Spanish Linguistics Commons^™

Sexism In Teaching Spanish: Linguistic Discrimination Is Sometimes Unconscious, Aileen Dever

Kentucky Journal of Excellence in College Teaching and Learning

The Spanish language is becoming more flexible in creating feminine forms for occupational names that correspond with the already existing masculine terms. However, there has been some resistance among Spaniards with regard to using feminine forms like física to refer to a physicist who is a woman. Similarly, there have been objections to química (chemist, chemistry), música (musician, music), and others because, some say, such terms are ambiguous and confusing with regard to the professions. Do words and the way they are used significantly affect their meaning? The author discusses this question by highlighting linguistic discrimination in Spanish that is …

Gender And Heritage Spanish Bilingual Grammars: A Study Of Code-Mixed Determiner Phrases And Copula Constructions, Elena Valenzuela, Ana Faure, Alma Ramirez-Trujillo, Ewelina Barski, Yolanda Pangtay, Adriana Diez

Alma P Ramirez-Trujillo

There has been a growing interest in the examination of the steady state of simultaneous bilinguals. An understanding of what leads to the possible weaknesses in the grammar of early bilinguals can contribute to our understanding of the possible causes of the apparent characteristic ‘failures’ in second language acquisition (Montrul 2008). Spanish has a gender feature for nouns (Carroll 1989) and gender agreement for determiners and adjectives. Problems with the acquisition of gender marking on the noun and/or with gender agreement are well-known in the L2 literature (Hawkins 1998; Fernández–Garcia 1999; Franceschina 2001; Bruhn de Garavito and White 2002; White …

Observing Census Enumeration Of Non-English Speaking Households In The 2010 Census: Spanish Report, Christina Isabelli, Yuling Pan, Lubkemann Stephen

Scholarship

This study was part of an ethnographic research project in the 2010 Census Assessment and Research Program to observe the 2010 Census Nonresponse Followup interviews with households that speak a language other than English, in areas of the U.S. with heavy concentrations of residents with limited English proficiency. A multilingual research team consisting of seven sub-teams in the seven primary languages (Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese) was commissioned to carry out the research in the 2010 Census.

The objectives of this research were to identify: (1) how language and socio-cultural factors affect the enumeration of non-English-speaking populations …

Acquisition Of The Non-Generic Definite Article By Spanish Learners Of English As A Foreign Language, Christina Isabelli, Rachel Slough

Scholarship

This study explains the acquisition of the non-generic uses of the English definite article the by L2 learners. Chilean university students completed a questionnaire containing deleted obligatory uses of the. in all, four identified categories showed to have different accuracy rates. Of the four categories, the one most similar to the L1 was the least difficult to acquire while the most different resulted as the most difficult. This concurs with other research and can be explained by L1 rules that are transferred to the L2. The other two categories did not show the same acquisition rate as compared to previous …

Sabbatical Leave Proposal And Report, Melissa Leach

Sabbaticals

I propose a renewed emphasis on my Spanish language skills -reading, writing, speaking and listening- through: 1) speaking with native speakers; 2) immersion in Spanish media -magazines, newspapers, television, movies, etc.; 3) travel to Spanish speaking countries; and 4) a journal project in my target language. These activities will refresh and improve my Spanish and give me newfound connections with the Spanish speaking world and its cultures, making me a better Spanish teacher.

Rhotic Metathesis In Algherese Catalan: A Harmonic Serialism Account, Francesc Torres-Tamarit, Clàudia Pons-Moll, Maria Cabrera-Callís

Clàudia Pons-Moll

In the light of the diachronic process of rhotic metathesis that has applied in Algherese Catalan,1 in this paper we provide some empirical evidence for considering the left edge of the stem a prominent position, along the lines of Alber 2001. A Harmonic Serialism analysis of the data is presented, as well as a comparison with parallel OT. It is argued that the typological predictions that derive from Harmonic Serialism are more restrictive than those derived from parallel OT. Only resorting to Harmonic Serialism, indeed, long-distance metathesis can be discarded as a potential process of natural languages (Hume 2001). It …

When Diachrony Meets Synchrony. Phonological Change, Phonological Variation And Optimal Paradigms, Clàudia Pons-Moll

Clàudia Pons-Moll

General goals. This paper has three goals. First, it aims to illustrate how the problems derived from access to intricate diachronic empirical data can sometimes be informed by a careful look at interdialectal microvariation, in that this linguistic microvariation can sometimes help to explain why a phonological process applies or has applied. Second, it intends to show how some of the machineries developed within Optimality Theory to account for synchronic surface resemblances between the members of an inflectional paradigm can be applied to account for phonological change. Third, it attempts to demonstrate how the analysis of phonological change and linguistic …

El Uso De Las Funciones De Las Citas En La Estructura Retórica De Las Introducciones De Memorias De Máster Escritas En Español Por Estudiantes Nativos Españoles Y No Nativos Filipinos, David Sánchez-Jiménez

Publications and Research

This article analyzes the correlation between the use of functions of citations and the organizational structure of the Introduction section of a corpus of sixteen (16) master´s theses written in Spanish in the field of Applied Linguistics by native and non-native writers. The quantitative and qualitative analysis in this study arises from the model proposed by Carbonell- Olivares et al. (2009) which aims to define the organization of the Introduction section of the doctoral thesis in Spanish and the classification of the functions of citations made by Sánchez Jiménez (2011). The research results show that there is a direct relationship …

How We Seem "To Be": English- And Spanish-Speaking Children's Susceptibility To The Fundamental Attribution Error And Actor-Observer Bias, Mary E. Dixon

Senior Independent Study Theses

No abstract provided.

