Language, Culture, and Society

OFFICE: Storm Hall West 214
TELEPHONE: 619-594-5268
WEBSITE: http://linguistics.sdsu.edu

The Major

The major in Language, Culture, and Society offers an exploration of the relationship between language, social factors and culture, multilingualism, language variation, and theories about how language is shaped by, and in turn shapes, our understandings about the world, social relations, identities, and power. This major offers a coherent interdisciplinary curriculum with coursework that will provide theories and analytical frameworks to explore language use and variation across cultures and social contexts. Students receive foundational knowledge of the two disciplines, linguistics and anthropology, and will be immersed in sustained inquiry of social, cultural and linguistic systems, with a focus on the interdependence of these systems. The major enables students to perform analyses of language use to investigate the nature of language and power, language use and identity construction, language and world-view, gendered speech, discourse styles and social roles and relations, and cultural traditions and language arts. The major also involves consideration of issues of bilingualism and multilingualism, and related issues of language ideology and policy.

Graduates gain expertise to address complex social problems in a globalized, pluralistic twenty-first century world and qualify for employment in applied careers in nonprofit associations, federal, state, local government and international agencies, community centers, refugee organizations, cultural institutes, and tech companies. Graduates can pursue graduate work in anthropology, law, linguistics, or a variety of interdisciplinary areas in the social sciences, especially those related to language and its use.

Advising

All College of Arts and Letters majors are urged to consult with their department adviser as soon as possible; they are required to meet with their department adviser within the first two semesters after declaration or change of major.

Faculty

Faculty assigned to teach courses in the Language, Culture, and Society major are drawn from departments within the College of Arts and Letters.

Chair: Keating, Gregory D., Professor of Linguistics (B.A., University of Texas at Austin; M.A., University of Notre Dame; Ph.D., University of Illinois at Chicago)

Programs

Language, Culture, and Society, B.A. in Liberal Arts and Sciences