Introduction to Spanish Linguistics

This course provides an introduction to Hispanic linguistics. We will begin with an overview of the objectives of current linguistic theory, after which we will study the different branches of linguistics: phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics, as well as variation and linguistic change, the relationship between language and the brain, and the acquisition of first and second language. We are all language users and have some ideas about how languages work. The course aims to make explicit the knowledge about language we all have, based on a method of scientific reasoning. Throughout the course, we will take examples from Spanish to see how the general principles of linguistics are applied to this language. (1 unit)