentations                        


Students will present brief summaries of their own research
 

Week 17
Student Presentations                                                                         Student Presentations                        


Students will present brief summaries of their own research