Starobilsk Department of Lugansk National Pedagogical University

Written and compiled by Todd M. Ferry

The following are six sociolinguistics lectures I gave to 4^th and 5^th year University students at the Starobilsk branch of Lugansk University. I compiled my information from a number of sources including articles on Wikipedia, several books, and the book Соціальні аспекти мовлення by А. Г. Ніколенко, which we used for the class. It is not the best book, but it may be the easiest to get if you plan to teach a sociolinguistics course, since it is a Ukrainian publication. I tried to emphasize sociolinguistics in the ENGLISH language and in the different English speaking cultures, but I drew on other cultures in the lectures as well. I apologize in advance for any typos you may find. I did my best to edit the lectures when I wrote them, and I have not had time to re-edit them since. Each lecture also has a handout and slides to accompany it. I could not include ALL of the articles since some of them were in PDF format and others were taken from books. I have supplemented this by adding some other good articles, but you will have to come up with your own questions. You can find these resources however, on the net and in the Peace Corps library—that’s where I found them. I also have PowerPoint presentations for the last few lectures, but I don’t know if I can load them or not on to the PC Ukraine website—we will see.

Introduction to the topic:

We are about to discuss one of the most fascinating subjects in language study. You can learn the rules of any language, including your own native language, and sooner or later you can speak it and write it pretty well, but do you understand what is happening when you use the language? Do you know how your use of the language effects how your perception of things, how you think about relationships, and how you think about yourself? These are the topics we are about to discuss, and will continue to discuss, over the course of the class.

Sociolinguistics: syllabus

Mr. Todd M. Ferry

Email me at: mrtoddferry@gmail.com

Introduction:

In this class we will cover the basic concepts of sociolinguistics as described in the book: Соціальні аспекти мовлення by А. Г. Ніколенко. We will rely on this book throughout the class, so I recommend you purchase it or make photocopies of the chapters. In addition I will hand out other articles in class. I will assign each of you an article or part of an article to read and to explain to us at each seminar. You will be responsible for these articles at the seminars. You will lead us in a discussion of your article. You must do all the readings, however, so that you can participate fully in the discussions.

There will be six lectures, three seminars, and one day for presentations. In lectures you will at times be asked to participate by answering questions and taking part in short exercises, and you must participate in the seminars. I expect your participation, and I will grade you on your PARTICIPATION. There will also be 3 ESSAY TESTS, one at the end of each seminar. You will be given a choice of topics to write about and about 15-20 minutes to write on that topic. In addition, you will write one short RESEARCH PAPER. The details for the research paper are attached. One the last day of class we will have a small CONFERENCE where you will turn in your research paper and give a short PRESENATION [5-7 minutes] on what your paper is about.

Schedule:

Lecture 1: What is culture? What is society? What is language? What is sociolinguistics? (SAM Ch.1)

Lecture 2: Language variety. (SAM Ch.3)

Seminar 1: Discussion, activity, essay test.

Lecture 3: What happens when languages collide? Mixture of varieties and language planning (SAM Ch. 4 and 2)

Lecture 4: The relationship between language and society, part 1: speech as social interaction, social identity, power and solidarity (SAM Ch. 5 and 6)

Seminar 2: Discussion, activity, essay test.

Lecture 5: The relationship between language and society, part 2: interesting variations in the English language and what they mean (SAM Ch. 7)

Lecture 6: The relationship between language and society, part 3: sexism, racism and linguistic inequality. (SAM Ch. 8 and 9)

Seminar 3: Discussion, activity, essay test.

Last Class: Sociolinguistics conference [paper and presentation due].

Rules:

1. English only: This will take some getting used to, but NO Russian is allowed!

1. No cell phones in class: There are no exceptions. If you cannot wait 80 minutes to use your telephone DO NOT come to class. If you have your cell phone out you WILL BE ASKED TO LEAVE. Using a cell phone in class or any other professional environment is considered very rude in the United States. This includes cell phone dictionaries. Bring a classic, paper dictionary with you to class. They are better for learning anyway.

1. Come to class, and do not be late: There is no reason to be late. You do know what time class starts, don’t you? And again, this is considered very rude in the United States. If you come to class late, you will lose 1 point off of whatever points you earn that day.

