230621 Languages in Contact: Bilingualism and Code-Switching (S) (SoSe 2008)

"Languages in Contact," as a part of Grundmodul 2 "Contact Zones and Intercultural Studies," offers students the opportunity to explore the widely differing nature of language contact, concentrating language contact situations and the attitudes of the speakers involved within the general bounds of the English-speaking world. We will, in particular, review the areas of code-switching and code-mixing, types of bilingualism and bidialectalism (diglossia, koinés, lingua francas, stable and symbolic bilingualism), while also possibly looking at borrowing, language maintenance and language shift, pidginization and creolization, secret languages, and language planning and language policy as well as language revitalization programs.

Some of the areas of interest might include:

o language and cultural contact in popular music (rap, reggae, etc.),
o cinematic language and cultural encounters,
o second generation immigrants¿ attitudes and practices in regard to language and culture,
o autochthonous languages, settler languages, and immigrant languages,
o language standardization, purity, and mixing
o bilingual education

The work of this class is very suitable as a point of departure for the study project that is part of the conception of this phase of the M.A. studies.

A comprehensive literature list as well as a reserved reading shelf will be provided.