In this subject, language structure and the social aspects of language use in various Asian societies are investigated through systematic reading and analysis. Each week, areas for discussion are chosen from Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese, Indian, Thai and other Asian societies. For each focus society/region, material will discuss sociolinguistic information such as language distribution, varieties , speech styles, language shift , ethnicity and identity and language policy issues. This subject is relevant for students with an interest in sociolinguistics and/or an Asian language or Asian Studies, and may be included within a major in Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese or Asian Studies, as well as Linguistics.
