ENGL 479 A: Language Variation and Language Policy in North America

Students in this course will examine language and cultural diversity on the individual vs. societal or group levels in the U.S., and address political, social, educational and moral questions and issues that relate to language diversity in the U.S.

The approach taken in this course is both descriptive and critical in that we will examine how language is implicated in creating and maintaining power for certain groups through such constructs as standard dialects and more broadly through public policies. Although the course contains linguistic content, students do not need a background in linguistics.