Learning objectives: to introduce students to factors in society that cause languages to change, to explore attitudes to language change and their implications for language planning and language practitioners, and to gain an understanding of the reasons why certain languages are abandoned by their speakers whereas others are maintained.

May include:Language change throughout history; The European Classical languages; The development of the English language; Social class and language change; The development of new languages; Language change in a multilingual society; Language death, language shift and language maintenance.

Broader skills incorporated in this unit:reading, writing, analytical, evaluation and reasoning skills.