SPAN 53.02 Spanish Linguistics, Rhetoric, Poetics and the Politics of Language
This course surveys the evolution of the Castilian language, with special emphasis on the influence of Arabic and indigenous languages of the Americas, Judeo-Spanish (ladino), Italianisms and Cultisms, Voseo, and the influence of English. A special emphasis is given to the period of standardization between the 17th and 19th centuries that leads to the Spanish we speak and write today. A second core of the course reflects on the politics of language by focusing on the history of Language Academies; the production of Grammars, Dictionaries, and Orthographies; the relation between Castilian and other languages in Spain and Latin America; the history of Hispanism; and the place of bilingualism in the United States.