The REMODUS Consortium / University of Helsinki will soon be offering an online course on typological and sociolinguistic approaches to language variation. The description of the course and the information on practical arrangements is provided below.
There are over 7 000 languages spoken around the world, and they show an incredible diversity of structural properties. Since around 1960s, this diversity has been systematically addressed within the field of linguistic typology – with the goal to establish the range of variation and provide explanations for the observed tendencies. Initially, the proposed explanations referred mostly to language function, that is, the meaning and use of certain structures in human communication. However, in past decades, there has been a growing interest in explaining the patterns of linguistic diversity from the perspectives that are external to language as a communication system, such as geography, climate, or demography. In particular, it has been shown that various domains of language structure are influenced by sociohistorical contexts in which languages are learned and used. In other words, many of the factors shaping cross-linguistic variation are sociolinguistic in their nature.
This course brings together linguistic typology and sociolinguistics and introduces the research questions that arise when the two fields come together, as well as the innovative methods that can be used to address these questions. It is largely based on recent and ongoing research, ranging from large-scale quantitative studies to in-depth investigation of individual scenarios.
The confirmed speakers include:
Ksenia Shagal (LMU Munich & University of Helsinki)
Annemarie Verkerk (Saarland University)
Kaius Sinnemäki (University of Helsinki)
Eri Kashima (ANU Canberra)
Richard Kowalik (University of Tromsø)
Panagiotis Kapellis (University of Helsinki)
The course will run for three weeks from 16 September till 4 October 2024, with three contact sessions per week (via Zoom), on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Most contact sessions will take place in the evenings, 18:00–19:30 CEST. If some of the sessions need to be scheduled earlier, the video recordings will be made available immediately after.
Attendance is free of charge, you can apply for a participation slot here until 1 September 2024:
https://elomake.helsinki.fi/lomakkeet/130644/lomakkeet.html.
For students wishing to receive course credit (3 ECTS), active participation is compulsory. This includes a couple of reading assignments, group work, and other contributions throughout the course. if you do not require course credit, you can attend those lessons that fit into your schedule. You will be informed if you have been accepted on 5 September and receive the Zoom link as well as access to teaching materials.