Research assignment:

One papers 3-5 pages, typed, 12 pt, times new roman font, double-spaced. Your paper will cover a problem related to sociolinguistics. You will research this problem on the Internet. You will use at least three different sources. You will include at the end of your paper, a complete bibliography of ALL the websites you looked at for your research. You will footnote all of the quotations and paraphrased work you include in your paper. I have attached a description of how best to do this. You will NOT cut and paste material from someone else’s work into your paper without footnoting it—this is called PLAGARISM and it will get you thrown out of ANY university in the United States or Europe. If you do cut and paste someone else’s work without footnoting it and put it into your paper I WILL GIVE YOU A “0”. You will have no grade. This is not a hard assignment for a fifth year student and you have ten weeks to write the paper. Therefore, please do the required work. For the paper:

1. Choose a problem to discuss in sociolinguisitics.
2. Describe the problem.
3. Discuss different scholars approaches to the problem.
4. USE at least THREE SOURCES.
5. Come to a conclusion of YOUR OWN.
6. Include a full BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ALL YOUR SOURCES.
7. FOOTNOTE ALL CITATIONS.

Every writing program contains a tool to create a “footnote” (English)= snoska (Russian). If you need help doing this, please let me know. I WILL HELP YOU. Here is an example of a footnote:

…While his views changed over time, it seems that towards the end of his life Sapir came to believe that language did not merely mirror culture and habitual action, but that language and thought might in fact be in a relationship of mutual influence or perhaps even determination. Whorf gave this idea greater precision by examining the particular grammatical mechanisms by which thought influenced language. He argued his point thus:   We dissect nature along lines laid down by our native languages. The categories and types that we isolate from the world of phenomena we do not find there because they stare every observer in the face; on the contrary, the world is presented in a kaleidoscopic flux of impressions which has to be organized by our minds—and this means largely by the linguistic systems in our minds. We cut nature up, organize it into concepts, and ascribe significances as we do, largely because we are parties to an agreement to organize it in this way — an agreement that holds throughout our speech community and is codified in the patterns of our language.[1]   Whorf's formulation of this “principle of linguistic relativity” is often stereotyped as a " prisonhouse" view of language in which one's thinking and behavior is completely and utterly shaped by one's language. Whorf himself sought merely to insist that thought and action were linguistically and socially mediated. In doing so he opposed what he called a “natural logic” position which he claimed believed, " talking, or the use of language, is supposed only to 'express' what is essentially already formulated nonlinguistically." [2] On this account, he argued, " thought does not depend on grammar but on laws of logic or reason which are supposed to be the same for all observers of the universe." [3]

Lecture 1. What is sociolinguistics? What is culture? What is society? What is language?

These are some really big questions. But it is necessary to start with definitions of these important words, so that we know what we mean when we use them.

If we start with the first question first, I think you will understand what I mean. What is sociolinguistics?

Definition from your book:

“The study of language in relation to society” [repeat twice and slowly for everyone to hear]

Fine, but how can we discuss sociolinguistics without first knowing what we mean by “society”, and since society is part of a “culture” we need to know what that is, and moreover, what do we mean by “language”? We will define these three things by the end of the class and discuss their relationships to one another.

Let’s talk first about that sticky subject “CULTURE”

DEFINING CULTURE:

Culture is so infamously difficult to define that we will not be too definite in our definition. I do want to talk about it though.

*ASK STUDENTS: WHAT IS CULTURE?

The best and simplest definition I found was this.

Culture:

1. The arts, customs, and habits that characterize a particular society or nation.
2. The beliefs, values, behavior and material objects that constitute a people's way of life.

DEFINING SOCIETY:

Society is also difficult to define, but we know it’s a part of our culture, right?

The best and simplest definition I found was this:

Society:

People in general living together in organized communities, with laws and traditions controlling the way they behave towards one another.

They may not all have the same original culture, but they are a part of a given culture—for example the United States. People come to the society of the United States from all over the world. They come with an original culture, but as citizens of the United States they adopt “American” culture, however, loose a culture it is.

DEFINING LANGUAGE:

Let’s talk what we mean by language? What is language?

-ASK STUDENTS TO DEFINE LANGUAGE

Language is a system for communication. It is sometimes also called a “code” because it has a set of rules that both people communicating must follow and understand to communicate well.

Language is a way of communicating. And, until the 1950’s linguist thought that the study of language should be devoted to a purely descriptive explanation. The analysis of language took place over the course of several stages:

1. Phonology—the study of a languages sounds.
2. Morphology—the study of a languages forms and morphemes. For example, cats would be described as containing two morphemes. Cat, the name for a kind of animal and –s a morpheme indicating plurality.
3. Lexicon—the study of the words of a language and their meanings.
4. Syntax—the study of the arrangement and order of words in phrases and sentences.

Certainly, all these things are an important part of any language as well, but looking at language ONLY descriptively can give the impression that none of these elements of a language are connected—which is obviously not true. Worse, it gives the impression that language has no relationship to our culture and how we think.

**LANGUAGE IS CULTURAL—WHAT DO YOU THINK I MEAN BY THAT?

**PUT ANSWERS ON BOARD.

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