Spanish

Spanish is one of the most utilized world languages. It is widely spoken across the Americas, Spain, and in many other geographical regions. Taught in Spanish, SPAN 205 has as its objective to expose students to the tripartite relationship that exists between linguistics, society, and personal identity.

Students will be exposed to various topics related to combating linguistic discrimination and fostering linguistic equity in spaces of global and public
health. Discussions will be focused on how the promotion of linguistic justice
serves to ensure successful and impartial communication in contexts that may be of paramount importance to the well-being of members of both the Hispano and Anglo communities.

With more than 500 million native speakers worldwide, the influence of Spanish on both the national and global spheres is noteworthy. Being the most studied and taught language at U.S. post-secondary institutions, content based on the socio-political and linguistic features of Spanish-speaking communities is a key component of course curricula. However, what tends not to be explicitly discussed is the fact that “standard” Spanish is regularly the focus (where standard is understood as the language or dialect established by the power-wielding members of the particular society—those who enjoy social power, authority, and/or wealth).

In the present course, we will examine how present-day linguistic policies, practices, and perspectives continue to be living relics of colonial ideology. Through a critical exploration of language displacement, suppression, and death, as well as accessibility to linguistic capital (or a loss thereof), students will investigate how historically-seeded ideas on social and racial stratification have helped birth and maintain current linguistic hierarchies.

By the end of the quarter, students will have carried out a qualitative and/or quantitative project that analyzes relevant social factors (e.g., class, race, gender, sexuality, geographical location, socio-economic status, profession, historical background, etc.) that have influenced the prestige (or lack thereof)—community acceptance/spread or rejection/erasure—that a language community and variant (dialect) of their choosing, tends to be socially assigned.