230121 English Dialects (S) (WiSe 2024/2025)

Resulting from extensive language contact throughout its history, the British Isles nowadays display a high degree of cultural, multi-ethnic and, consequently, linguistic diversity. In this course, we will explore dimensions of this diversity on the British Isles through the lens of dialectology. As a sub-field of sociolinguistics, the study of dialects is concerned with language variation, especially the geographic distribution of linguistic features which differ from Standard English.

In the first part of this seminar, we will learn about the basic terminology to describe regional variation in language use from a sociolinguistic perspective. We will discuss central issues such as the difference between 'dialect' and 'language', the notions of 'standard' and 'non-standard' forms of language, and the social implications of using a certain variety in everyday speech. In the second part, we will take a closer look at different methods of data collection in dialectological research by focusing on the work of renowned linguists and some major dialect projects.