Linguist 150: Language in Society

Course description

How do language and society affect one another? This course will focus on the study of linguistic variation and change from a variety of perspectives on the social. We'll examine how linguistic variation corresponds to large-scale social categories like age, gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic class, as well as how individual speakers use language to construct identities, portray stances, and achieve interactional goals. We'll explore how language is a social practice that is situated in history, and how language can reflect, reinforce, create, and contest societal power structures. Students will participate in hands-on quantitative research in sociolinguistic variation to examine directly how the social and linguistic are intertwined. 2-4 units.




Course goals

Through successfully completing this course, you will:

• know the difference between descriptive and prescriptive views on language.
• understand the ways that language can vary, and the social factors that can condition this variation.
• conduct quantitative linguistic variation analysis.
• present sociolinguistic data and analysis in written and oral formats
• understand the broader implications of sociolinguistic variation and linguistic discrimination.




Credits

The course can be taken for either 2 or 4 credit units. Note that the course only qualifies for Ways credit if it is taken for 3 or 4 units; Ways credit will not be granted for students who are signed up for 2 units. All students will be required to complete all readings and assignments. Students who are taking the course for 4 units will be required to write a final term paper. Students taking the course for 2 units will not be required to write a final paper, but they will still be expected to complete all other aspects of the course assigned throughout the quarter. For 2-unit students, assignments, along with participation, will make up the entire grade.





Grading Breakdown




Participation (10%)

Much of our class will be based on discussions. Your participation in these discussions, along with your participation in the in-class workshop and presentation, are critical for your participation grade. Regular attendance is crucial for full participation in the class, and attendance will be taken and included in your participation grade.




Reading Responses (20%)

There is no assigned textbook for this course. Rather, we will be drawing from an assortment of original books, articles, and other media. Each week, we will have a class discussion relating the readings to the topic of the week, listed on the Schedule page. To get you thinking critically about the assigned readings, you will complete a short reading response at the beginning of each week.

In an e-mail, I will provide a question or questions with each set of readings on the Wednesday prior. For each set of readings, you will provide:

1. A short (one to two paragraph) response to one of the provided question(s), or on a topic of your choosing evoked by the readings, and
2. A question that you have related to the readings that you would like us to address.

You will need to complete the readings for the upcoming week and your response by Sunday at 5 p.m., turned in as an e-mail response to Annette. Responses are part of your grade, and you will often be asked to share your thoughts in class discussions.

You may skip TWO reading responses throughout the quarter.




Projects (40%)

Aside from the final paper and reading responses, you will complete two projects in this class, each worth 20% of your grade. The project grades will include tasks and activities leading up to the project, as well as a write-up. Both projects involve in-class components (a workshop or presentation), which you must attend to get full credit for the assignment.

All assigned tasks and project deadlines will be noted on the Schedule page in the corresponding week that they are due, with instructions and materials provided in advance.

All course work must be completed by the specified time on the day they are due, or else they are late. All assignments should be e-mailed (DOC or PDF format) to Annette.




Final paper (30%)

This class will not include a final exam. The final project for the course is to write an original research paper, involving your own analysis of a sociolinguistic pattern. This can be an extension of one of the two previous projects, or a new topic of your choosing. Specific details about the final project will be provided throughout the quarter. The final paper is due (no exceptions) by the end of the day that would have been our final exam: Monday, June 6, 2016, by 11:59 PM.

Policies




Communication with Annette

Please contact Annette via e-mail for questions, issues, or to set up an appointment outside of the scheduled office hour. Any e-mail sent before 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, will be answered the same day. While the likelihood of a prompt answer for emails sent after 6 p.m. or on weekends is high, the only guarantee I make is that after-hours emails will be answered the next business day.




Late reading responses

Reading responses are critical to our class discussions. They must be turned in by 5 p.m. on Sundays. You may skip TWO of the eight reading responses throughout the quarter, no questions asked. I will keep track of your responses, and notify you when you have used your two skips. Because of this, no late responses will be accepted.




Late projects

Projects that are late will be deducted a full letter grade for each 24 hour period that they are late. This applies to both smaller tasks and the larger write-ups. Assignments turned in more than 48 hours late will not be accepted, and no credit will be given. This does not apply to the final paper, which must be turned in on the due date, with no exceptions.




Academic integrity

All students are expected to comply with Stanford's honor code. See the following link for more information: http://studentaffairs.stanford.edu/judicialaffairs/policy/honor-code.




Students with documented disabilities

Students who needing academic accommodation due to disability should initiate a request with the Student Disability Resource Center (SDRC) located within the Office of Accessible Education (OAE). SDRC staff will evaluate the request with required documentation, recommend reasonable accommodations, and prepare an Accommodation Letter for faculty dated in the current quarter in which the request is being made. Students should contact the SDRC as soon as possible since timely notice is needed to coordinate accommodations. The OAE is located at 563 Salvatierra Walk (phone: 723-1066).