Course Description
This course offers an exploration of language as it relates to gender and sexuality. Drawing on empirical examples from a variety of social, linguistic and cultural contexts around the world, students will consider how language comes to be associated with gendered and sexual meanings, the different ways in which individuals can draw on those meanings to enact identities and/or achieve specific interactional goals, and the political ramifications of these processes. We examine patterns of variation in language use across all levels of linguistic structure, from phonetic and prosodic features through to morphosyntactic, lexical and discursive patterns. Throughout the course, we engage with current trends in feminist and queer theorizing and, in particular, consider how gender and sexuality dynamically intersect with others domains of lived experience. By the end of the course, students will have a broad understanding of the current state of research on language, gender and sexuality and an ability to link current work in sociolinguistics with broader currents in related fields.
Area Tags: Sociolinguistics, Gender, Sexuality, Variation, Perception, Discourse
(Sessions 1 & 2) Monday/Thursday 9:00am – 10:20am
Location: ILC S415
Instructor: Erez Levon
Erez Levon (he/him) is Professor of Sociolinguistics and Director for the Center for the Study of Language and Society at the University of Bern. His research focuses on the how people produce and perceive socially meaningful patterns of variation in language use. He is interested in how variation signals group membership, and in the relationship between language and broader structures of social inequality. Erez examines these issues primarily as they relate to gender, sexuality, social class and national belonging.
