SOCIOLINGUISTICS (MOD. A)
Stampa
Enrollment year
2016/2017
Academic year
2017/2018
Regulations
DM270
Academic discipline
L-LIN/01 (GLOTTOLOGY AND LINGUISTICS)
Department
DEPARTMENT OF HUMANITIES
Course
THEORETICAL AND APPLIED LINGUISTICS; LINGUISTICS AND MODERN LANGUAGES
Curriculum
PERCORSO COMUNE
Year of study
Period
1st semester (25/09/2017 - 10/01/2018)
ECTS
6
Lesson hours
36 lesson hours
Language
Italian
Activity type
ORAL TEST
Teacher
MELUZZI CHIARA - 6 ECTS
Prerequisites
The course presupposes the knowledge of notions and categories of general linguistics.
Learning outcomes
The course aims at giving the essential concepts and methodological instruments for analysing the social variation of a language, in order to promote the awareness of the social and communicative dimension of the language as well as to ground a scientific approach to it.
Course contents
The course consists of four thematic areas:
1. Definition and research area of sociolinguistic, its relationship with other related disciplines; its main research branches
2. Basic notions in sociolinguistics
3. Variation in language: its dimensions and the methods for analysing linguistic variation
4. Typology of linguistic repertoires (with examples from Italian and European contexts).
Teaching methods
Metodi didattici:
Lezioni frontali e interattive, con analisi e discussione di materiali linguistici autentici.
Reccomended or required readings
Berruto G. Fondamenti di sociolinguistica. Bari, Laterza, 1995 and subsequent ed.
Berruto G./M. Cerruti, Manuale di sociolinguistica. Torino, UTET, 2015 (first 5 chapp.)
Cardona G. R. Introduzione alla sociolinguistica. Torino, Loescher, 1987 (new ed. by G. Sanga, UTET, 2009).
Giannini S., S. Scaglione (a cura di). Introduzione alla sociolinguistica. Roma, Carocci, 2003.
Giglioli, P.P./G. Fele (a cura di). Linguaggio e contesto sociale. Bologna,Il Mulino, 2000.
Hudson R. A., Sociolinguistica. Bologna, Il Mulino, 1980, nuova ed. 1998.
Milroy L./ M. Gordon. Sociolinguistics: Method and Interpretation. Oxford, Blackwell, 2003.
Romaine R. Language in Society. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. Second Ed. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2000.

Other references:
G. Berruto, Sociolinguistica dell’italiano contemporaneo, Roma, La Nuova Italia Scientifica, 1987, 2012.
G. Berruto, Prima lezione di sociolinguistica, Bari, Laterza, 2004.
J.K. Chambers, Sociolinguistic theory, Oxford UK, Blackwell, 1995.
M. D’Agostino, Sociolinguistica dell’Italia contemporanea, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2007, 2011.
W. Downes, Language and society, London, Fontana, 1984.
R. Fasold, The sociolinguistics of society, Oxford, Blackwell, 1984.
R. Fasold, The sociolinguistics of language, Oxford, Blackwell, 1990.
M.A.K. Halliday, Il linguaggio come semiotica sociale. Un’interpretazione sociale del linguaggio e del significato, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1983.
Llamas C., Mullany L., Stockwell P., The Routledge Companion to Sociolinguistics, Abingdon, Routledge, 2007.
Assessment methods
The oral exam will verify the student’s knowledge of the course content and his/her ability to spot and analyse the sociolinguistic and communicative dimensions of language uses.

The exam will be oral and will be prepared on the course notes and on Berruto’s manual (1995/2003) (or on Berruto/Cerruti 2015, chap. 1-5 or an equivalent manual) as well as on three papers chosen from a given list of pertinent papers (see pertinent box).
A student who cannot attend the course will have to prepare the exam on Berruto (1995) or on Berruto/Cerruti (2015, chap. 1-5) or on Hudson (1980/1998), as far as the first part of the course is concerned, and on a further volume chosen from the given list (see below) or agreed upon with the professor.
The program of the exam for foreign students can be adapted on demand. In addition readings in English can at least partially substitute readings in Italian.
Further information
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