The US Census Bureau has reported that over 500 languages are currently being spoken in the US alone. While we all know that English is the de facto national language, there is not one official national language to date. Other noteworthy languages spoken in the US include Spanish or Mandarin, languages that are official national languages elsewhere in the world.
There are, however, many languages that are not even considered languages by the majority of Americans. Often these are relegated to the status of dialects or even erroneously labelled "broken English" by non-linguists. One internationally recognizable example would be African-American Vernacular English (also known as Ebonics or Black English). Marginalized and misunderstood languages such as these are going to be our focus.
In this course, we will be looking at the speakers, histories, structures and usages of marginalized languages. We will also take a look at sociolinguistic debates surrounding language attitudes and standardization.
Readings will be provided in class and on our LernraumPlus site.
Frequency | Weekday | Time | Format / Place | Period |
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Module | Course | Requirements | |
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23-ANG-AngPM3 Profilmodul 3: American Studies | PM 3. 1 Language in North America | Study requirement
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23-ANG-AngPM3.1 Profilmodul 3.1: American Studies | 3.1.1 Language in North America | Study requirement
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Student information |
23-ANG-AngPM3.1_a Profilmodul 3.1: American Studies | PM 3.1.1 Language in North America | Study requirement
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Student information |
23-ANG-AngPM3_a Profilmodul 3: American Studies | 3.1 Language in North America | Study requirement
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Student information |
23-ANG-AngPM5 Profilmodul 5: English Language and Linguistics | 5.3 Language in North America | Study requirement
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Student information |
The binding module descriptions contain further information, including specifications on the "types of assignments" students need to complete. In cases where a module description mentions more than one kind of assignment, the respective member of the teaching staff will decide which task(s) they assign the students.
It would be helpful to have completed (most of) the courses in the BM1 and BM3 modules.
A corresponding course offer for this course already exists in the e-learning system. Teaching staff can store materials relating to teaching courses there: