Course Topics
The course proceeds from the macro to the micro level and in particular covers these topics. - Introduction to the basic concepts of sociolinguistics and its internal articulations. - Multilingualism: the use of languages within multilingual societies from a sociology of language and language contact perspective. - Language variation: the study of the main social factors that influence and modify linguistic behaviour. - Verbal interaction: the characteristics and structure of communication in interaction from an ethnographic perspective.

Teaching format
Lectures and exercises.

Educational objectives
The main objective of the module is to offer concepts and methods of analysis to observe and understand the variety of social uses of language. The course is oriented towards the concrete analysis of sociolinguistic data from both classical studies of the discipline and more recent research. The examples cover a wide range of languages and social contexts (including South Tyrolean and Italian). Disciplinary skills At the end of the course, students are expected to have acquired the basic knowledge of sociolinguistics, i.e. related to the use of language in different social contexts. Alongside this knowledge, students will be able to increase their ability to observe and analyse real sociolinguistic behaviour and in this way increase their awareness of the analysis of verbal communication processes. Transversal/soft skills The student will be able to increase his/her ability to observe and analyse real linguistic behaviour. A deeper understanding of the functioning of the language tool enables a more conscious and effective use of language.

Assessment
The learning process will be assessed through two instruments: an individual paper and an oral interview. The writing of a term paper can take two forms: an account of a research project or a critical commentary on topics presented during the course (based on individualised readings assigned by the lecturer). The final oral interview is intended to verify the autonomous reworking of the course content.

Evaluation criteria
The final grade is made up of the weighted average of the assessments of the paper (60%) and the oral interview (40%). The research paper is assessed on the basis of the following criteria: formal aspects (organisation of the text and clarity of exposition), content aspects (illustration of a scientific problem, application of the discipline's methods, analysis of the data, discussion of the results, connection with the course topics). The commentary paper is assessed on the basis of the following criteria: formal aspects (organisation of the text, clarity of exposition), content aspects (illustration of a scientific issue, exposition of the readings, synthesis of key elements, connection with the themes of the course, development of critical reflections).