Courses in FIG:
UGST 109 FIG Seminar
TIME | BUILDING | CRN | 1 Credit
Tomato, Tomäto explores what we believe about social and linguistic aspects of personal identity. In Introduction to Sociology and in Language and Power, you will see how we develop societal beliefs and how those beliefs about society play out in our beliefs about “good/correct” language versus “bad/incorrect” language (wrong grammar, bad pronunciation, bad words). We will explore the factual basis of many of these beliefs in in an honest and sensitive community that asks hard questions, both of our society and of us as individuals.
SOC 204: Introduction to Sociology
Social Science (>2) | US: Difference, Inequality, and Agency (>4) | WEB ASYNC | 14815 | 4 Credits
+Dis | Friday | 11:00-11:50 | 101 PETR | 15495
Introduces the central concepts, theories, and methods that define the sociological approach to investigating the social forces that shape our lives. Topics may include social structure, culture, socialization, race, class, gender, sexuality, and inequality.
LING 201: Language and Power
Social Science (>2) | US: Difference, Inequality, and Agency (>4) | Tuesday/Thursday | 12:30-13:50 | 229 MCK | 13030 | 4 Credits
+Dis | Friday | 13:00-13:50 | 230 LA | 13033
Ling 201 introduces issues of language variation and the social impact associated with that variation and satisfies the Social Science group requirement. Students are given introductory academic tools to understand different types of variation (sounds, words, grammar), and they are exposed to a scale of types of variation as categorized by linguists, ranging from the minimal differences represented in accents or jargons, to the more substantive variation represented by comparing distinct dialects, to the formidable differences encountered when considering altogether separate languages. Language change is the source of all language variation, so we will also consider the different ways in which languages change, discussing the roles of inherited features and internal evolution of features (factors which produce accents, pidgins and creoles). Every variety of every language constitutes an important aspect of the cultural identity of the individuals who speak that variety, and the relative social prestige of each variety is a reflection of the relative social prestige of the speech community stereotypically associated with that variety. Speakers of high prestige dialects/languages generally have economic, social, and/or political power over speakers of other languages/dialects, which frequently results in pressure on the latter to conform to the dominant language/dialect.