SPAN 313
Intro to Spanish Linguistics
Course Description
Intro to Spanish Linguistics: Presents the principal branches of linguistic study, as it pertains to Spanish: the sound system (phonetics and phonology), the structure of words (morphology), and the structure of sentences (syntax). Additionally, attention is paid to bilingualism, especially Spanish in the US, and how Spanish is spoken/written differently by various social groups (sociolinguistics) and in various Spanish-speaking countries (dialectology).
Course Description
Intro to Spanish Linguistics: Presents the principal branches of linguistic study, as it pertains to Spanish: the sound system (phonetics and phonology), the structure of words (morphology), and the structure of sentences (syntax). Additionally, attention is paid to bilingualism, especially Spanish in the US, and how Spanish is spoken/written differently by various social groups (sociolinguistics) and in various Spanish-speaking countries (dialectology).
In this course I had the opportunity of going more in depth with the study of phonology, morphology, and syntax. With this course I met Major Learning Outcome two; which is Language and Linguistic knowledge. I learned that Morphology studies the structure of words. Syntax studies the structure of sentences; while phonology studies the sound system of a given language. The one that stood out most was phonology. I enjoyed learning about the different phonemes that represent the sounds of letters. For example when it comes to the letter /b/ in Spanish, phonetically it is represented as [b]. This also pertains to the letter /v/. I learned that although the letters are different, they are pronounced the same( in Spanish). I gained this knowledge after doing one of the few homework assignments in the class. In this assignment we were to identify the different phonemes that represent a given letter. It was interesting to learn that this is completely different when it comes to English. In English the letter /b/ is represented as [b] while the letter /v/ is represented as [v]. After learning this I came to understand why my mom, who's mother and primary tongue is Spanish, has a hard time pronouncing words in English that start with the letter /v/. I understood phonology the best but I would like to better my understanding of morphology and syntax, for I feel this will be useful when I become a high school Spanish teacher. I plan to further my knowledge in this topic by studying for the specific subject tests I have to take in order to receive my teaching credential.