Language and Power

Catalog description

An introduction to the study of language in relation to power and identity in modern society. We explore the role of language in constructing social identity and systems of power by focusing on language use in relation to social class, regional dialects, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation, education, multilingualism and social media, as well as propaganda and social control. This class introduces students to some of the basic tools linguists use to study language, but requires no previous understanding of linguistics.