EL30LQ LANGUAGE: VARIATION AND CHANGE
Course Guide:: Guide to Honours :: Good Writing Guide :: MyAberdeen
30 credit points: 12 weeks
Course co-ordinator: Dr R McColl Millar
Pre-requisite(s): Available only to students in programme year 3 or above who have passed EL2009, or by permission of the Programme Coordinator.
Note: The field work aspects of this course may pose difficulties to students with disabilities. For such students, alternative arrangements will be made available. Any student wishing to discuss this further should contact the School Disability Officer.
One of the universals of human life is that language is subject to change.
Underlying much of this change is the fact that the form of all living languages
varies from speaker to speaker. Sociolinguistics studies the way class, ethnic
background and gender affect the way you speak and the way other perceive
your speech. Historical Linguistics attempts to find significant patterns
in the same variation and change found in the past. This course introduces
the basic principles of both Sociolinguistics and Historical Linguistics.
In order to illustrate these principles, reference will be made to case studies,
both historical and contemporary. You will also be encouraged to participate
in small-scale research and fieldwork projects.
Reading List: The course books for EL30LQ are J.K. Chambers Sociolinguistic Theory 2008 and Robert McColl Millar. 2007. Trask's Historical Linguistics. London: Arnold.
1 two-hour lecture and 1 two-hour seminar per week: Mon/Thu at 11am
1 two-hour written examination (50%), In-course assessment: 2,000-2500 word
essay (30%), group presentation (10%), and seminar work (10%).
Re-sit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%)