The course aims to educate students in theoretical aspects of sociolinguistics, and in critically interpreting language variation and change phenomena. The course will highlight the generalizability of specific interpretative strategies to the whole field at the intersection between language and society, with particular attention paid to written language. The students will learn to observe through the lens of science some aspects of their daily lives, such as Computer-Mediated Communication. Moreover, by constantly dealing with academic sources, the students will learn the fundamentals of critical reading concerning sociolinguistic works.

In particular, the students will be able to learn:

-  the historical roots of variationist sociolinguistics, its categories of analysis and theories of language change;

-  to provide sociolinguistic interpretations of a selection of written language phenomena;

-  the main standards of scientific communication in sociolinguistics.

The course will be structured into two main sections: 1) an introductory section about the disciplinary roots of variationist sociolinguistics, its recent developments, and its main analytical categories; and 2) a core section about written language, apt to highlight the versatility of variationist analysis through tentative interpretations of pertinent phenomena.

In particular, the course will deal with the following topics:

1a) Variationist sociolinguistics: a brief history from Labov’s research in Martha’s Vineyard to the third (fourth?) wave.

1b) Attitudes, social meaning and indexicality. Perception research.

1c) The Labovian interview and the different conceptualizations of “style”.

1d) The social variables: social class, communities of practice, and other variables based on symbolic capital.

1e) The social variables: sex and gender (the "gender paradox"); social and biological age (between apparent time and age grading).

2a) Brief history of writing and a taxonomy of writing systems.

2b) Nature vs. nurture in writing systems.

2c) Grapheme-symbolism between referential and social meaning; its role in sound-symbolic effects.

2d) The sociolinguistics of writing: allography, heterography, digraphia, the social meaning of typefaces and mimicry.

2e) Computer-Mediated Communication: the social meaning of paragraphemes; allographic markers of prosody and paralanguage.

None.

knowledge and understanding: Students will acquire sufficient knowledge to understand sociolinguistic interpretations of linguistic phenomena. Given the interdisciplinarity of the field, students will acquire basic knowledge of linguistics, sociology, cultural anthropology, and cognitive sciences. Moreover, students will learn the historical and disciplinary processes which have shaped contemporary sociolinguistics and how to interpret its development trends. In addition to that, students will learn basic notions about the history of writing and understand the convergence of sociolinguistics and written language research. 

applying knowledge and understanding: Students will be able to critically read the scientific literature in sociolinguistics, and begin to envision their own literature search. Specifically, they will be able to assess the pertinence of academic literary contents to their specific research interests. 

making judgements: When reading experimental research works, students will know where to search for information about social variables and data interpretation. Moreover, they will develop a critical eye on the methods used in experimental work.

communication skills: Students will learn the basics of the structure of sociolinguistic works: this will help them learn how to give an oral academic presentation on the contents of a scientific paper.

learning skills: Students will acquire a set of transversal skills which will help them in their educational path. Specifically, they will be able to interpret contemporary identity dynamics involving (in particular, written) language.

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Upon agreement with the students, during the last week of the course a mock test can be conducted. Students will have to give a presentation on an academic paper selected through a backward or forward search based on the materials uploaded on Blended Learning or the works quoted in the "Course books" section of this page. The mock test has the goal to provide the students with a better understanding of the third phase of the actual exam (see "Assessment") and won't affect the actual exam results.

Teaching

Lectures and eventual student presentations.

Innovative teaching methods

Flipped classroom. Short student presentations on autonomously selected academic papers (see "Supporting activities" and "Assessment").

Attendance

This is a Master of Arts course, so that the contents of introductory-level (Bachelor) courses of Linguistics are taken for granted. In particular, basic knowledge of the International Phonetic Alphabet is required. Please find the references to a textbook apt to the review of this specific topic in the “Course books” section below (Mioni, 2001).

Course books

The course program is the same for attending and non-attending students. In order to help non-attending students learn the contents of the lectures, a careful reading of the materials indicated in Blended Learning is highly recommended: these will allow students to reach a level of understanding of the course contents sufficient for its requirements.

In addition to the course slides uploaded on Blended Learning, students will have to compulsorily read:

- Berruto, G., Cerruti, M. (2019). Manuale di sociolinguistica. Torino: UTET.

- Piccardi, D. (2022). Carlo Alberto Mastrelli e la simbologia del segno. Storia di un ultimo progetto. In Parenti, A. (a cura di), Il Circolo Linguistico Fiorentino. Testimonianze e frammenti. Firenze: Olschki, 69-101. 

Please find below a list of references divided by topic on most of the course themes. These can be read for personal interest and are not compulsory:

[Review of the International Phonetic Alphabet]

- Mioni, A. M. (2001). Elementi di fonetica. Padova: Unipress.

[Variationist Sociolinguistics]

- Chambers, J. K., Shilling, N. (Eds., 2013). The Handbook of Language Variation and Change. Second Edition. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

[Language Attitudes]

- Garrett, P. (2010). Attitudes to Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[Linguistics of writing]

- Coulmas, F. (2003). Writing Systems. An Introduction to their Linguistic Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

- Lillis, T. (2013). The Sociolinguistics of Writing. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

[Sound Symbolism]

- Nobile, L., Lombardi Vallauri, E. (2016). Onomatopea e fonosimbolismo. Roma: Carocci.

