TCZJ39 Language and society

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 4 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
Contact Person: Mgr. Michaela Květoňová
Supplier department: Department of Linguistics and Baltic Languages – Faculty of Arts
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.

The capacity limit for the course is 40 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/40, only registered: 0/40
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
The student will gain knowledge of fundamental sociolingustic terminology, and will be able to apply it to real situations.
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)
    5. Knowledge of more languages: bilinguism and diglossia, borrowings, code-switching
    6. Language shift, language death, language revival and new languages
    4. Language in contact: pidgins and creols
    6. Language and culture, Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. Language and gender. Sexisms and language taboo
    8. Changing the language: language planning and language standardization
Literature
  • HUBÁČEK, Jaroslav. O českých slanzích. Vyd. 2., dopl. a přeprac. Ostrava: Profil, 1981, 214 s. URL info
  • MÜLLEROVÁ, Olga, Jana HOFFMANNOVÁ and Eva SCHNEIDEROVÁ. Mluvená čeština v autentických textech. Vyd. 1. Jinočany: H & H, 1992, 236 s. ISBN 80-85467-96-8. info
  • Reader of Czech Sociolingvistics. Academia 1986.
  • ŠVEJCER, Aleksandr Davidovič and Leonid Borisovič NIKOL'SKIJ. Úvod do sociolingvistiky. Translated by Jiří Kraus. Vyd. 1. Praha: Svoboda, 1983, 241 s. URL info
  • SGALL, Petr and Jiří HRONEK. Čeština bez příkras. Vyd. 1. Praha: H & H, 1992, 181 s. ISBN 80-85467-29-1. info
  • SGALL, Petr. Variation in language : code switching in Czech as a challenge for sociolinguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 1992, xii, 368 s. ISBN 90-272-1548-0. info
  • WARDHAUGH, Ronald. An introduction to sociolinguistics. 4th ed. Malden: Blackwell, 2002, vi, 408. ISBN 0631225404. info
Teaching methods
lectures
Assessment methods
Written examination consisting of 4-5 questions focusing on the basic notions of the discipline. Reading of several Czech texts.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: every week.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2025/TCZJ39