New Course: LING 5731/8731: Variationist Sociolinguistics

New Course Alert

Take LING 5731 / LING 8731: Variationist Sociolinguistics this spring, where you’ll finally get academic credit for eavesdropping. Ever caught yourself wondering why your roommate says “hella,” your neighbor says “y’all,” and that one professor says “idear” instead of “idea?” Congrats, you’re already asking the big sociolinguistic questions! In this course, you’ll sleuth out how people use language to flex their identity, fit in, stand out, or subtly roast each other. You’ll study real-life data—from department stores to Discord servers—and uncover how variables like class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, region, and internet clout shape the way we speak. Yes, we’re talking TikToks, algospeak, and emojis. Yes, that means you can write a paper about why Gen Z texts like it’s Morse code. And yes, there will be graphs, but they will be spicy.

By the end of this class, you’ll be able to explain why your cousin in rural Wisconsin talks differently from a YouTuber in London, and impress your friends by casually dropping the phrase “sociolinguistic variable” into regular conversation. It’s part linguistics, part anthropology, part detective work, and all about the beautiful mess that is human language. If you've ever said "it's giving" unironically or argued about how to pronounce “crayon,” you're already halfway there.

Topics in this course include: 

• How Do Sociolinguists Study Language in the Wild?
• What Does Gender, Sexuality, Race, Ethnicity Have to Do With Language?
• What Does Region and Place Have to Do to Language?
• How Does Language Vary in Digital Contexts? How Does Social Media Shape Identity?
• How does Emoji Use Reflect Sociolinguistic Variation?

This course is designed for students who have completed LING 3001, LING 5001 or with instructor approval.