Sociolinguistics
Friday, 9:10-12:00 W Room 413
Instructor: Prof. D. Victoria Rau
lngrau@ccu.edu.tw
Office hours: by appointment, Phone 21500
Institute of Linguistics Goals:
 The cultivation of professional researchers in the field of linguistics
 The cultivation of professionals with the ability to innovate, think critically, and
participate in scholarly argumentation
 The cultivation of professionals with the capability to integrate and apply linguistics
and its related fields
 The cultivation of professionals with global views, an understanding of humanities,
and the scientific spirit
Course Description:
This course is a survey of important concepts and principles in sociolinguistics that will
provide a foundation for linguistics graduate students to understand, analyze, and solve
language related problems pertinent to their context. Topics to be covered include (1)
how to conduct sociolinguistic survey based on sociology of language and
multilingualism, (2) how to research sociolinguistic variation, grammaticalization, and
linguistic change, (3) how to research intercultural pragmatics and interlanguage
variation for second language education, and (4) how to research language use in crosscultural communication.
Required text:
Coupland, N. and Jaworski A. (Eds.) (2009). The new sociolinguistics reader. Palgrav
Macmillan.
Recommended texts:
Bayley, Robert and Dennis R. Preston. (eds.) (1996). Second Language Acquisition and
Linguistic Variation. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Bayley, R. and Lucas, C. (eds.) (2007). Sociolinguistic variation: Theories, methods, and
applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapters 12-17.
Biber, D. (1988). Variation across speech and writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press. Chapters 6-7. pp. 101-169.
Blair, F. (1990). Survey on a shoestring: A manual for small-scale language surveys.
Dallas, TX: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
Chambers, J. K. (1995). Sociolinguistic Theory. Cambridge, MA.: Blackwell.
Chen, Yuanshan and D. Victoria Rau (2011). Investigating the complimenting behaviors
of Chinese speakers of English. Language and Linguistics 12.4: 917-950.
Clarke, Sandra. (ed.) (1993). Focus on Canada. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John
Benjamins.
Di Paolo, Marianna and Malcah Yaeger-Dror (Eds.) (2011). Sociophonetics: A student’s
guide. Routledge.
Eckert, Penelope and John R. Rickford (eds.), (2001). Style and Sociolinguistic Variation.
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Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Fasold, Ralph. (1984). The Sociolinguistics of Society. Oxford: Blackwell.
Fasold, Ralph. (1990). Sociolinguistics of Language. Cambridge, MA.: Blackwell.
Grimes, J. (1995). Language survey reference guide. Dallas, TX: Summer Institute of
Linguistics. Appendix. pp. 82-87.
Ho, Mian-Lian and John T. Platt. (1993). Dynamics of a Contact Continuum:
Singaporean English. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Horvath, Barbara M. (1985). Variation in Australian English: The Sociolects of Sydney.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jaspers, Jurgen, Jan-Ola Ostman, and Jef Verschueren. (Eds.) (2010). Society and
language use. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Jenkins, J. (2000). The phonology of English as an international language: New models,
new norms, new goals. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Chapters 6-8. pp. 123231.
Kramsch, C. (2009). Third culture and language education. In Vivian Cook and Li Wei
(eds.) Contemporary Applied Linguistics, Vol. 1, Language Teaching and
Learning, Chapter 11. New York: Continuum.
Kramsch, C. (1993). Context and culture in language teaching. Oxford: Oxford
University Press. Chapter 3. pp. 70-104.
Labov, W. (1994). Principles of linguistic change. Volume 1: Internal factors. Cambridge,
MA: Blackwell. pp. 110-111.
McKay, S. L. (2003). Toward an appropriate EIL pedagogy: Re-examining common ELT
assumptions. International Journal of Applied Linguistics 13.1: 1-22.
Meyerhoff, Miriam and Erik Schleef. (Eds.) (2010). The Routledge sociolinguistics
reader. Routledge.
Rau, Der-Hwa V. (何德華). (1995).“雅美語的活力” (Yami language vitality), Paper
presented at the Conference on Language Use and Ethnic Identity, Institute of
Ethnology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 6/16/1995.
