This version of the course guide is provisional until the period for editing the new course guides ends.

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Spanish Language in America

Code: 106375 ECTS Credits: 6
2024/2025
Degree Type Year
2504211 Spanish Language and Literature OT 3
2504211 Spanish Language and Literature OT 4

Contact

Name:
Lourdes Aguilar Cuevas
Email:
lourdes.aguilar@uab.cat

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

Since the student has successfully obtained the necessary credits in basic training subjects and compulsory courses, it is expected that they have acquired the essential language skills to effectively express themselves in Spanish, both orally and in writing.

It is essential to emphasize that any spelling or expression errors made by the student will result in a deduction of points from the final grade (a deduction of 0.25 per error in evaluation assessments).

In this course, originality holds great significance, and it is strictly forbidden to engage in complete or partial plagiarism of external materials published in any medium. Failure to appropriately attribute non-original content will automatically lead to a failing grade (0).

Furthermore, it is assumed that the student is familiar with the general guidelines for presenting academic work. However, if the professor deems it necessary, specific instructions may be provided, and it is expected that the student will comply with them accordingly.


Objectives and Contextualisation

The aim of this course is to deepen our understanding of the linguistic features of Latin American Spanish within the broader context of the Spanish language. By the end of the course, students will have the ability to identify the main variations of Spanish spoken in the Americas, describe their unique characteristics, and provide concrete examples from both oral and written sources. Furthermore, students will develop a comprehensive understanding of the sociolinguistic dynamics in different Latin American countries, exploring the language's interactions with other languages and its impact on the cultural identity of its speakers. While the course primarily focuses on synchronic analysis, it also incorporates historical aspects that have shaped the diverse range of Latin American Spanish dialects. Throughout the course, students will encounter various theories aimed at explaining the distinctions between American variants and European Spanish.


Competences

    Spanish Language and Literature
  • Act in one's own field of knowledge evaluating inequalities based on sex/gender.
  • Advise organisations and institutions on linguistic or literary issues.
  • Analyse the main phenomena of linguistic variation in Spanish (historical, diatopic, semantic and pragmatic variation).
  • Analyse the main phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, lexical and semantic properties of the Spanish language, its evolution throughout history and its current structure.
  • Demonstrate a normative knowledge of the Spanish language and a command of it in all its applications in the academic and professional spheres.
  • Identify the linguistic characteristics of the different periods in the evolution of the Spanish language.
  • Introduce changes in the methods and processes of the field of knowledge to provide innovative responses to the needs and demands of society.
  • Students can apply the knowledge to their own work or vocation in a professional manner and have the powers generally demonstrated by preparing and defending arguments and solving problems within their area of study.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Use digital tools and specific documentary sources to gather and organise information.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Acquire knowledge of techniques and methods of dialectal linguistic analysis for their application in the learning and teaching of the Spanish language.
  2. Acquire techniques and methods of linguistic analysis related to variation.
  3. Analyse inequalities due to sex or gender and gender bias in the field of social-historical knowledge.
  4. Apply the knowledge and methodological uses of discourse analysis and pragmatics to interpret texts and communicative intentions and argue accordingly.
  5. Appreciate the importance of the Pan-Hispanic norm in the international context.
  6. Be able to solve problems related to discourse analysis in professional linguistic situations (political communication, electoral campaigns, business interaction, language teaching, etc.).
  7. Be tolerant of linguistic diversity and richness.
  8. Communicate using a non-sexist use of language.
  9. Describe and analyse pragmatic variation taking into account verbal, paraverbal and non-verbal communication.
  10. Identify different theoretical and methodological perspectives in discourse analysis.
  11. Know the current geolectal varieties of Spanish in the world, with special attention to the sociolinguistic varieties of Spanish in America.
  12. Know the linguistic phenomena according to the social, geographical and stylistic variability of the Spanish language and know how to relate them to the normative.
  13. Learn the necessary skills to carry out discourse analysis of oral and written texts.
  14. Learn to use linguistic terminology related to norm and variation accurately.
  15. Manage databases and Internet sources or materials for the analysis of linguistic variation in Spanish.
  16. Place linguistic changes in their chronological context.
  17. Recognise the processes of linguistic change.
  18. Relate the linguistic norm with other grammatical disciplines.
  19. Solve problems of the Spanish language, and carry out linguistic analysis and commentary, from both a synchronic and historical-comparative perspective.
  20. To gain theoretical and practical knowledge of the linguistic diversity of Spanish.
  21. Use discourse analysis to take a critical stance on different social linguistic uses (discourse of power, discourse of gender and sexism, etc.).

