Language, Thought, and Culture

Catalog description

Examines how language, thought, and culture are interrelated processes and structures. Takes a sociolinguistic perspective that language and society are intertwined, to understand how language either constrains or influences thought, how culture and language interact, and how culture is constructed through cognition. Course covers the study of signs (semiotics), cultural and linguistic depictions of people, groups, and issues (representation and discourse analysis), individual and societal beliefs about language itself (language ideologies), how meaning is created and perceived (semantics), and how speakers use language in real-life situations (linguistic anthropology). Open only to students in Focus Program. Department consent required.