Postgraduate - UnitAPG5349 - World Englishes

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2013 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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12 points, SCA Band 1, 0.250 EFTSL

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Level	Postgraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Arts
Organisational Unit	Linguistics
Offered	Clayton Second semester 2013 (Off-campus)
Coordinator(s)	Professor Kate Burridge

Notes

Previously coded ALM5350

Synopsis

Explore the varieties of English around the world. You will study descriptive surveys of the main national standard Englishes, as well as a selection of the distinctive regional, ethnic and social varieties. Specific topics in this unit include: historical and cultural background and the current sociolinguistic situation of the respective regions; special focus on the non-standard varieties of Australasia and the Pacific; global tendencies in phonological and grammatical variation; notion of Standard English, attitudes to local varieties of English and the problem of standards.

Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should know the main distinguishing features, at the key linguistic levels, of the more important varieties of English around the world (native-speaker and 'new'; standard and non-standard) and also the origins and development of these features, and be able to explain the relevant facts using the terminology of linguistics; understand the main facts and issues associated with the statuses and functions of these varieties in the various societies in which they are used, the attitudes which users of English have adopted with respect to these varieties, and the connections between all these issues; be in a position to analyse new situations involving language varieties (English or other) in these terms; be in a position to develop critical and well-informed positions on the practical upshots of these considerations (educational, language planning, etc.)

Assessment

Written Work (9,000 words in total): 100%

Chief examiner(s)

Professor Kate Burridge

Prohibitions

Either APG4349 or APG5349, but not both.