The Center for the Study of Language and Society (CSLS) at the University of Bern is dedicated to research and advocacy on the intersection between language and society. We conceive of this intersection in its widest sense. As a result, our work focuses on exploring how social changes affect languages and language use, how social beliefs and ideologies are reproduced and transmitted through language, and how, conversely, beliefs about language and language users have lasting social impacts. In particular, we aim to foster studies of the relationship between language, inequality and social (in)justice in all of its forms. We support and enable research and training on these topics at the postgraduate and postdoctoral levels, and work to promote the importance of language and language issues to a broad public, both within and outside of academia.
The CSLS offers an MA in Sociolinguistics and a PhD in Language in Society. For more details about our study programs, see here.
