Ethnography of Speaking

Language is a social tool, and has been studied as such for many decades. It is an integral part of who we are as humans. Language at a social level, as opposed to individual level, tells us how an entire society or culture understands itself and others, its shared values, judgements, worldview and so on. In a sense, language and society shape each other, and are in a constant state of negotiation. This makes this relationship a dynamic one, that demands attention not only from the perspective of linguistics, in terms of form and function, but also from psychological and cognitive perspective, for example, in terms of the frame of social cognition. Of late, neuroscience has also started to show interest towards social phenomena and incorporates this angle in their state-of-the-art research paradigm. Thus, starting from Linguistics, this course will try to touch upon a number of disciplines that try to understand the intertwined nature of language and society.