BA_20 Language and society

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2022
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
PhDr. Aleš Bičan, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
PhDr. Aleš Bičan, Ph.D.
Department of Linguistics and Baltic Languages – Faculty of Arts
Supplier department: Department of Linguistics and Baltic Languages – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Tue 8:00–9:40 G24
Prerequisites
basic knowledge of linguistic concepts
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course deals with the basic problems concerning the relationships between language and society. These relationships are illustrated on particular examples from the world's languages and societies.
Learning outcomes
After passing the course the students will be able
- to understand fundamental sociolinguistic concepts and methods
- to apply them to concrete problems and situations in the world's languages
- to orientate themselves in the language situation in the Czech Republic
- to evaluate analogically the language situation in other societies
Syllabus
  • 1. Language and society, sociolinguistics as a linguistic discipline
    2. What is language? Language vs. dialect. Types of language from the sociolinguistic pespective
    3. Regional and social stratification of language: dialects, sociolects (slangs, argots). Varieties of Czech. Dialectology
    5. Knowledge of more languages: bilinguism and diglossia, borrowings, code-switching, borrowings
    6. Language shift, language death, language revival
    4. New languages: pidgins, creoles, and hybrid languages
    6. Language and culture, Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. Language and gender. Sexisms and language taboo
    8. Changing the language: language planning and language standardization
Literature
    recommended literature
  • Nový encyklopedický slovník češtiny. Edited by Petr Karlík - Marek Nekula - Jana Pleskalová. První vydání. Praha: NLN, Nakladatelství Lidové noviny, 2016, 1092 stran. ISBN 9788074224812. info
  • WARDHAUGH, Ronald. An introduction to sociolinguistics. 4th ed. Malden: Blackwell, 2002, vi, 408. ISBN 0631225404. info
Teaching methods
lectures, reading of short chapters and articles (in Czech)
Assessment methods
Written examination consisting of 4-5 questions focusing on the basic notions of the discipline.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Teacher's information
http://www.phil.muni.cz/jazyk/kestazeni.html
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2023, Spring 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2022, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2022/BA_20