Rau, D. Victoria (何德華). (December 2007). “社會語言學” (Sociolinguistics), Chapter
7, In World Chinese Language Association (ed.), 華語文研究與教學-四分之一
世紀的回顧與前瞻(Research in Second Language Education in Chinese for the
past 25 years: Past and Future). 臺北﹕世界華語文教育學會. 227-252.
Rau, D. Victoria (2011). Research designs for using VARBRUL to study interlanguage
variation, grammaticalization, and word order variation. Invited Workshop at the
NWAV Asia-Pacific. University of Delhi, India. 2/23-26/2011.
Rau D. Victoria (何德華) (2011). 華語文教學導論第十講，<華語社會語言學、語用
與文化教學> http://victoriarau.blogspot.com/2012/03/blog-post.html
Rau, D. V., Chang, H.-H., and Dong, M.-N. (2009). A tale of two diphthongs in an
indigenous minority language. In Variation in Indigenous Minority Languages.
Eds. by J. N. Stanford and D. R. Preston. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John
Benjamins. 259-280.
Rau, D. V., Chang, H.-H, and Tarone, E. (2009). Think or sink: Chinese learners’
acquisition of the voiceless interdental fricative. Language Learning. 59.3: 581621.
Rau, D. V. and Chen, Y. (2010). “Thank you. My English is not very good.”- Thirdness
in compliment exchanges. Paper presented at the 27th Conference on English
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Teaching and Learning in the R.O.C., May 1-2, 2010. Kaohsiung, Taiwan:
National Kaohsiung Normal University.
Rau, Victoria, L-H. Chang, Y.-H. Chien, and H.-Y. Lu. (2012). From corpus to classroom:
Investigating dative alternation of “give”, In Ming-Yu Tseng (Ed.), Investigating
Language at the Interface. Kaohsiung: Center for the Humanities and the College of
Liberal Arts. National Sun Yat-sen University. 27-76.
Schneider, Edgar (ed.) 1996. Focus on the USA. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John
Benjamins.
Scollon, Ron and Suzanne Wong Scollon. (2001). Intercultural Communication: A
Discourse Approach. Second Edition. Blackwell.
Shen, Yi-chun. (2009). The use of ranhou in spoken Chinese. MA thesis, Department of
English Language, Literature, and Linguistics, Providence University.
Stanford, J. and Preston, D. (eds.), (2009). Variation in indigenous minority languages.
Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Trudgill, Peter. (1990). The Dialects of England. Oxford: Blackwell.
Trudgill, Peter (ed.) (1984). Applied Sociolinguistics. London: Academic Press.
Wardhaugh, R. (2009). An introduction to sociolinguistics. Sixth Edition. WileyBlackwell.
Wodak, Ruth, Barbara Johnstone and Paul Kerswill. (Eds.) (2011). Sage handbook of
sociolinguistics. Sage.
Wolfram, W. and Schilling-Estes, N. (2006). American English. Second Edition. Malden,
MA: Blackwell.
Wolfson, Nessa. 1989. Perspectives: Sociolinguistics and TESOL. Boston, MA:
Heinle & Heinle.
Yu, Ming-chung. 2011. Learning how to read situations and know what is the right thing
to say or do in an L2: A study of socio-cultural competence and language transfer.
Journal of Pragmatics 43: 1127-1147.
Websites
 Software for variation studies: VARBRUL (the variable rule program): the key
methodological tool of variationist sociolinguistics
(http://individual.utoronto.ca/tagliamonte/Goldvarb/GV_index.htm)
 SIL Electronic Survey Reports: http://www.sil.org/silesr/masthead.html
Video clips:
American Tongues:
 You talk funny
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vF9g37FCmk
 Regional words
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXGuCaApR7U&feature=related
 Computer talk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRnc6ZyEJeA&feature=related
Linguistic profiling
 HUD ad on linguistic profiling
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAZMIC_OwTw&feature=related
 20/20 linguistic profiling:
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KCL97s1lJg&feature=related
 John Baugh’s linguistic profiling and African American English origin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPGx1icFdLQ&feature=related
Northern Cities Vowel shift
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UoJ1-ZGb1w
Development of broadcast standard US English
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W68VaOuY6ew&feature=related
US language attitudes
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kW3K3OclnE&feature=related
Course requirements:
1. Participation and advance work: Class members are expected to attend each class
session, arrive on time, come prepared, be ready to lead and/or participate in the
group discussion. Any absence will adversely affect the final grade; each excused
absence may be made up through an additional assignment in consultation with the
instructor (10%).
