Language as Social Action

Language as Social Action is an area of study that considers how people use language, and how, in using language, people are also defining and displaying who they are, enacting their membership in particular groups, and bringing various types of truths into being. Language, then, is a set of practices that people engage in every day in numerous forms, which helps to define their positions in their families, communities, workplaces, schools, and even nation-states. How one speaks is not only who one is—it is what one does. This is possible because language is multifunctional, that is, it works in many different ways to connect people, convey meanings and feelings, move people to action, and define who they are. In the course, we consider topics like the power of naming, the pervasiveness of ideology, and language’s role in consolidating stereotypes. Then we focus on the public use of language and the circulation of discourse in mass society; topics include anti-racism, capitalism, the law, and policing. And lastly we consider the role of language in technologies such as artificial intelligence and smart speakers.