Sociolinguistics and Language Ecology

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Key facts

UNE unit code: LING571

*You are viewing the 2027 version of this unit which may be subject to change in future.

Start

Trimester 2 - Online

24/7 online support

Intensive schools

Supervised exam

Credit points

UNE student studies on a laptop on her lounge at home

Sociolinguistics is the study of how people use language to achieve social purposes, such as claiming or maintaining identity and group solidarity.

This unit provides a broad introduction to this core area of linguistics and covers such topics as multilingualism; code-choice; language and superdiversity; language, migration and citizenship; language variation; dialectology; interactional studies; gender; language contact; language and inequality; and language and power.

You will also cover some important applications of sociolinguistics (vernacular education, and language policy and planning) and current debates in areas like creolisation, language testing for immigration and citizenship, language and social justice, and language endangerment and rights to language(s) of choice.

Offerings

Teaching period	Mode/location
Trimester 2	Online

*Offering is subject to availability

Intensive schools

There are no intensive schools required for this unit.

Enrolment rules

Pre-requisites

candidature in a postgraduate award

Restrictions

LING330 or LING371 or EDLA503

Combined units

LING371 Sociolinguistics and Language Ecology

Notes

Please refer to the student handbook for current details on this unit.

Unit coordinator(s)

Finex NdhlovuProfessor, Language in society/Sociology of language - Faculty of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences and Education; School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

Learning outcomes

Upon completion of this unit, students will be able to:

critically evaluate the relationships between languages and their speakers in given social groups;
use autonomy and judgement to critically examine the effects of power relations on the varieties of language that speakers use;
understand and critique the relationship between language variation and language change, with the ability to communicate this effectively to others;
apply linguistic tools, techniques and theories of sociolinguistics to critically analyse language data; and
critically analyse theoretical discussions of sociolinguistic phenomena, with reference to current theories of sociolinguistics.

Assessment information

Assessments are subject to change up to 8 weeks prior to the start of the teaching period in which you are undertaking the unit.

Title	Must Complete	Weight	Offerings	Assessment Notes
Essay	Yes	40%	All offerings	No. Words: 2500
Online Assessment Note	Yes	20%	All offerings	No. Words: 1000
Online Quiz 1	Yes	20%	All offerings	No. Words: 1000
Online Quiz 2	Yes	20%	All offerings	No. Words: 1000

Learning resources

Textbooks are subject to change up to 8 weeks prior to the start of the teaching period in which you are undertaking the unit.

Note: Students are expected to purchase prescribed material. Please note that textbook requirements may vary from one teaching period to the next.