Span 302: History/Phonetic Structure of the Spanish Language
Surveys the development of modern Castillian and Latin American Spanish, its evolution as a Romance language, the Roman period, Visigoth and Arab influences, Native American contributions, and its modern language diversity. Describes the phonology and morphology of modern Spanish. Recommended for students interested in teaching Spanish.
This class was taught by Dr. Gabriela Zapata. It was a very thorough look into the history and structural roots of the Spanish language. I learned many things, among them the Arab influence in the Spanish language. In the 8th century, the Arabs conquered the Iberian peninsula of Spain, and many common Spanish words (adobe, barrio, aceite, hasta) are of Arabic origen. Dr. Zapata emphasized that no form of Spanish is superior to the other. We learned that every area where Spanish is spoken has its own unique words and dialect based on cultural influences. Examples of these are words that come from the indigenous people of a given area, words that come from the nation that colonized and/or immigrated to a Latin American country, etc. She also made it clear that the term "Spanglish" did not exist, and that it was not valid because Spanish speakers in the U.S. are influenced by their English speaking compatriots, just as Argentinean spanish speakers are influenced by the Italian culture present in that country, for example. This course satisfied MLO 2: Language and Linguistic Knowledge.