BA English Language and Chinese

This course unit covers the fundamentals of Spanish linguistics, with special attention being paid to the sounds, the words and the sentences of Spanish. Relevant comparisons with English are made when appropriate. Dialectal variation as well as the implications of linguistic analysis for the teaching and learning of second languages are also discussed. 

This course unit is combined with LELA20772 Spanish Linguistics, and therefore can't be taken as well as this unit (SPLA20772).

• To introduce students to the linguistic study of Spanish.
• To provide students with the basic linguistic tools necessary to describe and analyse linguistic data.
• To engage students in the analysis of real-world linguistic data.
• To allow students to establish a connection between theoretical research and pedagogical practice in the language classroom.
• To enable students to use their knowledge of linguistics to facilitate the process of teaching and learning a language, with special refernce to Spanish.
• To help raise awareness of intra- and inter-language diversity and multilingualism in a global world.

By the end of the semester, you will have:

• assimilated basic concepts in modern linguistics;
• acquired the knowledge of the linguistic features of Spanish and the tools necessary to describe and analyse the structure of the Spanish language in terms of its sounds, its words and its sentences, as well as compare the structure of Spanish with that of English;
• developed critical awareness with regard to the weight of the arguments provided by research to date, as well as the scope and limitations of the different proposals in the field;
• acquired a foundation that can be applied to related fields such as the teaching and learning of second languages, translation and interpreting and the formal analysis of literary and non-literary texts.

The successful completion of this unit will enable you to develop:

• analytical skills and the ability to deal with abstract concepts;
• the ability to empirically test abstract ideas in linguistics;
• argumentation skills;
• problem-posing and problem-solving skills;
• the ability to obtain, analyse and organise additional information about relevant topics;
• critical awareness;
• creativity and originality of thinking.

By completing this course unit, you will:

• be able to analyse Spanish data on three different levels (sounds, words and sentences), which will be accomplished via the completion of a number of regular practical assignments;
• establish relevant comparisons with English, thus improving your knowledge of the structure of English;
• improve the teaching and learning of foreign/second languages by becoming more linguistically informed.

This unit will enable you to acquire and/or further develop:

• information-retrieval skills, including the ability to obtain additional information about relevant topics;
• the ability to apply analytical skills to everyday problems;
• oral and written presentation skills;
• independent research skills (library, electronic databases, internet materials, language samples);
• the ability to synthesise information;
• argumentation skills;
• critical awareness;
• awareness of linguistic diversity in a global world.

Resit Assessment

General 

Alvar, M. 2000. Introducción a la lingüística española. Barcelona: Editorial Ariel. 

Azevedo, M. 2005. Introducción a la lingüística española. New Jersey: Pearson. 

Crain, S., y D. Lillo-Martin. 1999. An Introduction to Linguistic Theory and Language Acquisition. Oxford: Blackwell. 

Hualde, J.I., Escobar, A. Olarrea, A. and Travis, C. 2010. Introducción a la lingüística hispánica. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Hulst, H. van der. 2008. A Mind for Language. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall Hunt. 

Pountain, C. 2003. Exploring the Spanish Language. London: Arnold. 

Stewart, M. 1999. The Spanish Language Today. London: Routledge. 

Villa-García, Julio and Álvaro González-Urzúa. 2016. A conversation on Spanglish. In theLINGUIST@NTNU, National Taiwan Normal University. 

Villa-García, Julio. Exp. 2025. Lingüística para la vida. Madrid: Ediciones Akal. 

Whitley, M.S. 2002. English/Spanish Contrasts: A Course in Spanish Linguistics (2nd ed.). Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. 

The sounds of Spanish 

Alarcos, E.. 1967. Fonología española. Madrid: Gredos 

Hualde, J. I., Escobar, A. Olarrea, A. and Travis, C. 2010. Introducción a la lingüística hispánica. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Hualde, J. I. 2005. The Sounds of Spanish. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Whitley, M.S. 2002. English/Spanish Contrasts: A Course in Spanish Linguistics (2nd ed.). Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. 

The words of Spanish 

Hualde, J.I., Escobar, A. Olarrea, A. and Travis, C. 2010. Introducción a la lingüística hispánica. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

RAE. 2009. Nueva gramática de la lengua española. Madrid: Espasa. 

Wheatley, K. 2006. Sintaxis y morfología de la lengua española. New Jersey: Pearson. 

Whitley, M.S.: English/Spanish Contrasts: A Course in Spanish Linguistics (2nd ed.) (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2002). 

The sentences of Spanish 

Bello, Andrés. 1847 / 1970. Gramática de la lengua castellana. Buenos Aires: Editorial Sopena. 8a edición, corregida y aumentada por Rufino José Cuervo y Niceto Alcalá Zamora. 

Bosque, I., and Gutiérrez-Rexach, J. 2009. Fundamentos de sintaxis formal. Madrid: Akal.  

Hualde, J. I., Escobar, A. Olarrea, A. and Travis, C. 2010. Introducción a la lingüística hispánica. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Radford, A. 2009. Analysing English Sentences. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

RAE-ASALE. 2009. Nueva gramática de la lengua española. Madrid: Espasa. 

Wheatley, K. 2006. Sintaxis y morfología de la lengua española. New Jersey: Pearson. 

Whitley, M.S.: English/Spanish Contrasts: A Course in Spanish Linguistics (2nd ed.) (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2002). 

Zagona, K. 2002. The syntax of Spanish. Cambridge University Press.