This introductory course focuses on the role of language in the development of Mexican-American experiences in the Southwest. In particular, it focuses on the Mexican American language experience in the borderlands of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Some of the topics included in this course are: bilingualism, language attitudes, prestige, pride, and identity as well as other linguistic issues related to Spanish in the Southwest.
Hispanic Linguistics Graduate Courses
Units: 3
Usually Offered: Fall,Spring
Units: 3
Usually Offered: Fall,Spring
This course provides graduate students with an opportunity to explore main issues and theories in the field of heritage languages from different perspectives and prepare them to conduct research in this field. Some of the topics included in the course include: heritage language populations and communities, language policies and ideologies, heritage language competence and development, and heritage language pedagogues. Emphasis will be placed on Spanish as a heritage language in the United States but other heritage languages will also be covered.
Units: 3
Usually Offered: Fall,Spring
This course is an overview of the phonological system of Spanish and some of the analyses proposed by generative phonology. It covers alternative accounts of the same phenomenon with the goal of introducing the student to phonological analysis and to advances made by various theories in trying to account for the facts in various dialects of Spanish. Given the need for a strong foundation and mastery of concepts and tools of phonological theory, a significant part of the course will be devoted to introducing students to them. The second part of the course focuses on the application of those tools and concepts to the phonological system of Spanish on the basis of extant analyses. A sound knowledge of the descriptive facts about the phonology of Spanish is assumed.
Units: 3
Usually Offered: Fall,Spring
This course continues the study of the generative analysis of the phonological system of Spanish started in Spanish phonology I. SPAN 580 (Spanish Phonology II) reviews recent analyses of important phonological processes of Spanish, highlighting advances, difficulties and unresolved theoretical and empirical issues. The course aims to provide students with: (a) the knowledge and resources necessary to read and critique/analyze generative analyses of the phonological system of Spanish; (b) a general understanding of major theoretical models of phonology through their application to Spanish; (c) a general understanding of the challenges presented by Spanish to modern linguistic analysis, as well as the ability to formulate research questions. Students who wish to enroll in the course are required to have a sound knowledge of the descriptive facts of the phonology of Spanish and of major concepts/tools of generative phonology.
Units: 3
Usually Offered: Fall,Spring
The course offers guided instruction in the production of original research in Spanish phonology. The course assumes the possession of a solid knowledge of the current literature, of alternative frameworks, and the ability to read independently, understand and critically read phonological analyses.
Units: 3
Usually Offered: Fall,Spring
The goal of this course is to systematically examine methods, approaches, techniques and activities for the teaching of foreign languages and its use in the classroom. It will include an overview of learner strategies and cooperative learning, the use and adaptation of textbooks, and some of the journals available in the field. Participants will be introduced to second language acquisition theories, course design, lesson planning and testing, and have experience creating a cohesive instructional unit.
Units: 3
Usually Offered: Fall,Spring
This course serves as an introduction to the main theories and practices in the field of Spanish as a Heritage Language (SHL) education. The course will begin by defining the field and SHL learners and will address issues related to the goals of SHL instruction and methods available for its teaching, sociolinguistics processes common in SHL students¿ Spanish and the sociopolitical position of Spanish in the US. This course incorporates a practical component of classroom observation and lesson and activity planning to prepare future teachers for effective SHL teaching practices.
Units: 3
Usually Offered: Fall,Spring
This course involves an examination of the methods and argumentation used in syntactic analysis, both from a general point of view and from the perspective of generative grammar. Emphasis is placed on analyzing language data, on constructing and evaluating syntactic argumentation, and on understanding the Principles & Parameters approach to the study of sentence structure. Secondarily, this course is also an introduction to scientific theorizing: what it means to construct a scientific theory, how to test a scientific theory, how to choose among competing theories. Linguistic data will be drawn from Spanish.
Units: 3
Usually Offered: Fall,Spring
This course introduces students to innovations in syntactic theory that have been proposed within the last decade. Students will move beyond the introductory-text level and extend their knowledge of Principles & Parameters approaches to syntax through discussion of the goals of Minimalist Syntax and its hypotheses about design aspects of the human faculty of language. The course explores in detail how postulated minimalist primitives and operations interact to generate the (complex) structures that are characteristic of natural language sentences.
Units: 3
Usually Offered: Fall,Spring
The purpose of this course is to offer a overview of the research related to the interaction between syntax, informational content, and prosodic phonology that accounts for the differences in Spanish word order.