This course will introduce the main topics of the complex relationship between language and society. After a brief overview of classical approaches in sociolinguistics within the Labovian paradigm (according to William Labov), the course will focus on new developments in areas of study such as: language and power, language and 'gender', language and age. The second part of the course will be devoted to methodological issues on the example of varieties of English - with topics such as data collection, questionnaire design and descriptive statistics 1. Introduction; overview; the anthropological roots; 2. Classic approaches to the study of language in society; 3. Language and social groups; 4. Language and gender. 5. Language and power 6. English in GB: Dialects and accents; 7. English world-wide; 8. The Englishes in academia; 9. Pidgin and Creole languages; 10.-13. Questionnaire design & field research methods; Varieties in language corpora; Statistical instruments for sociolinguistics; Quantitative data evaluation. Acquired competencies Demonstrated knowledge and skills: students are able to use basic terminology and have become thoroughly familiar with the basic approaches used in sociolinguistics on the theoretical level, they know the development that this field has undergone in recent decades they have learned to work with data, can create sample questionnaires they are familiar with the basic research methods and tools used in sociolinguistics, but they have not yet had the opportunity to conduct research themselves. The ability to read basic sociological literature and good orientation in the field are also of great benefit.
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