Language and multilingual societies

All societies are to some extent multilingual and multidialectal. In this unit, students examine the varied roles languages can play in multilingual societies and the relationship between language and different social identities. We explore variation within languages (e.g. regional accents) as well as variation between languages, and the ways in which school systems, workplaces and other institutions respond to language variation in their midst. A key focus of this unit is the different methods of inquiry sociolinguists can use to explore these issues, and the ways in which research insights might be applied to real-world problems