SPANISH LINGUISTICS: WORDS, ROOTS AND AFFIXES

Catalog description

Through readings, lectures, multimedia, discourse analysis and language-production tasks, this course in Spanish morphology provides students with the tools to expand their vocabulary exponentially though the application of word-building rules and conventions. Students learn how to predict the form and meaning of Spanish words they have not yet encountered by applying derivational rules such as forming nouns and adjectives from verbs, adjectives from nouns and adverbs from adjectives and nouns. Additionally, students learn how Spanish uses prefixes and suffixes, for example, those that express negation, opposition, repetition, location, size, purpose or affect to alter a word's basic meaning, and how new words come into the Spanish language through processes like word coinage and lexical borrowing. Finally, students are introduced to the topic of lexical variation as it occurs over time, across regions and that resulting from language contact; social- and situational factors; technological innovation; and speakers' identity and preferences.