Spanish 3303B: The Structure of Spanish
Meets: Winter 2015, Tuesdays 10:30 -11:30, Thursdays 10:30 – 12:30, KB K 106
Pre-requisites: Spanish 2214
Instructor: Dr. Silvia Perpiñán, [email protected] Course Description
This course is an introduction to the linguistic structure of Spanish. It introduces the student to
the main concepts of phonology, morphology and syntax applied to the Spanish language.
Thursday classes will be more theoretically oriented, with linguistic explanations and technical
data, and the class will be delivered in a lecture form. Tuesday meetings, on the other hand, will
be discussion sessions for which students need to come prepared to class, with the homework
done, and ready to actively participate in class.
Course Aims:
The course aims to achieve the following:
• Develop analytical reflection about
language
• Compare English and Spanish
linguistic features
• Get a deeper understanding about
the Spanish language, its structure
and the way Spanish language
works.
Learning Outcomes:
It is expected that, upon the successful completion of this course, the students will have the
ability to accomplish the following:
• Be able to reflect about the skeleton of the Spanish language.
• Have the basic concepts of linguistics applied to Spanish.
• Have a deep knowledge of the phonological, morphological and syntactic structure of
Spanish.
• Be able to improve their Spanish skills by critically reflecting on the grammar of the
language.
• *Understand* the grammar of Spanish.
Course Materials
Required Textbook
José Ignacio Hualde, Antxon Olarrea, Anna María Escobar y Catherine Travis. 2010.
Introducción a la lingüística hispánica, 2ª ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Evaluation
Exams: 60% (2 x 17,5% + final = 25%)
Homework: 15% (one-hour classes)
Final Project: 15%
Attendance and participation: 10%
Exams
1- Introduction, phonetics and phonology. End of February (= 17.5 %)
2- Morphology. End of March. (= 17.5 %)
3- Final cumulative exam. Exam Period. ( = 25 %)
Homework
At the beginning of each one-hour class, I will go around your notebooks and check
whether you have completed the homework assigned for that day. I will give three grades:
10 = good job. All exercises are done, homework is completed on time. It is clear that the student
spent the necessary time and effort to complete the assignment. Notice that I will not be
grading whether the activities are correctly completed, but whether you put the necessary
effort into doing it.
5 = minimal effort. There are incomplete exercises, homework is unfinished. Student shows
minimal effort into completing the assigned work.
0 = no homework done. Student clearly comes unprepared to class. Student misses class without
an excuse.
Final Project
Students are required to choose a Spanish linguistic topic of their interest from the list provided
underneath, and write a research paper on that topic, approx. 5 -7 pages, in Spanish. The
grade will be calculated as the sum of the content of the paper, organization, the grammar,
vocabulary and style. Remember to cite appropriately, you need at least 4 academic
references for your paper. Papers with plagiarism will automatically get a zero.
Sections of the 5-page paper (orientative):
Description of the linguistic phenomenon under study.
Where is that phenomenon coming from (origin from Latin or other languages).
Motivation for that topic. Why are you interested in this topic?
What have you discovered about this topic that you didn’t know before?
How are you going to apply that knowledge to your Spanish skills?
Possible topics for the Final Project (please talk to me after you have chosen a topic)
• The Spanish pronominal system (tú vs. usted vs. vos) in any dialectal variety of Spanish.
• The epenthetic [e]
• Dialectal differences in pronunciation of diphthongs.
• The history of voiced stops. (Oclusivas sonoras)
• The history of vowels.
• The history of diphthongs.
• Leísmo vs. laísmo vs. loísmo.
• The origin of the <h>
• Comparative development of Spanish with any other Romance Language (French, Italian,
Portuguese, Catalan, Romanian, or dialects of these languages…)
• The diminutive suffixes
• Compounds: palabras compuestas
Other Academic Matters: UWO Academic Calendar (Academic Policies/Regulations).
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a major academic offense (see Scholastic Offense Policy in the Western Academic
Calendar). Plagiarism is the inclusion of someone else's verbatim or paraphrased text in one's
own written work without immediate reference. Verbatim text must be surrounded by quotation
marks or indented if it is longer than four lines. A reference must follow right after borrowed
material (usually the author's name and page number). Without immediate reference to borrowed
material, a list of sources at the end of a written assignment does not protect a writer against a
possible charge of plagiarism. This also applies to work facilitated or written for students by third
parties. The University of Western Ontario uses a plagiarism- checking site called Turnitin.com.
Absenteeism:
Students seeking academic accommodation on medical grounds for any missed tests, exams,
participation components and/or assignments must apply to the Academic Counselling office of
their home Faculty and provide documentation. Academic accommodation cannot be granted
by the instructor or department, please refer to Accommodation for Medical Illness here
https://studentservices.uwo.ca/secure/index.cfm.
Students are allowed to miss classes without penalty for legitimate reasons (medical issues,
family emergencies etc.). Documentation for legitimately missed classes is required at the Dean's
Office for Academic Accommodation. Students who miss classes or parts of classes are
responsible for the material they have missed. Students who miss classes with no legitimate
reason will get a zero in participation grade that day. Instructors are not obliged to review the
contents of lectures, repeat announcements or retain notes, handouts or overheads.
