This course is designed to provide an introduction to the field of sociolinguistics and give third year students’ appreciations of the relationship between language and society and language, and culture as well. First, it would highlight the various functions that a language performs in a society. It deals with ways in which language serves to define and maintain/preserve group identity and social relationships among speakers. Students will learn about a variety of topics dealing with the general theme of language in its social context. Amongst the main topics that are included in the course are: How sociolinguistics is different from formal linguistics, regional and social dialects, styles and registers, pidgin and Creole languages

The current lecture provides an overview on the importance of Linguistics as a scientific field that deals with the study of human language.