This course explores the relationship between language and unjust social structures and practices, with a focus on discrimination against users of particular language varieties. A key component of the course is understanding and practicing methods from the field of sociolinguistics to identify and combat linguistic discrimination, contextualized through discussion of examples from multiple languages and communities. Topics may include dialect discrimination, language ideologies, language and the law, linguistic colonialism, language rights, prescriptivism, slurs and linguistic abuse, language and gender, and audism. (This course does not count towards the Linguistics major or specialist programs.)
This course explores the relationship between language and unjust social structures and practices, with a focus on discrimination against users of particular language varieties. A key component of the course is understanding and practicing methods from the field of sociolinguistics to identify and combat linguistic discrimination, contextualized through discussion of examples from multiple languages and communities. Topics may include dialect discrimination, language ideologies, language and the law, linguistic colonialism, language rights, prescriptivism, slurs and linguistic abuse, language and gender, and audism. (This course does not count towards the Linguistics major or specialist programs.)
