XRated Linguistics Language Sexuality And Desire

AY2016/2017 Semester 1

How do we speak the unspeakable? How do we talk about sex? Why do we talk about it the way we do? And why do we not talk about it when we don?t? Why is sex often taboo?... How do we construct our sexual subjectivities and how do we perform our sexual identities through language-in-use?... Do gays and lesbians have their own language(s)? What are the `labels? that have been applied to non-conformist sexual choices and non-heterosexual orientations throughout history? How have they changed? How and why do some of them get reclaimed and re appropriated by the very same people they were intended to offend and discriminate against? And how are some other offensive labels resisted and rejected? What are the main sociocultural and political significances of these linguistic interventions? What does language have to do with identity politics? What are the main achievements of the sexual political movements? And what are their shortcomings?... How do we verbalize our erotic desire?... How do we represent our sexuality online, and how do we construct discursively what/whom we want, or do not want?... Why are sexual jokes and innuendoes funny and/or provocative and socially disruptive even when not a single ?bad word? is used? These are among the questions we?ll be tackling throughout this course by examining a wide range of examples from around the world. We will critically reflect on insights and concepts from sociolinguistics, sociology, anthropology, discourse analysis, conversation analysis, literary criticism, media studies and related social sciences and humanities in order to develop an integrated and interdisciplinary theoretical and methodological toolbox which we will apply when analyzing the linguistic and discursive aspects of human sexuality. The course will provide ample opportunities for students to get hands-on experience by analyzing and discussing real-life language data. Students will be expected to do all the assigned readings on time, submit their reading notes and discussion questions the night before the class, and actively participate in our in-class discussions. Parental advisory: occasional explicit content! We will occasionally deal with ?strong language? throughout this course. The course is not suitable for those who may find such content objectionable. There will be no pornography in this course.