Researching the Effect of Social Variables on Language Use - Einzelansicht

This seminar provides students with insights into empirical sociolinguistic research. Participants will design, plan, conduct, evaluate and present own research projects, through which the effects of factors such as age, gender, class or ethnicity on language are examined. For this, students have to retrieve linguistic data (e.g., with the help of interviews, experiments or corpora) that they then analyse with a focus on a distinct linguistic feature (e.g., particular phonemes, conceptual metaphors or syntactic structures). It is both possible to come up with own ideas for case study designs, or to replicate and test an existing study.

In the first block in April, participants will get a brief overview on sociolinguistic methods, for instance on how to retrieve data, and on the structure of linguistic talks and papers. Research groups will find together and make and discuss first drafts of their case study designs.

During the sessions in June we ideally deal with one variable per day. The days close with concluding discussions on the findings, e.g. on the actual influence of gender/age/class/etc. on language use.

It is crucial that students make use of timely and, where necessary, regular consultations in order to prepare and discuss the projects with me. It is also important that they constantly work on the case study independently.

will be provided in the Moodle

regular, active and constructive participation
short online quiz after the first block
realisation and presentation of a research project