P.hd in English:Sociolinguistics

P.hd in English:Sociolinguistics

This course is a survey of current research in areas and issues in Biolinguistics. It also proposes to cover a variety of approaches to language design (as a biological system) and the evolution of language. Some of the major areas of research will be covered in the following sections:

s Acquisition of speech and language

s Cognition and perception studies through different disorders of communication.

s Studies in lateralization and localization of language in brain through imaging techniques.

s Genes and language/speech.

s Speech and voice patterns of genetically related people

s Language and evolution

This area of research focuses on the relationship between theoretical linguistics and recent developments in sociolinguistics. The key concerns in this area are linguistic heterogeneity, language contact and code-choice in different socio-cultural context. Studies of language dynamics (language change, language maintenance and language shift) in multilingual, multi-cultural societies are given particular emphasis. Another focal area of research is the role, function and status of tribal/minor languages vis-a-vis the more developed and relatively powerful languages of wider communication. This area also includes studies of socio-educational deprivation, language inequality and attitudes towards languages and speech-communities. Moreover, language in its varying manifestations is also studied as a marker of identity and means of societal signification.