LLAS Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies

Why teach French sociolinguistics?

David Nott - 18 June 2009

What is the place of linguistics and sociolinguistics in the undergraduate French programme? For 20 years, I taught a second-year undergraduate module (10 weeks, 2 hours/ week) on ‘The making of the modern French language’, chosen by about 20 students each year. The course was modified to take account of research, seminar discussions, students’ work, and feedback questionnaires. This description of the course is intended as an encouragement to colleagues teaching French to undergraduates to consider offering a course on similar (or different!) lines, or to consider including in an existing course some of the topics and/or approaches outlined here.

Teaching language and gender

- 4 September 2007

The relationship between language and gender has long been of interest within sociolinguistics and related disciplines. After overviewing the history of the subject, the article discusses possible content for language and gender courses as well as addressing issues which may arise in the classroom setting.

Learning and teaching discourse analysis

- 24 August 2007

Learning and teaching discourse analysis engages students and tutors in the exploration of texts and talk. Analysis of discourse data encourages students to reflect upon and critically evaluate knowledge acquired in the study of, for example, syntax and semantics as well as naturally drawing students to the investigation of socially-situated language use. Such study provides students with the opportunity to examine how meaning is constructed and negotiated in discourse and to reflect on the role that language plays in social life. Teaching discourse analysis involves introducing students to relevant theories and guiding them in the application of these theories to real life language use. Learning is grounded in students' own experience and in the questions they ask about problems in the humanities and social sciences.

Slanguistics or just lemon meringue?

- 24 February 2007

The paper will present samples of UK youth slang (keywords and emblematic terms in particular) recovered by informal research among London students, schoolchildren and members of gangs and clubs. The origins of terms and the ethnic influences on linguistic innovation by adolescents will be considered, as will the role of slang in the construction, reinforcement and negotiation of roles at 'street level' and in relation to adults. The paper will propose that the fuzzy notion of 'slang', whether it is characterised as a sub-set of the lexicon, a (mere) stylistic preference or a social dialect, is worthy of linguists' and teachers' attention. Taken as lexical curiosities, slang terms key into young people's feelings, values and social practices: viewed as components of an emergent language variety they may be indicators of important sociocultural changes.

Sociolinguistic variation

- 12 December 2002

This article outlines the main methodological and theoretical issues within research on sociolinguistic variation. It covers the origins of the subject, data collection, quantification and the linguistic variable, correlations of social and linguistic variation and language change. It ends by considering recent social constructionist approaches to variation and change. A bibliography is included.

Dialectology

David Britain - 11 December 2002

This article introduces dialectology - the study of accents and dialects. It includes discussions of what it is, how it has evolved and how it is done, as well as considering recent developments in the field. The article argues that being a competent fieldworker and data collector is an essential skill in dialectology. A bibliography and list of dialectology web sites is included.

Language and gender

Kate Beeching - 11 December 2002

The relationship between Language and Gender is an intrinsically attractive way in to a number of linguistic issues. Men's and Women's Talk have arguably been demonstrated to show differences at the phonetic, syntactic, lexical and discourse levels. Both the personal and political aspects of the topic ensure lively discussion in seminars.

Some issues on which linguists can agree

Richard Hudson - 27 September 2002

A list of 83 points on which linguists seem to agree and which are important for education. The list was compiled in 1980 but is currently (2002) being revised.