Fall 2007
SPN 383N • Spanish Historical Linguistics
| Unique | Days | Time | Location | Instructor |
| 49480 |
TTh |
9:30 AM-11:00 AM |
BEN 1.118 |
Solé |
Course Description
This course traces the development of the Spanish language from Latin to the present focusing upon the cultural, literary and historical factors that have contributed to its evolution from Latin to early Romance, and then to the Modern language. It is not a course in historical grammar, so it does not cover internal linguistic changes in detail, although the diachronic evolution of the phonological system is treated and illustrated with medieval literary texts. The course is divided into five main parts: 1. The lexical expansion of Spanish from VL and CL (including helenismos), germanismos, arabismos to modern elements (galicismos, italianismos, lusismos, indo-americanismos, anglicismos); 2. The development of the phonological system: from the medieval and to the modern pronunciation of spoken Spanish; 3. The development of the written language: from Alfonso El Sabio and Berceo to La Celestina, Valdés, Nebrija, Villalobos, and the language of the Golden Age; 4. El "problema de la lengua" in the 18th century: the creation of the Spanish Royal Academy; 5. The overseas expansion of Spanish: Judeo-Spanish and the Spanish in the Americas; the problem of linguistic unity.
Grading Policy
Three one-hour exams, and one short paper.
Texts
Required reading: Antonio Alatorre, Los 1,001 años de la lengua española. Fondo de Cultura Economica, Mexico DF 1989. Rafael Lapesa, Historia de la lengua española, Las Américas Pub. 8a edicion, Madrid, 1980. R. Menéndez Pidal, La lengua de Cristóbal Colón y otros ensayos, Col. Austral, 1958. Juan de Valdés, Diálogo de la lengua, Ed. de Juan J. Lope Blanch, Castalia, Madrid, 1969. Werner Bahner, La lingüística española del siglo de oro, Ed. Ciencia Nueva, 1966. Required references: R. Menéndez Pidal. Manual de grámatica histórica española. Elcock, W.D., The Romance Languages, Faber and Faber, London, 1960 Read chapter I: "The Latin Foundation" plus all the sections in this book which deal directly with the Spanish language.
