Please Note: Summer 2020 Course Registration Opens Online on Monday, May 11th at 8AM

This course explores the relationship between language and identity–how individual and group identities interact with language use. Language can show belonging/not belonging to a community, a “self vs. other” distinction both produced by speakers and interpreted by listeners. How do specific “ways of speaking” unite groups of people? How are these “ways of speaking” deployed not only to construct the speaker’s own identity but also to project identity onto others? Language has been critical to nation-building, which defines a “people” and assigns it a place, while the disintegration of empires has seen new nations and “new” languages emerge. The language-identity link also shapes day-to-day interactions between individuals and belonging on a broader level. Our sociolinguistic approach focuses on language ideology, the symbolic value of alphabets and orthography, regional and national identity, gender and sexuality, ethnicity and race, age and social status, language policing, performance, and style.

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions:

• All Summer 2020 courses will be ONLINE ONLY.
• Courses will be delivered online via the Zoom video conferencing platform. All courses will be password protected and only available to enrolled students.
• All class sessions will be recorded and made available to enrolled students for a limited time to assist those who may not be able to attend the live class times.
• Enrolled students may withdraw from a course and receive a full tuition refund if the request is received before the second class session. (Our normal refund processing fee of 15% will be waived).
• The Humanities Seminars Program reserves the right to cancel any seminar that fails to meet registration minimums. If a course is canceled all students enrolled in the canceled course will receive a full refund.
• Summer registration will open on Monday, May 11 at 8 AM (AZ Time)