Content

    1. Introduction to American Spanish. A brief history of the expansion of Spanish in America (15th, 16th, and 17th centuries).
    2. Hypotheses about the formation of American Spanish.
    3. Expansion of Spanish in America (18th, 19th, and 20th centuries). Fragmentation and unity.
    4. Dialectal zones in American Spanish: main varieties.
    5. Phonetics and phonology of American Spanish.
    6. Morphosyntax of American Spanish.
    7. Lexicon of American Spanish.
    8. Projects on linguistic variation in Spanish: linguistic atlases and oral atlases of America.
    9. American Spanish and the Hispanic norm: the concept of pan-Hispanism. Presence of pan-Hispanic language policy in academic works.
    10. The sociolinguistic situation in Hispanic America. The languages of Latin America: linguistic diversity at risk of extinction. Contacts between the Spanish language and indigenous languages of Latin America.
    11. Spanish as a heritage language and the situation of heritage speakers of Spanish in Europe. Survival/use of indigenous languages of Latin America in Spanish-speaking contexts.
    1. Spanish in/from the United States. Hispanic varieties in the United States. The presence of English in Hispanic dialects of the United States. Spanglish: linguistic and cultural fusion.

Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Theory and practice classes 62 2.48 2, 3, 4, 14, 13, 8, 20, 12, 11, 9, 21, 1, 10, 15, 17, 18, 19, 6, 7, 16, 5
Type: Supervised      
Tutorials 15 0.6 14, 8, 20, 11, 15, 18, 7, 5
Type: Autonomous      
Class and exam preparation 65 2.6 14, 8, 20, 11, 15, 18, 7, 5

The students activities are distributed as follows:

  • Teacher-directed activities (35%): they include classroom classes, practical classes and seminars, with a combination of theoretical presentations and discussion of all kind of texts.
  • Tutorials (10%): devoted to the comment and correction of problems and exercises.
  • Autonomous and cooperative activities (50%), which include individual study, the elaboration of reports and exercises and the resolution of problems, as well as the preparation of an oral presentation.
  • Evaluation activities (5%): the evaluation of this subject will be carried out through oral presentations and written tests.

 

During the established schedule by the institution/program, 15 minutes of a class will be reserved for students to complete the evaluation surveys regarding the performance of the teaching staff and the course evaluation.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Classroom presentation 20% 2 0.08 14, 8, 20, 11, 15, 18, 7, 5
Individual or small group coursework 30% 2 0.08 8, 20, 11, 15, 18, 7, 5
Written exam 25% 2 0.08 2, 14, 8, 20, 12, 11, 15, 18, 19, 7, 5
Written exam 25% 2 0.08 2, 3, 4, 13, 8, 20, 11, 9, 21, 1, 10, 15, 17, 18, 19, 6, 7, 16, 5

For the final evaluation, the following will be taken into account: the writing of an individual or team coursework (30%), an oral presentation in class (20%), and two written exams (25% each).

All activities are mandatory. In exceptional cases, the oral presentation may be replaced by a short synthesis paper.

Requirements to pass the course:

  • To pass the course, it is necessary to complete all assessments.
  • To pass the course, a final grade equal to or higher than 5 is required.
  • To be eligible for recovery, it is necessary to have submitted all assessments and obtain a global grade higher than 3.5.
  • The oral presentation activity is not subject to recovery.
  • A grade of "not assessable" will be given if a maximum of 50% of the evaluation has been completed.
  • If the course is assessable and any assessment is left pending, the grade for that assessment will be 0 and will be included in the calculation of the overall grade. In this case, the maximum possible grade for the course will be 4.8, and the student will be eligible for recovery.
  • In the event that students have passed the recovery test, the maximum final grade for the subject will be 5.

Observations:

In the case of written expression, it is expected that students write paragraphs and texts with complete content. Spelling, punctuation, and discourse structure errors will result in a penalty (-0.25 per error). Oral expression should be coherent, organized, correct, and appropriate to the communicative situation.

General rules for the presentation and submission of academic work are assumed to be known.

If a student engages in any irregularities that may significantly affect the grading of an evaluation task, that task will be graded as 0, regardless of any disciplinary action that may be taken. If multiple irregularities occur in the evaluation tasks of the same course, the final grade for that course will be 0.

At the beginning of the course, the course methodology and assessable tasks will be explained. Specific guidelines for each assessment will be provided later. Detailed descriptions of the assessable activities, specific evaluation criteria, and submission deadlines can be found in the virtual teaching space for the course. The review process will vary depending on the type of assessment and will be announced in a timely manner.

 

Procedure for grade review.

On carrying out each evaluation activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.

 

Single assessment:

Single assessment implies a single evaluation date, but not a single evaluation activity. The single evaluation will consist of the submission of the coursework, the recorded video presentation, and the in-person written exams.

