Skip to main content

Language, Self, Society

  • 2023-2024
  • By David Hornsby
  • Created  Updated 
  • Linked to LING3040
This list has a newer version. View newer version
Warning This list relates to the term 2023-2024 which ended on 31/08/2024

Weekly Readings

Try to read at least one of the recommended items each week

Week 25 (13) What is Sociolinguistics?

Why the social context of language matters

Week 26 (14) Good and Bad Language

Where do our linguistic norms come from?

Week 27 (15) Style and Register

How language varies with formality and activity

Resources for Week 27 (15) Presentation ('Good and Bad Language')

See also Week 26 (14) General Readings

Week 28 (16) Discourse: The 'Rules' of Conversation

The practical 'rules' of interaction which make efficient communication possible

Resources for Week 28 (16) Presentation A ('Style and Register')

See also Week 27 (15) General Readings

Resources for Week 28 (16) Presentation B ('Conversation')

See also Week 28 (16) General Readings

Week 30 (18) Regional and Social Variation

What can speakers' regional origin and social profile tell us about language variation?

Week 31 (19) Language Change

How and why do languages change?

Resources for Week 31 (19) Presentation ('Regional and Social Factors')

See also Week 30 (18) General Readings

Week 32 (20) Multilingualism

How do individuals, and societies, manage regular use of more than one language?

Week 33 (21) Language Planning

When does language become an issue for government?

Resources for Week 33 (21) Presentation ('Diglossia and Bilingualism')

See also readings for Week 32 (20)

Week 34 (22) Pidgins and Creoles

How simplified communication for trading purposes can give rise to new languages

Resources for Week 34 (22) Presentation ('Language Planning')

See also readings for Week 33 (21)

Week 35 (23) Language Death

Why do perfectly good languages die out?

Resources for Week 35 (23) Presentation ('Pidgins and Creoles')

See also weekly readings for Week 34 (22)

Essay Starting Points

Readings to get you started on each of the essay questions. (Please note that these are not the only, nor necessarily the best, readings available and you may find others - for example in 'Additional Resources' below - which work equally well or better for you.)

1. Evaluate the importance of languages and language use in a speaker’s personal and social identity

2. ‘Language shift is generally a positive thing, leading to self-betterment and liberation’. Is this a fair point of view?

3. ‘Conversation appears haphazard, but is in fact subject to strict rules.’ Evaluate this claim.

4. Discuss the view that language planning is never justified

5. Is language change merely a slow process of decay?

6. ‘Languages are dialects with an army and a navy.’ (Max Weinreich). Show, with examples, what you think Weinrich means by this. Do you agree?

7. What distinguishes pidgins from creoles? Illustrate your answer with examples.

8. In what ways were the methodology and findings of early sociolinguistic surveys (e.g. New York and Norwich) revolutionary?

Additional Resources

All rights reserved ©