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Spanish Phonetics and Language Variation


Course Description

Speech organs and systematic description of Spanish sounds. Comparison of English and Spanish patterns of stress, pronunciation, and intonation. Examination of recurrent pronunciation errors. Description of major geographical and social dialects. Practice in pronunciation and transcription of sounds. Given in Spanish.


Athena Title

Span Phonetics Lang Variation


Prerequisite

SPAN(LING) 3050 or SPAN(LING) 3050E


Semester Course Offered

Offered every year.


Grading System

A - F (Traditional)


Course Objectives

To provide students with an understanding of the organization of the Spanish sound system and dialectal differences in pronunciation. To develop skills in the identification, description and transcription of consonantal and vocalic sounds. Systematic correction of pronunciation errors, and familiarization with major dialectal differences.


Topical Outline

Week I. Introduction to basic concepts in the linguistic study of Spanish. Sounds and writing systems. Week II. Phonetic and orthographic alphabets. Languages and dialects. Week III-IV: Phonems, allophones, phonemic phrases, syllabic structure. Week V-VIII: Description and distribution of consonantal sounds. Dialectal variation. Phonetic transcription. Week IX-X: Description of vocalic sounds. Week XI: English and Spanish stress patterns. Week XII: Major Spanish dialects. Week XIII-XV: Sociolinguistics dimension of Spanish variation.


Syllabus