COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
COURSE OBJECTIVES

Course Descriptions

This course examines the role of language in the wider contexts of culture and society, focusing on the relationship between language and culture. The course will take as a point of departure the hypothesis that language determines the way in which its speakers conceptualize the world, and will explore a wide variety of topics that attempt to demonstrate the inseparable link between a language and the culture of its speakers.

Topics to be discussed include how grammars of languages reflect the cultures and social structure of their speakers; how languages organize meaning in domains such as body parts and spatial relations and how they express cultural imagery; how cultural differences and attitudes are manifested through language use, and whether these differences interfere with intercultural and interethnic communication; how gender based differences are reflected in language and culture; how languages are used for political purposes, and whether languages serve causes of oppresion and rebellion.

Other topics include language acquisition and the acquisition of culture; bilingual communities and multilingual nations; language contact, language maintenance and language loss. We will look at case studies from the U.S. and from across less familiar cultures from around the world.

Course Objectives

• To provide students with theories and concepts of language and culture.
• To increase understanding of the relationship between language and culture.
• To understand the role of cultural patterns (beliefs, values, norms) that affect or relate to individuals verbal and nonverbal behaviors.
• To identify and describe obstacles that hinder the development of intercultural communication, understanding, and competence.
• To help develop practical skills needed for effective intercultural communication.