Assessment

Oral exam (approx. thirty minutes).

The oral exam will consist of three phases.  Firstly, two questions will test the students’ knowledge about the course themes and the contents of the compulsory readings. Then, a third phase will test the students’ ability to give a short presentation on an autonomously selected academic paper. Before the exam day, students will have to:

- Perform a backward (i.e., through an academic paper reference list) or forward (i.e., through a list of work quoting a specific paper extracted from acedemic literature search engines) search starting from one of the papers uploaded or suggested on Blended Learning, or from one of the works quoted in the "Course books" section of this page.

- Select an Italian or English paper of their interest through an assessment of the pertinence of the work to the course topics (see the list of topics in "Program information").

- Prepare an oral presentation (max. 15 minutes) on the selected paper.

- A week prior to the exam day, fill in the spreadsheet shared on Blended Learning with a full reference to the selected paper.

The evalution of the three phases will be based on the students' knowledge of the course topics, their use of the field jargon and their critical sensibility (e.g., their ability to provide an explanation to their answers and pertinent examples; with respect to the third phase, their ability to correctly assess the pertinence of the selected paper to the course topics). The Professor will evaluate each of the three aspects of the three phases on a four-point qualitative scale (poor - passing grade - good - excellent). In order to reach an overall passing grade of 18 out of 30, the students will have to obtain a passing grade in two out of three phases. Students will have to pass the third phase of the exam with an "excellent" mark in order to obtain an overall evaluation of 30 out of 30 cum laude.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Teaching

Individual study.

Attendance

This is a Master of Arts course, so that the contents of introductory-level (Bachelor) courses of Linguistics are taken for granted. In particular, basic knowledge of the International Phonetic Alphabet is required. Please find the references to a textbook apt to the review of this specific topic in the “Course books” section below (Mioni, 2001).

Course books

The course program is the same for attending and non-attending students. In order to help non-attending students learn the contents of the lectures, a careful reading of the materials indicated in Blended Learning is highly recommended: these will allow students to reach a level of understanding of the course contents sufficient for its requirements.

In addition to the course slides uploaded on Blended Learning, students will have to compulsorily read:

- Berruto, G., Cerruti, M. (2019). Manuale di sociolinguistica. Torino: UTET.

- Piccardi, D. (2022). Carlo Alberto Mastrelli e la simbologia del segno. Storia di un ultimo progetto. In Parenti, A. (a cura di), Il Circolo Linguistico Fiorentino. Testimonianze e frammenti. Firenze: Olschki, 69-101. 

Please find below a list of references divided by topic on most of the course themes. These can be read for personal interest and are not compulsory:

[Review of the International Phonetic Alphabet]

- Mioni, A. M. (2001). Elementi di fonetica. Padova: Unipress.

[Variationist Sociolinguistics]

- Chambers, J. K., Shilling, N. (Eds., 2013). The Handbook of Language Variation and Change. Second Edition. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

[Language Attitudes]

- Garrett, P. (2010). Attitudes to Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[Linguistics of writing]

- Coulmas, F. (2003). Writing Systems. An Introduction to their Linguistic Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

- Lillis, T. (2013). The Sociolinguistics of Writing. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

[Sound Symbolism]

- Nobile, L., Lombardi Vallauri, E. (2016). Onomatopea e fonosimbolismo. Roma: Carocci.

Assessment

Oral exam (approx. thirty minutes).

The oral exam will consist of three phases.  Firstly, two questions will test the students’ knowledge about the course themes and the contents of the compulsory readings. Then, a third phase will test the students’ ability to give a short presentation on an autonomously selected academic paper. Before the exam day, students will have to:

- Perform a backward (i.e., through an academic paper reference list) or forward (i.e., through a list of work quoting a specific paper extracted from acedemic literature search engines) search starting from one of the papers uploaded or suggested on Blended Learning, or from one of the works quoted in the "Course books" section of this page.

- Select an Italian or English paper of their interest through an assessment of the pertinence of the work to the course topics (see the list of topics in "Program information").

- Prepare an oral presentation (max. 15 minutes) on the selected paper.

- A week prior to the exam day, fill in the spreadsheet shared on Blended Learning with a full reference to the selected paper.

The evalution of the three phases will be based on the students' knowledge of the course topics, their use of the field jargon and their critical sensibility (e.g., their ability to provide an explanation to their answers and pertinent examples; with respect to the third phase, their ability to correctly assess the pertinence of the selected paper to the course topics). The Professor will evaluate each of the three aspects of the three phases on a four-point qualitative scale (poor - passing grade - good - excellent). In order to reach an overall passing grade of 18 out of 30, the students will have to obtain a passing grade in two out of three phases. Students will have to pass the third phase of the exam with an "excellent" mark in order to obtain an overall evaluation of 30 out of 30 cum laude.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.