Taking its cue from the view of communicative practices as constitutive of the culture of everyday life, this fieldwork-based course has as a focus the speakers and cultures involved in language and communication. It addresses not only the theories involved but just as importantly the methods for intellectual investigation. Designed as a capstone course for the Language and Communication programme, the overarching goal of the course is to have students (a) bring together the theoretical knowledge and methodological skills acquired in this and previous courses in this (and other) programmes, (b) with a focus on the local and contemporary in multilingual, globalised contexts, and (c) with an emphasis on issues of linguistic and cultural diversity and the responsibility that each individual has to make informed and significant contributions to society, for sustainability and the advancement of the human condition. Using UNESCO's International Mother Language Day as the focus and inspiration, the course assignment involves investigative fieldwork in speech communities in Hong Kong, including local Hongkongers as well as other 'minority' groups in the ecology such as ethnic minorities and domestic workers. Such activities aim to cultivate an understanding of the complexities of contemporary social and political issues of language and communication in the context of globalisation – such as the positioning of languages of global significance and the fine balance struck with other local languages for sustainability in multilingual, cosmopolitan contexts of Asia – which allows for intelligent, significant and responsible contributions to society.

• Classes, held as lecture-seminar sessions, will raise and discuss issues in the field, with readings assigned from a variety of books and journal articles.
  
  
• Students are encouraged to do basic readings before class, and continue with the more advanced readings assigned after class. Students should participate actively in class discussions.
  
  
• At various points of the semester, certain classes may be given over to fieldwork sessions where students engage in ethnographic study of language and communication in local communities; these sessions complement the lectures, providing experiential learning, with students utilising the theoretical knowledge and methodological skills acquired in class to conduct research.

Selected readings from (amongst others):

Bourhis, Richard, Howard Giles & Doreen Rosenthal. 1981. Notes on the construction of a 'Subjective Vitality Questionnaire' for ethnolinguistic groups. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 2:144-155.

David, Maya Khemlani, Ibtisam M.H. Naji & Sheena Kaur. 2003. Language maintenance or language shift among the Punjabi Sikh community in Malaysia? International Journal of the Sociology of Language 161. 1-24.

Fasold, Ralph. 1984. The sociolinguistics of society. Oxford; Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.

Giles, Howard, Richard Bourhis & Douglas Taylor. 1977. Towards a theory of language in ethnic group relations. In H. Giles (ed.) Language, ethnicity and intergroup relations. London: Academic Press. 307-344.

Li, Wei, Vanithamani Saravanan & Julia Ng Lee Hoon. 1997. Language shift in the Teochew community in Singapore: A family domain analysis. Journal of Multilingual & Multicultural Development 18:5. 364-384.

Lim, Lisa & Umberto Ansaldo. 2007. Identity alignment in the multilingual space: The Malays of Sri Lanka. In E. Anchimbe (ed.) Linguistic identity in multilingual postcolonial spaces. Cambridge Scholars Press.

Mesthrie, Rajend, Joan Swann, Andrea Deumert & William L. Leap. 2009. Introducing Sociolinguistics, 2nd ed. Edinburgh University Press.

Mufwene, Salikoko S. 2002. Colonization, globalization and the plight of 'weak' languages. Journal of Linguistics 38. 375-395.

Myers-Scotton, Carol. 2006. Multiple voices: An introduction to bilingualism. Blackwell.

Romaine, Suzanne. 2002. Comment. Can stable diglossia help to preserve endangered languages? International Journal of the Sociology of Language 157. 135-140.

Tsunoda, T. 2005. Language endangerment and language revitalisation. Berlin: Mouton.

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