Linguistics 300: Language Variation and Place

Course description

This course will focus on the study of sociolinguistic variation and its connections with geographical place, specifically examining regional and local dialect variation in the United States. We will discuss seminal work in the study of U.S. regional dialectology, including the historical development of regional dialects, perceptual dialectology, and linguistic variation and change in the context of geographic origin, to understand the theoretical and methodological contributions of this work. We will then focus on approaches that examine the role of individual speakers' and listeners' place identity in sociolinguistic variation, as well as intersectional approaches that view place identity as entwined with other aspects of identity, to assess the ramifications of these theories for the study of sociolinguistic variation and change. Finally, we will delve into the study of one particular place -- Chicago -- to formulate new research questions about language variation in the metropolitan area. Students will gain hands-on experience with sociolinguistic data to examine the influence of social factors on regionalized linguistic variation.




Learning outcome goals

Through successfully completing this course, you will:

• understand current theories of geographically-conditioned linguistic variation and change in the U.S. and elsewhere.
• understand quantitative and qualitative approaches to the study of linguistic variation and change.
• gain experience in synthesizing multidisciplinary work to formulate research questions in sociolinguistics.
• learn about and gain hands-on experience a variety of methods in sociolinguistic analysis.
• gain experience presenting and discussing proposals for original research.





Course Policies




Communication with instructor

Please contact Annette via e-mail for questions, issues, or to set up an appointment outside of the scheduled office hour. Any e-mail sent before 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, will be answered the same day. While I may answer for emails sent after 5 p.m., or on weekend days, the only guarantee I make is that after-hours emails will be answered the next business day. Note that all appointments and office hours are held in Annette's office in the Ling House (2016 Sheridan Rd. Rm. 106). All assignments should be submitted electronically in the Assignments tab in the course Canvas page.




Late write-ups

Written assignments that are late will be deducted a full letter grade for each 24 hour period that they are late. No credit will be given for assignments turned in more than 48 hours late, though I will read and provide feedback on these assignments. This does not apply to data collection and processing portions of assignment (as others are relying on your timely data collection), the discussion posts, or final paper, which must be turned in on their due dates.




Academic integrity

All students are expected to comply with Northwestern's principles regarding academic integrity. See this link for more information. Suspected violations will be investigated.




Students with documented disabilities

Any student requesting accommodations related to a disability or other condition should to register with AccessibleNU (accessiblenu@northwestern.edu; 847-467-5530) and provide the instructor with notification from AccessibleNU, preferably within the first two weeks of class. All information will remain confidential.

Grading Breakdown




Class Engagement (15%)

What you get out of this course will be determined by how much thought, effort, and time you put into it. Much of our class will be based on discussions that engage with the concepts and readings assigned for that class period. There is no assigned textbook for this course. Instead, we will be drawing from an assortment of books, articles, and other media. Each week, we will have a class discussion relating the readings to the topic of the week, listed on the Schedule page. Your demonstrated engagement with these texts and the lecture material will therefore be a critical part of your grade.

5% of your grade will be demonstrated preparation for these course discussions prior to the class period. You will do this by posing a question or extension related to one or more of that week's readings on our Canvas forum (the "Discussion" tab) by 8 a.m. on Thursdays. You are required to complete this for a total of 5 weeks (your choice of any weeks between Week 2 and Week 8), though you are welcome and encouraged to do more. These should be no more than two sentences long, and should be intellectually interesting questions or thoughts that you would like to pose to the class at large. You may pose new questions or follow up on other students' posts (though you should not provide "answers" per se). You should be prepared to share your rationale for posing the question or your thoughts on it in class.

Your participation in class discussions will be noted and will count for 10% of your grade, which, of course, requires you to be present in class. Please see the WCAS policy for missing class and notify Annette as soon as possible if you must be absent for any reason. I am aware that individuals might be differently comfortable with speaking up in class. While regular participation in class is a course requirement for everyone, if you find that you have not been able to share your thoughts out loud as much as you would like in class, you may choose to do extra reading questions/thoughts to bolster your engagement grade. Please contact Annette if this is the case. This does not take the place of attendance and general in-class attention and engagement.




Assignments (50%)

Aside from the discussion posts and the final paper, you will complete three short analysis assignments in this class. These include both data collection tasks and write-ups. All assigned tasks and project deadlines will be noted on the Schedule page in the corresponding week that they are due, with instructions and materials provided in class in advance and linked on the Schedule page. assignments should be submitted via Canvas under the Assignments tab, unless otherwise specified.




Final Project Proposal (35%)

This class will not include a final exam. Instead, you will complete a final project in a small group, proposing an original research study of language variation in Chicago. This project will be completed in stages throughout the quarter. We will assign groups and begin discussing ideas for projects in Week 4. Each stage following will be worth a portion of your overall grade, breaking down as follows:

• 10% - Topic Description and Bibliography (due Thursday of Week 7, 5/16 by 11:59 p.m.)
• 10% - Project Presentation (in class Week 9)
• 15% - Final paper (due on Canvas Monday, June 10, by 11:59 PM)

All assigned tasks and project deadlines will be noted on the Schedule page in the corresponding week that they are due, with instructions and materials provided in advance.