LIN-665 Sociolinguistics of the Deaf Community

Course Overview

This course provides an overview of the major areas of sociolinguistics and of current sociolinguistic thinking, with a focus on the Deaf community. It begins with an introduction to the field, followed by a look at bilingualism and language contact phenomena, including lexical borrowing, code-switching, code-mixing, diglossia, pidgins, and creoles. Following this look at intralanguage phenomena, the focus turns to the internal and external constraints upon them. Discourse analysis is then examined, with a focus on language and social interaction and the structure of conversations. Language attitudes are then discussed, followed by a look at language policy and planning.