ENGL 263 - Black English and Voice: An Introduction to Sociolinguistics

FC ARHU CD WINT

4 credits
Sociolinguistics studies the relationship between language and society and/or language variation by group and location. Given that it is a highly developed ‘dialect’ that was central to definition of the field, this course examines regularities of Black English (sometimes called Ebonics, to indicate both speaker and sound). Along the way, students will be introduced to key concepts of sociolinguistics (e.g., speech community and speech act as well as semantics, morphology, and phonetics/phonology). The course also revisits the 1997 debates involving Oakland’s intention to feature Ebonics in English education and culminates with consideration of differently stylized ‘literary’ renderings of Black speech. Field trip(s) required.

Prerequisites: AAST 101 and one 200-level course in ENGL.

This course is cross-listed with AAST-263