Course Description
Intro to Spanish Linguistics: Presents the principal branches of linguistic study, as it pertains to Spanish: the sound system (phonetics and phonology), the structure of words (morphology), and the structure of sentences (syntax). Additionally, attention is paid to bilingualism, especially Spanish in the US, and how Spanish is spoken/written differently by various social groups (sociolinguistics) and in various Spanish-speaking countries (dialectology). Taught in Spanish.
Course Summary
Introduction to Spanish Linguistics was the last course I took in order to fulfill my Spanish Major. This course was under the Instruction of professor Pablo Oliva and he taught subjects relating to the principal branches of linguistic studies pertaining to Spanish. When first beginning the class we were expected to learn the functions of the mouth and what sounds it could produce. In order to do this we studied a diagram in order to better understand how sounds are produced and what parts of the mouth are involved in producing these sounds. Such parts include, lips, teeth, tongue, and the palate. There were many concepts that we needed to learn in order to understand and explain phonological structures, their morphology and syntax. Regarding different languages we learned that each language has a set number of phonemes. In regards to Spanish we learned that there are a total of 24. This can vary in accordance to the derivation of Spanish and where it's spoken, but for the most part it's 24 phonemes which are the different sounds that produce the Spanish language. Through this course we also crossed with topics from Spanish 345: Bilingualism in The Spanish Speaking World. Such topics of interconnection included the the works of Noam Chomsky who is an American linguist. Another concept that we went over is a persons ability to learn language intuitively from birth and a common inability to explain structural rules like grammar and syntax. Meanwhile, a person that has learned a second language and has not yet been able to produce it verbally, can better explain grammar learns through explicit learning. They can often make mistakes in speech and through the application of their maternal language to the language being learned, while the implicit learner has internalized the language and can produce it innately. When completing the course the class was divided into groups and asked to analyze a variation of the Spanish language using the three branches of linguistics. For my group we reviewed the variational Spanish of the Caribbean. We were able to identify specific phonemes that are more often used in this region while also sharing a few words pertaining to the lexicon of Puerto Rico and Colombia.
Work Sample
variacion_regional-_espanol_caribeno.pdf | |
File Size: | 1304 kb |
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