This course presents an overview of a wide range of topics dealt in the field of sociolinguistics.
The first half of the course explores how language is used in multilingual speech communities and explains the varying patterns of language use. The main topics covered here are language choice in multilingual communities (bilingualism, diglossia, code-switching, etc.), language maintenance and shift, linguistic varieties (vernacular and standard languages, lingua francas, pidgins and creoles) and national languages and language plannning.
The second half explores language variation related to regions, social class, social network, gender, age and ethnicity. Language variation related to ethnicity will focus on African American vernacular English. The mechanism of language change will also be covered in relation to social dialects.
In some of the above topics, stress will be placed on the case of Canada, including bilingualism, language contact between English and French, the language situation and language policy of Canada.
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