Carnegie Mellon University

Introduction to Hispanic Literary & Cultural Studies: Using Spanish in Social Contexts

Course Number: 82-345

What does it mean to be able to use Spanish in social context? This course is for those who would like to explore the intersection of language and social variables in various Spanish-speaking contexts all around the world. The course has two main foci: 1) introducing some of the sociolinguistic diversity of Spanish around the world; and 2) building communicative competence through hands-on practice using Spanish in socially appropriate ways that may differ from English/other languages, for example: how to apologize, refuse, compliment, request, offer condolences, etc. Sample topics to be covered include Spanish in contact with other languages; geographic variation (lexical, phonological, grammatical); language policy and ideology; speech acts; pragmatics; Spanish in a globalized world. This course is taught in Spanish. No prior experience with linguistics needed.

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Units: 9
Prerequisite(s): 82342 and 82343