LIN-545 Language as Social Practice

Course Overview

This course is a theoretical introduction to the study of language as social practice. It is social theory for those interested in language. It is also appropriate for anyone wishing to understand the place of language in recent social thought. There are no prerequisites. Topics include language and semiotics, speech acts and performativity, language and embodiment, relativity and difference, units and structures of participation, language and practice theory, discourse genres, and reference. Students will be expected to make their own connections in a final paper between the theories introduced in the course and their ¿home disciplines,¿ such as Deaf Studies, Interpreting, Education, Linguistics, and other, related fields.