Language is an ever varied and constantly changing product of the human experience. Language is shaped and reshaped by the individual and groups of individuals that are using and negotiating linguistic norms and practices. The sociolinguists among us are interested in the mechanisms of how language is used, perceived and negotiated by society. We use language to express ourselves and our ideas, but language is also produced and perceived to indicate social identity, group affiliation, region of origin, ethnic background and other similar characteristics. Several main threads of interest in Sociolinguistics include:
- What motivates linguistic variation and change?
- How do such linguistic norms and practices get established and propagated by the individual or groups of individuals?
- How can we empirically examine social constructs to better understand how language is produced/perceived?
If you are interested in such questions or what Sociolinguistics has to offer to Linguistics more generally, please the UR's Sociolinguistics Reading Group! We meet every other Thursday at 2pm in Lattimore Hall 531; check the "Calendar" tab for the specific dates we'll be meeting and the readings we'll be covering.
You can gain access to this group on Blackboard via my.rochester.edu. Self-enroll by searching for "SocioLing Reading Group" as an organization and select "Enroll".
For more information regarding this reading group, please contact
Wil Rankinen, Ph.D. | wrankine[at]ur.rochester.edu | (585) 273-2366