Subject Area: Linguistics

This course views interaction as the management of communication, including negotiation, conflict and power relations. It is designed for students with an interest in intercultural interaction, such as communication among people from different languages and cultures in varying contexts. You will find the course relevant to many fields of study, owing to the increasing phenomenon of globalisation in all aspects of our political, economic, professional and social lives. You will explore the basic concepts of linguistic and non-linguistic realisations of culture, as well as an understanding of how these play out in various social, political, and religious contexts, intra-culturally and interculturally. You will examine issues of power, distance and difference as crucial notions in contexts of linguistic interaction. Much of the content of the course involves students in interactive scenarios, reflective activities, and working towards analytic conclusions.