The unique assessment will consist of the following tests: submission of a short assignment analyzing an oral discourse (25%), submission of a short assignment analyzing a written text (25%); in-person assessment of oral discourse content (25%); in-person assessment of written discourse content (25%).

Everything will take place in a single day, which will coincide with the day established for the last test of the continuous assessment. The test calendar will be displayed in the first week of the course in the virtual space of the subject.

The same assessment method as continuous assessment will be used.


Bibliography

  • Águila Escobar, Gonzalo 2016. “Del español del norte al panhispanismo un viaje transatlántico de ida y vuelta”, Revista Letral, Nº. 16, 2016, pp. 121-129.
    Aleza Izquierdo, Milagros y José Mª Enguita Utrilla (coords.) 2010. La lengua española en América. Normas y usos actuales, Valencia, Universitat de València.
    Alonso, Amado 1953. Estudios lingüísticos. Temas hispanoamericanos, Madrid, Gredos.
    Alvar, Manuel (ed.) 1996. Manual de dialectología hispánica. El español de América, Barcelona, Ariel.
    Alvar, Manuel 2000. América. La lengua, Valladolid, Universidad de Valladolid.
    ASALE 2010.Diccionario de americanismos, Madrid, Santillana.
    Centro Virtual Cervantes. Congresos de la lengua: http://congresosdelalengua.es/; http://cvc.cervantes.es/obref/congresos
    Cestero Mancera, Ana Mª, Isabel Molina Martos y Florentino Paredes García 2006. Estudios sociolingüísticos del español de España y América, Madrid, Arco Libros.
    Frago, Juan Antonio & Franco, Mariano 2001. El español de América, Cádiz, Universidad de Cádiz.
    García Mouton, Pilar 2003. El español de América, Madrid, CSIC.
    Granda, Germán de 1994. Español de América, español de África y hablas criollas hispánicas. Cambios, contactos y contextos, Madrid, Gredos.
    Haensch, Günther 2001. "Español de América y español de Europa (1ª parte)" Panace@ Vol. 2, nº 6, diciembre, pp. 63-72. http://www.medtrad.org/panacea/IndiceGeneral/n6_G_Haensch.pdf
    Haensch, Günther 2001. "Español de América y español de Europa (2ª parte)"Panace@ Vol. 2, nº 7, diciembre, pp. 37-64. http://www.medtrad.org/panacea/IndiceGeneral/n7_G_Haensch7.pdf
    Hualde, J. I., Olarrea, A., & O'Rourke, E. (Eds.). (2012). The handbook of Hispanic linguistics (p. 153). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
    Lipski, John M. 1994. El español de América, Madrid, Cátedra.
    Lynch, A. (Ed.). (2019). The Routledge handbook of Spanish in the global city. Abingdon and New York: Routledge.
    López García, Ángel 2020. “Monocentrismo y policentrismo en la lengua española”, en Lingüística hispánica teórica y aplicada. Estudios léxico-gramaticales didácticos y traductológicos, Nowikow W., López González A.M., Pawlikowska M., Baran M., Sobczak W. (eds.), Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, Łódź-Kraków (2020), pp. 185-205, doi: 10.18778/8220-201-4.14
    Malmberg, Bertil 1992. La América hispanohablante: unidad y diferenciación del castellano, Madrid, Istmo.
    Medina López, Javier 2002. Lenguas en contacto. Cuadernos de Lengua Española, Núm. 47. Madrid, Arco Libros.
    Montrul, S., & Polinsky, M. (Eds.). (2021). The Cambridge handbook of heritage languages and linguistics. Cambridge University Press.
    Moreno de Alba, José G. 1988. El español en América, México, FCE.
    Moreno de Alba, José G. 2007. Introducción al español americano, Madrid, Arco Libros.
    Moreno-Fernández, F., & Caravedo, R. (2022). Dialectología hispánica, The Routledge Handbook of Spanish Dialectology.
    Moreno Fernández, Francisco (2017) Las variedades de la lengua española y su enseñanza. Madrid, Arco Libros.
    Muñoz-Basols, Jvier, Nina Moreno, Inma Taboada y Manel Lacorte (2017) Introducción a la lingüística hispánica actual teoría y práctica, Nueva York, Routledge.
    Palacios, Azucena (coord.) 2008. El español en América. Contactos lingüísticos en Hispanoamérica, Barcelona, Ariel.
    Ramírez Luengo, José Luis 2007. Breve historia del español de América, Madrid, Arco Libros.
    Vaquero, María 1996.El español de América I. Pronunciación, Madrid, Arco Libros.
    Vaquero, María 1996. El español de América II. Morfosintaxis y léxico, Madrid, Arco Libros.

Software

No specific software is required.


Language list

Information on the teaching languages can be checked on the CONTENTS section of the guide.