Home Contact Information Teaching Research Dept of Spanish and French Studies

I teach courses on Spanish language, Hispanic linguistics and general linguistics. I also advise students pursing the Spanish major, Group Language major, and Linguistics minor in the Department of Spanish and French Studies. Courses: Linguistics 301 - Introduction to Linguistics This course is designed as a solid introduction to and overview of the field of linguistics. Students will explore a number of topics that are at the core of linguistics. We begin with a theoretical background in subfields such as syntax, morphology, phonology, and phonetics. Then we move to broader issues such as sociolinguistics, language acquisition, psycho/neurolinguistics, and historical linguistics. Spanish 201 - Intermediate Spanish This course focuses on the development of speaking and writing skills. Students read and discuss cultural and literary texts from a variety of Spanish-speaking countries. The fundamentals of Spanish grammar are reviewed. Spanish 340 - Spanish Phonology This class serves as a general introduction to the study of the sound system of Spanish. The principal objectives of this class include the study of the normative native pronunciation and an introduction to the linguistic fields of phonetics and phonology. Students will be introduced to the theoretical means of analyzing the sound system of a language. We will examine contrasts between American English and Spanish and apply these concepts in exercises of both written transcription and oral production as well as with an analysis of spoken Spanish. We will also become acquainted with the principal differences among the dialects of the Spanish language. Spanish 341 - History of the Spanish Language This course consists of an introduction to historical Hispanic linguistics. Students learn about the major phonological, morphosyntactic, and lexical changes that have occurred in the language from the time of the arrival of the Roman armies into the Iberian Peninsula until the present. Foreign influences on the evolution of the Spanish language are discussed briefly. The primary focus of this course is the internal history of the language from Vulgar Latin to Modern Spanish.