Sociology of Language

Assignments

  • For December 20th

    Extra credit quiz (optional) is due by 11:59pm on Dec. 20th. Only your final submission will be graded.

  • For December 18th

    You will be presenting your final projects in class. The finalized webpages are due by 11:59pm, as well as the ~100 word essay on your own contributions to the group project. For details, see this document.

  • For November 20th

    Read pp.146–159 in the Wardhaugh textbook. There will be a quiz at the start of class.

  • For November 13

    Read pp.135–145 in the Wardhaugh textbook. There will be a quiz on this reading at the start of class.

  • For November 6

    • Groups 1 & 2: read Hoffman’s ‘Sociolinguistic Interviews’
    • Groups 3 & 4: read Schleef ’s ‘Written Surveys and Questionnaires in Sociolinguistics’
    • All groups: Meet with me over Zoom at the time/day we set, as follows:

    Coptic: 3pm on Friday, 1 November
    Albanian: 4:30pm on Friday, 1 November
    Georgian: 5:30pm on Friday, 1 November
    Tagalog: 4:30pm on Monday, 4 November
    Arabic: 5:15pm on Monday, 4 November
    Italian: 6pm on Monday, 4 November

  • For October 30th

    1. Read chapter 6 in the Chelliah & Reuse book available on the Readings page. There will be a quiz on this reading at the start of class.
    2. Polish up your group pages so that they’re in a state that you’re happy with – well-written and accurately summarizing your group’s work on this topic language so far. I will be reading these pages and providing feedback on them for each group which you will use as you continue working on these pages.

  • For October 23rd

    Two assignments:

    1. With your final project group, write a literature review for your research language and add it to your group’s page on this site. It should be 500–800 words long and include a references section at the end. All works should be cited according to the Unified Style Sheet for Linguistics. For guidelines on how to find sources and write a literature review, see our slides from 16 October. You can also use section 1 of my language snapshot for Kanien’kéha as an example. This is due by the start of class.

    2. Study for the midterm.

  • For October 16th

    Read “Field Methods” by Carmen Llamas, available on the readings page of this site. There will be a quiz on this reading at the start of class.

  • For October 9th

    With your final project group, you will write a short essay which will form the basis of your research project.

    Based on today’s discussions, your research group should talk to your language consultant(s) – the people you know who speak your research language. Ask them about their language, using Bell’s criteria to guide your questions. (For example, to get at vitality, you might ask “Did you teach this language to your children?” if applicable.) In your essay, be sure to mention the speaker’s name, the language, and where the speaker is from. 300 words.

    Reading: Read at least one Language Snapshot from the online journal Language Documentation and Description, found here. These will be essential for our work at the start of class.

  • For September 25th

    Like last week, the readings depend on which reading group you’re in.

    • Group 1: Read “Husniya (Wakhi)” pp. 171–199
    • Group 2: Read “Boris (Yiddish)” pp. 200–232
    • Group 3: Read “Irwin (Nahuatl)” pp. 267–300
    • Group 4: Read “Karen (Lenape)” pp. 301–337

    Come prepared to discuss your reading. Consider the language in light of Bell’s criteria. (As a refresher, see p.33 in Wardhaugh and our slides from 4 September.) As a group, choose two or three of Bell’s criteria to discuss the language in light of.