116-415 The Sociolinguistics of French

Admission to the postgraduate diploma or fourth-year honours in French.

This subject examines the French language in its social context. It focuses on languages in contact, language attitudes and language choice in multilingual societies, and language change and variation. Students focus on sociolinguistic work undertaken in France, but, where appropriate, will also encounter studies from other French-speaking areas. Students should develop an appreciation of different theoretical frameworks through which the relationship between language and society has been understood and defined and have a greater understanding of multilingual societies.

A 1500-word class paper in French and a 3500-word essay in French.

A class reader prepared by the coordinator. Textbook to be advised.