Spanish Dielectology (LIGN 147GS - 4 Units)

Syllabus - UCSD Global Seminar – Cádiz, Spain

John Moore, Professor, Department of Linguistics, UCSD

 

This course will examine the history and diversity of Spanish dialects. Spanish has the third largest number of native speakers in the world (around 400 million), and exhibits extensive dialect variation. This course will approach Spanish dialectology from both historical and synchronic perspectives. Thus, we will study the origin of Spanish, as a dialect of Vulgar Latin spoken in Northern Spain, its extension throughout most of the Iberian Peninsula during the reconquest of Islamic Spain, and its dissemination in the Americas during Spain’s colonial period. The synchronic perspective will provide a linguistic description of major Spanish dialects, as spoken today and will discuss the social factors that determined their distribution.

 

Since the course will be conducted in English and no knowledge of Spanish will be assumed, the readings will be in English. Coursework will include readings, a midterm, and a class project. The final project will be done in groups (5-6 students each). These groups will pair Spanish-speaking students with students with less Spanish.

 

Cádiz, as a main port of departure for the Americas, has played a central role in exporting Andalucian dialect innovations to the New World. By cataloging actual Andalucian dialect features in present-day Cádiz, students can compare these to other New World varieties. This will require that students spend time listening to the Spanish spoken around them, allowing for an interesting cultural experience. Even students who don’t speak Spanish should be able to benefit from this experience, if guided by students with a background in Spanish. There will be a weekend excursion to Granada, which is relevant to the history of the reconquest; also, excursions planned for the flamenco course can provide exposure to the types of language data that are relevant to this course.

 

I will introduce the necessary linguistic concepts, particularly basic articulatory phonetics

 

Topics:

 

Week 1:          Basic articulatory phonetics

                        Phonetics of Standard Spanish – Castilian versus Latin American

                        Overview of dialect areas in Spain and the New World

                        Regional and social dimensions of dialect variation

 

                        READING: Phonetics Chapter

 

                        LECTURE NOTES:   Phonetic symbols, Dialects, and Variation

 

Week 2:          The development of Castilian Spanish from Medieval Spanish through the

                        reconquest of Islamic Spain

                        Castilian Spanish in contact with other languages of Spain

 

                        RECOMMENDED READING: Penny, chapter 1, chapter 2, and chapter 3

 

                        LECTURE NOTES:   History of Spanish, Language change

 

                        PHONETICS QUIZ

 

Week 3:          The development of Andalucian and Canary Island Spanish

                        The development of Latin American dialects as a result of differing colonial patterns

 

                        RECOMMENDED READING: Lipski, chapter 2, Penny, chapter 4

 

                        STUDY MATERIALS:         Midterm study guide,  Spanish sibilants

 

                        MIDTERM

 

Week 4:          Explaining the dialect variation in Latin America.

                        The influence of Andalucian Spanish on Latin American Spanish

 

                        RECOMMENDED READING: Penny, chapter 5

 

                        LECTURE NOTES:   Latin America Mexico  

 

                       

Week 5:          The influence of Indigenous languages of the Americas on Latin American Spanish

                        Afro-Hispanic influences

 

                        RECOMMENDED READING: Lipski, chapter 3 and chapter 4

 

                        LECTURE NOTES: Indigenous Influence, African Influence, Peru, Boliva, Chile,

                                                            Puerto Rico, Dominicano, Panama, Venezuela, Guatamala, Costa Rica

 

                        PROJECTS DUE

 

Course Work:

 

Phonetics Quiz:

 

This will be a short quiz that will test basic articulatory phonetics, including phonetic symbols and articulatory descriptions of sounds. This is a bit technical, but really only requires a little bit of memorization – I encourage you to make flashcards to study for this.

 

Midterm:

 

The midterm will cover some of the basic dialect features of Spain, as well as the history of the Spanish sibilant system. There will be a study sheet with more details.

 

 

Final Group Paper:

 

For this project, your group should write about three pages, double-spaced, describing features of Spanish, as spoken in Cádiz. This should come from things you have actually heard people say – don’t just repeat things you heard in class! Some of the members of

each group will speak Spanish, so they might have to be more involved in the data collection – you can start this immediately. After describing the features of Cádiz Spanish, discuss each feature and say whether it, or something similar, happens in some variety of Latin American Spanish. Write this up as a short paper, using good academic English, etc. The point is to demonstrate:

 

(i)        You have gone out and listened to local Spanish and wrote it down phonetically

 

(ii)       You have an idea of what Andalucian Spanish might sound like

 

(iii)      You know what the major features of different Latin American Spanish dialects are.

 

Grading:

 

Phonetics quiz:           10%

Midterm:                     45%

Final group paper:      45%

 

Readings:

 

Lipski, John M. 1994. Latin American Spanish. Longman, New York.

 

Penny, Ralph. 2000. Variation and change in Spanish. Cambridge University Press,

Cambridge.

 

Phonetics Chapter (Akmajian, A, R. Demers, and R. Harnish. 1984. Linguistics: An Introduction to Language and communication. MIT Press, chapter 4.)