Language and Society: What Your Speech Says About You

Overview

Course No. 2263
Language actively shapes our social reality, influencing how we think, perceive others, and navigate every aspect of life. These 24 lectures explore sociolinguistics – the study of how language interacts with society – revealing:

• How speech patterns reflect age, class, gender, and ethnicity
• Why linguistic differences create and reinforce social systems
• The hidden social codes in everyday conversations
• How children and adolescents acquire speech norms
• The evolving impact of technology on language

Join a leading sociolinguist to uncover how our words construct identity, relationships, and cultural understanding.

Video Lessons

1. What Does Your Speech Say About You? (31 min)
   Discover how subtle linguistic choices (-ing vs. -in’) signal age, class, and regional identity.
2. Does Language Influence Worldview? (29 min)
   Explore how language shapes concepts of time, space, and gender while reflecting social roles.
3. What Is Sociolinguistics? (30 min)
   Distinguish theoretical linguistics from sociolinguistics’ study of speech communities.
4. Four Levels of Language Variation (30 min)
   Examine phonetics, phonology, syntax, and morphology as social markers.
5. How Do Dialects Develop? (30 min)
   Analyze how history, geography, and culture transform languages into dialects.
6. Language Change: What’s New Is Old Again (28 min)
   Trace English evolution from Celtic/Norse influences to modern social forces.
7. The Origin of American Dialects (31 min)
   Map how British roots and immigrant patterns created regional U.S. speech.
8. Your Shifty Vowels (29 min)
   Investigate ongoing vowel changes as identifiers of social distinction.
9. Vowel Shifts in Regional Speech (30 min)
   Compare Southern, Northern, and Western vowel trends led by youth culture.
10. Language and Social Class (29 min)
    Learn how “r” pronunciation and other features reflect socioeconomic status.
11. Sex, Age, and Language Change (32 min)
    Discover why women and youth drive linguistic evolution.
12. Language Attitudes (31 min)
    Explore how we judge others based on “correctness” or ethnic speech patterns.
13. Language as Communication (28 min)
    Unpack eight key factors that make conversations successful.
14. Conversational Intentions (29 min)
    Study pragmatics – how context creates meaning beyond literal words.
15. Analyzing Conversation (29 min)
    Decode turn-taking, speech units, and repair strategies in dialogue.
16. Good Conversation Mechanics (29 min)
    Examine how questions manage power dynamics and backchanneling (“mm-hmm”) functions.
17. Politeness Speech (28 min)
    Learn face-saving strategies that balance social needs with personal goals.
18. Linguistic Repertoire (30 min)
    See how we adapt speech for different roles and professional contexts.
19. Gender Divide in Language (31 min)
    Contrast male/female speech patterns and theories explaining differences.
20. Ethnic Identity and Language (32 min)
    Trace how African-American English evolved through standard linguistic processes.
21. Socializing Children (28 min)
    Observe how adults model communicative norms from infancy onward.
22. Adolescence and Education (30 min)
    Understand why teen culture accelerates language change.
23. Textspeak: 2 Bad 4 English? (29 min)
    Assess whether digital communication harms language skills.
24. Future of Linguistic Diversity (32 min)
    Debate if English is homogenizing or preserving regional richness.