Lang Contact & Pol in U.S.

Catalog description

This course is designed to engage students in a critical analysis of the history and politics of language contact within the context of the United States. Given the demographic shifts in population taking place currently in the U.S., the course will focus primarily on the contact between Spanish and English. We will discuss bilingualism and the characteristics of language contact, language ideologies, language planning and policy, Official English movements, and bilingual education. We will examine the language of hegemony used to maintain the dominance of English vis-a-vis Spanish (and other languages) present in our society. We will also do some comparative study connecting this reality to what is happening with Spanish in other situations of language contact. This course counts for the Linguistics major/minor.