The Science of Spanish: A Beginner's Guide to Hispanic Linguistics

Catalog description

Linguistics is the empirical and systematic study of language. In other words, linguists apply scientific methods to the study of language. Like all scientific disciplines, linguistics addresses broad issues as well as many very specific points. Among the broad issues are questions like: Are humans the only animals to have language? What (if anything) is unique about human language? Do we come hardwired from birth to learn language? How is language learned in infancy? Is bilingual language quantitatively and qualitatively different than two separate and independent languages? Why do adults seem to have more difficulty in mastering a foreign language than small children? What features do all languages have in common, and why? Are some languages simpler, more logical, or more expressive than others? What was the first language? Are all contemporary languages genealogically related? This course will examine some of these big questions. Since this is an introductory course, students will not get "the whole truth" about these issues, but they will get "nothing but the truth." Because this is a Spanish course, the focus will be on specific aspects of the Spanish language all over the Spanish-speaking world, including parts of the US. Students will not only learn facts about linguistics as a discipline and Spanish as a language, but they will also get a sense of what research in Spanish linguistics is about and why linguists consider these topics of interest.