FF:BA_20 Language and society - Course Information

BA_20 Language and society

The course is not taught in Spring 2025

Extent and Intensity

2/0/0. 5 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
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.

fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with

• Baltic Studies (programme FF, B-BA_) (2)
• Czech Language and Literature (programme FF, B-FI) (2)
• Czech Language and Literature (programme FF, B-HS)
• Czech Language and Literature (programme FF, N-FI) (2)
• Czech Language and Literature (programme FF, N-HS)
• Finnish (programme FF, B-BA_)
• Lithuanian (programme FF, B-BA_)
• General Linguistics (programme FF, B-FI) (2)
• General Linguistics (programme FF, B-HS)
• General Linguistics (programme FF, N-FI) (2)
• General Linguistics (programme FF, N-HS)

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

After passing the course the students will be able
- to understand fundamental sociolinguistic concepts and methods
- to apply them to concrete problems and situations in the world's languages
- to orientate themselves in the language situation in the Czech Republic
- to evaluate analogically the language situation in other societies

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). Varieties of Czech. Dialectology
  5. Knowledge of more languages: bilinguism and diglossia, borrowings, code-switching, borrowings
  6. Language shift, language death, language revival
  4. New languages: pidgins, creoles, and hybrid languages
  6. Language and culture, Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. Language and gender. Sexisms and language taboo
  8. Changing the language: language planning and language standardization

Literature

recommended literature
• Nový encyklopedický slovník češtiny. Edited by Petr Karlík - Marek Nekula - Jana Pleskalová. První vydání. Praha: NLN, Nakladatelství Lidové noviny, 2016, 1092 stran. ISBN 9788074224812. info
• WARDHAUGH, Ronald. An introduction to sociolinguistics. 4th ed. Malden: Blackwell, 2002, vi, 408. ISBN 0631225404. info

Teaching methods

lectures, reading of short chapters and articles (in Czech)

Assessment methods

Written examination consisting of 4-5 questions focusing on the basic notions of the discipline.

Language of instruction

Czech

Further Comments

The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: every week.

Teacher's information

http://www.phil.muni.cz/jazyk/kestazeni.html

• Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  
• Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2025/BA_20