Looking for an Interesting Upper-Level Class to Add?
LING 360 = Awesome Class
posted almost 13 years ago
So, last spring, I realized I needed to take an upper-level course to fulfill graduate requirements. As I was perusing through the class schedules, I stumbled upon a linguistics course that looked interesting: LING 360 - Sociolinguistics and Dialectology. I already knew what "Sociolinguistics" was, but "Dialectology"? Seeing as I am a Modern Languages, Linguistics & Intercultural Communications major (concentration in Spanish), I thought to myself, "What the hell, it can't hurt". I added it at the last moment (literally a few days before first day of classes) and didn't quite know what to expect.
The first day of class, of course, we did the usual going over the syllabus, class expectations, blah, blah, blah, but then it got interesting; we were given audio samples to listen to of people from various regions of the U.S. (and the U.K.) and were asked to guess their origins. Many of us, based on our assumptions and stereotypes, guessed wrong. Nevertheless, we had fun.
If you're interested in language at all, on any level, this class will both interest and entertain you. You will learn a lot about variations and shifts in accents and dialects here in the U.S. and abroad, how they came to be and have class discussions, even about generalizations and stereotypes. You'll learn how gender, social-status, age, one's community and so much more are all determining factors in how we speak. There's also a section devoted to African-American English. Trust me, you'll have a good time!
I do believe that MLL 190 or 191 are prereqs, but you may still be able to get permission to register eveb if you've never taken these.
Oh, and Professor Field is great. :)
Here's the class description:
LING 360 Language varieties in their relation to social structures. Geographical and social dialects. Attitudes toward language diversity. Bilingualism and language situations in the world. |
(edited almost 13 years ago)