Any student who, in the opinion of the instructor, is absent too frequently from class (lectures
and / or homework days), will be reported to the Dean of the Faculty offering the course (after
due warning has been given). On the recommendation of the department concerned, and with the
permission of the Dean of that Faculty, the student will be debarred from taking the regular
examination in the course. The Dean of the Faculty offering the course will communicate that
decision to the Dean of the Faculty of Registration.”
(http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/handbook/exam/attendance.pdf)
Electronic Devices
The use of cell phones is completely forbidden in class. If you text, check facebook, twitter, etc
during class, you will be asked to leave the classroom immediately, and will get a zero in
participation for that week. You can use laptops for academic purposes, but it you use them to
check your email, facebook, etc, you will be asked to leave the classroom as well. This is
consider an scholastic offence. Scholastic offences are taken seriously and students are directed
to read the appropriate policy, specifically, the definition of what constitutes a Scholastic
Offence, at the following Web site:
http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/handbook/appeals/scholastic_discipline_undergrad.pdf .
“Students who are in emotional/mental distress should refer to Mental Health@Western
http://www.uwo.ca/uwocom/mentalhealth/ for a complete list of options about how to obtain
help.”
The Department of Modern Languages and Literatures Policies which govern the conduct,
standards, and expectations for student participation in Modern Languages and Literatures
courses is available in the Undergraduate section of the Department of Modern Languages and
Literatures website at http://www.uwo.ca/modlang/undergraduate/policies.html.
It is your responsibility to understand the policies set out by the Senate and the Department of
Modern Languages and Literatures, and thus ignorance of these policies cannot be used as
grounds of appeal."
Calendar (tentative)
DÍA
Week 1
TEMARIO
Presentación del Curso. Requisitos.
Gramáticas prescriptivas y descriptivas.
La lengua como sistema de signos
Week 1
Las características del lenguaje humano
La adquisición del lenguaje.
Ramas de la lingüística.
Week 2
Resumen cap. 1 y corrección de ejercicios
Week 2
Week 3
Week 3
Cap. 2: Los sonidos de la lengua: fonética y
fonología.
Apartado 1: conceptos básicos.
2. La clasificación de los sonidos
Práctica sobre fonemas, alófonos y su
distribución.
Apartado 2: La clasificación de los sonidos.
¿Por qué tenemos fonemas?
Apartado 3: Fonemas consonánticos.
TAREA OBLIGATORIA
Leer el syllabus.
Leer pp. 1-8
Leer pp. 13-30; pp. 39-41.
Ejercicios p. 41, nº. 1-5.
Leer pp. 45- 65.
Ejercicio p. 94, nº. 17
Ejercicios 1-4
Ejercicios de repaso p. 86-87, nº
12-13.
Leer pp. 53 – 88.
Ejercicios p. 73, nº. 5; p. 95, n. 1516
Week 4
Week 4
Week 5
Week 5
Práctica sobre consonantes.
Apartado 5: Vocales y semivocales.
Práctica sobre vocales y semivocales
REPASO
Ejercicios p. 57, nº. 4; p. 73, nº 7;
p. 79, nº. 8; p. 80, nº 9.
Leer pp. 88 – 99.
Ejercicios pp. 94-95, nº.19.
Ejercicios p. 102-109, nº 24-28.
Ejercicio 32 y 41, pp.119-120 (y
los ejercicios que queden por
corregir)
Week 6
Week 6
Examen 1: Introducción y fonología.
Capítulos 1 y 2: La lingüística como
ciencia cognitiva. Los sonidos de la lengua
EXAMEN
Week 7
Week 7
Week 8
Week 8
Week 9
READING WEEK
Cap. 3: La estructura de las palabras:
morfología. Apartado 1: conceptos básicos.
Flexión verbal: paradigmas verbales y
análisis morfológico; verbos irregulares;
TAM
Práctica sobre conceptos básicos de
morfología
Morfología verbal. TAM. Continuación
Derivación: sufijos emotivos.
Nominalización, adjetivación y
verbalización.
Week 9
Morfología verbal
Week 10
Práctica sobre verbos y derivación.
Prefijación. Palabras compuestas.
La estructura jerárquica de las palabras.
Leer pp. 123- 136.
Leer pp. 143- 162.
Ejercicios pp. 127-134, nº. 1- 6
Leer pp. 166- 171
Ejercicios pp. 134- 136, nº 8, 12.
Ejercicio 35, p. 171
Leer pp. 173- 185.
Ejercicios pp. 145-149, nº. 22-24.
Ejercicios p. 171 - 172, nº. 35 - 37.
Leer p. 188-200
Week 10
Repaso de morfología
Capítulo 3
Ejercicios de repaso pp. 198-200.
Week 11
Examen 2: Morfología
Capítulo 3: la estructura de las palabras.
EXAMEN
Topics for research projects due
Week 11
Cap. 4: La estructura de la oración: sintaxis
Constituyentes.
Leer pp. 201- 210
Week 12
Práctica sobre constituyentes.
Reglas de reescritura, subcategorización y
transformaciones.
Week 12
X-con-barra
Week 13
Práctica sobre constituyentes.
Week 13
Repaso
Ejercicios pp. 206-208, nº. 1-3.
Leer pp. 210-225.
Leer pp. 225-237
Ejercicio p. 210, nº. 5.
Ejercicio p. 216, nº. 9.
Ejercicios pp. 237-238, nº 15-19
Leer pp. 244- 255
Ejercicios sin corregir