Course Description

Words and symbols are two of the most indispensable (and contested) kinds of signs in human communication. This course takes that contestation seriously, rethinking questions such as: What work do words and symbols do in public life? How do they shape the ways we talk about gender, race, nation, and citizenship? Who gets to decide what a word ‘really’ means, what a symbol ‘really’ stands for, or when its use goes ‘too far’? We approach these issues through real-world disputes over meaning and usage across law, politics, media, digital communication, and everyday interaction. Cases range from legal definitions and political slogans to hashtags, memes, and public campaigns. These are sites where different groups deploy language and symbols to claim authority, build solidarity, challenge inequality, or silence others. 

We will also consider the role of institutions, experts, and ordinary participants in framing and sustaining these debates. What emerges from studying such disputes is a picture of the deeper relationship between language, power, and social change. Students will develop practical tools for analyzing how words and symbols position people, justify actions, and construct versions of reality. Students will also be asked to reflect on their own communicative choices in the process. What is ultimately at stake in these controversies is significant: freedom of expression, voice in public life, control of the public sphere, and the ongoing struggle over who gets to say what words and symbols mean.

Course Learning Outcomes

On completing the course, students will be able to:

1. Identify and describe the ways in which words and symbols are contestable.
2. Understand the personal, socio-cultural, and circumstantial factors that shape disputes over words and symbols.
3. Apply basic research skills and develop an appreciation of the role and status of different kinds of sources (blogs, media reports, discussion forums, historical texts, secondary literature), including referencing and citation conventions.
4. Analyze critically the reflexivity of language, the linguistic arguments, communicative strategies, and ideologies involved in word/symbol disputes.
5. Identify a case study of a word/symbol dispute and analyze its origins, development and the underlying issues at stake.

Offer Semester and Day of Teaching

First semester (Wed)

Study Load

Assessment: 100% coursework

Required Reading

Excerpts from:

• Simpson, P., Mayr, A. & Statham, S. (2019). Language and power: A resource book for  students (2nd ed.) Routledge: London.

Some online texts from media sources and the worldwide web to be provided later, alongside some optional readings (more timely journal articles).

Course Co-ordinator and Teacher(s)