 Advance work: Find an effective advertisement from youtube or any other media
you have access to, e.g.,
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuCuzcTa33s
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ud7WERrDO8
 Bring your favorite advertisement to “show and tell”
2. Classroom assignments: Four literature reviews (40%):
 Students will be assigned to lead discussion on selected readings.
 After reading a few selected articles on a major sociolinguistic topic, students are
expected to write a literature review (2-3 pages each), summarizing the contents
and identifying a research gap (10 points for each literature review).
3. Final research paper (50%): Submit a 15-20-page research paper. A research
proposal will be submitted and approved by the instructor during the mid-term week.
 All written assignments should be submitted electronically via email and are
graded based on a process-oriented approach. One revision to address the
instructor’s feedback and/or peer review is required for each assignment.
Grade
Mark
A+
96-100
A
91-95
A-
86-90
B+
81-85
B
76-80
B-
71-75
Description
Outstanding: The level of research, thinking, and communication are
outstanding.
Very good: The level of research, thinking, and communication are
superior. Well done!
Good: The level of research, thinking, and communication are very
good.
Satisfactory: The level of research, thinking, and communication are
satisfactory.
Acceptable but average at best: The level of research, thinking, and
communication are acceptable.
Acceptable but definitely below average: The level of research,
thinking, and communication are barely acceptable.
4
C+ or
below
70 or below
Not acceptable: The work is not appropriate for this class.
Tentative Schedule:
Week 1. Introduction (Rau 2007, Rau 2011 ppt); Show and tell your favorite
advertisement; Identify interesting sociolinguistic questions
Topic 1. How to conduct sociolinguistic survey based on sociology of language and
multilingualism
Week 2. Sociolinguistic survey (Labov C&J 3, Rau 1995, Grimes 1995, Blair 1990)
Week 3. Sociology of language (Niedzielski & Preston C&J 25, Irvine & Gal C&J 26,
Ochs C&J 29, Sallabank WJ&K 33)
Week 4. Multilingualism (Ferguson C&J 31, Gal C&J 32, Auer C&J 34, Dorian C&J 37),
Assignment 1
Topic 2. How to research sociolinguistic variation, grammaticalization, and linguistic
change
Week 5. Sociolinguistic variation (Schleef & Meyerhoff M &S 1, Rau 2011, Shen 2009)
Week 6. Style and variation (Eckert C&J 10, Zhang M&S 4, Labov M&S 19, Rau,
Chang, Dong 2009)
Week 7. Linguistic change and grammaticalization (Tagliamonte C&J 6, Sankoff &
Blondeau M&S 21, Trudgill M&S 22); Assignment 2
Wee 8. Submit research proposal
Topic 3. How to research intercultural pragmatics and interlanguage variation for second
language education
Week 9. Interlanguage variation (Wolfram WJ&K 21, Rau, Chang & Tarone 2009, Rau,
Chang, Chien & Lu 2011)
Week 10. Sociophonetics and methodology (Di Paolo & Yaeger-Dror D &Y 2, Cieri D
&Y 3, Maclagan & Hay D &Y 4, Bounds, Palosaari & Kretzschmar D&Y 5)
Week 11. Intercultural pragmatics (Rau & Chen 2010, Chen & Rau 2011, Yu 2011),
World Englishes (Jenkins 2000, Pennycook WJ&K 34); Assignment 3
Topic 4. How to research language use in cross-cultural communication
Week 12. Interactive sociolinguistics (Gumperz C&J 40, O’Barr & Atkins C&J 11,
Tannen C&J 12)
Week 13. Ethnography of communication (Hymes C&J 39, J. Coupland C&J 44,
Jaworski C&J 45)
Week 14. Intercultural communication (Kramsch 1993, Chapter 3, Scollon & Scollon
2001, Chapter 7); Style (Bell C&J 18, Giles C&J 19) Stylization and identity (Rampton
C&J 20, N. Coupland C&J 22, Pennycook C&J 23), Assignment 4
Week 15. Research paper progress report 1
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Week 16. Research paper progress report 2
Week 17. Final presentation, Revised final paper due on 5:00 pm.
6