Acquisition Of The Non-Generic Definite Article By Spanish Learners Of English As A Foreign Language, Christina Isabelli, Rachel Slough

Christina Isabelli

Observing Census Enumeration Of Non-English Speaking Households In The 2010 Census: Spanish Report, Christina Isabelli, Yuling Pan, Lubkemann Stephen

Christina Isabelli

La Patología Del Habla Y Lenguaje Bilingüe, Shannon Blike

World Languages and Cultures

This project will first review the history of Bilingual Speech-Language Pathology in the United States of America. Bilingual Speech-Language Pathology is important in our diverse country where 245 languages are spoken. After a general overview of the field, I will focus on the Spanish language because it is the second most spoken language in the U.S. according to the U.S. Census in 2010. Then, I will review different aspects of Spanish linguistics such as phonology, morphology, and semantics. The understanding of such terms is pertinent to the practice of Bilingual Speech-Language Pathology.

Bilingual Speech-Language Pathologists have many responsibilities because they …

The Effectiveness Of A Mixed Methodology Implemented In A Beginner’S Spanish Course To Develop The Four Language Skills: A Quasi-Experimental Study, Kerwin A. Livingstone

Kerwin A. Livingstone

This present article seeks to provide a mixed methodological model for the development and implementation of a Teaching Module for Spanish as a Foreign Language in the face to face environment. The primary objective is to portray how methodological principles from different language teaching approaches - in this case, task based language teaching and cooperative learning - can be combined effectively in designing activities for face to face contexts. In this regard, empirical evidence is analysed in order to determine the effectiveness of the mixed methodology in the teaching-learning of Spanish as a Foreign Language in the said settings, in …

Computers And Their Suitability For Second And Foreign Language Error Correction, Kerwin A. Livingstone

Kerwin A. Livingstone

This article is an attempt to ascertain the suitability of computers for second and foreign language (SL/FL) error correction, especially those made by SL/FL learners. For this purpose, the handling of such errors proposed in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) literature will be examined. Subsequently the technologies capable of evaluating student output and identifying and correcting Non-Native Speaker (NNS) errors will be examined. Though it will be made quite clear that the computer cannot substitute a human being in total language processing, some strengths of artificial intelligence in partial language processing will be pointed out and their suitability for L2 error …

What Code-Mixed Dps Can Tell Us About Gender, Elena Valenzuela, Joyce Bruhn De Garavito, Ewelina Barski, Maria De Luna Villalón, Ana Faure, Yolanda Pangtay, Alma Ramírez Trujillo, Sonia Reis

Ewelina Barski, PhD

There has been a growing interest in the examination of the steady state of simultaneous bilinguals. An understanding of what leads to the possible weaknesses in the grammar of early bilinguals can contribute to our understanding of the possible causes of the apparent characteristic ‘failures’ in second language acquisition (Montrul 2008). Spanish has a gender feature for nouns (Carroll 1989) and gender agreement for determiners and adjectives. Problems with the acquisition of gender marking on the noun and/or with gender agreement are well-known in the L2 literature (Hawkins 1998; Fernández–Garcia 1999; Franceschina 2001; Bruhn de Garavito and White 2002; White …

La Evaluación De Un Modelo Metodológico Mixto Para Mejorar Las Habilidades Productivas Y Receptivas En Español Como Segunda Lengua: Un Estudio Cuasi-Experimental, Kerwin A. Livingstone

Kerwin A. Livingstone

El presente artículo propone proveer un modelo metodológico mixto para el desarrollo e implementación de un Módulo de Enseñanza para el español como segunda lengua en la modalidad presencial. El objetivo principal es evidenciar cómo los principios metodológicos provenientes de los enfoques didácticos - enfoque por tareas y aprendizaje cooperativo - pueden ser aplicados de manera efectiva en el diseño de contextos presenciales. Para ello, se explora evidencia empírica acerca de la efectividad de la metodología mixta en la enseñanza-aprendizaje de español como segunda lengua en dichos ambientes, en un estudio basado en un diseño cuasi-experimental longitudinal con pre-test y …

Current Perspectives On Tunisian Sociolinguistics, Lotfi Sayahi

Languages, Literatures and Cultures Faculty Scholarship

Despite its small size (63,170 sq miles) and a rather small population with a stable growth rate,2 Tunisia represents a rich sociolinguistic laboratory with a long history of bilingualism and language contact. The delicate position of Berber, the diglossic situation of Arabic and the increasing efforts for Arabization, the regional and social variation in Tunisian Arabic, the presence of French, and the gradual spread of English, among other closely-related topics, constitute the core themes of research within Tunisian sociolinguistics. Since the publication of R. M. Payne’s Language in Tunisia in 1983, no attempt has been made to reassess the situation …

Mexican Temporary Agricultural Workers In Canada: A Language And Migration Approach, Maria Eugenia De Luna Villalón

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The purpose of this study is to fill a gap in the sociolinguistic research on language issues faced by temporary migrants. My research involves a compilation and analysis of the sociolinguistic facts relating to the situation of Mexican Temporary Agricultural Workers (MTAW) who come to Ontario and Quebec through the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP). Following an ethnographic approach and methodology, I investigated the following research questions: 1). How do the biographic backgrounds –human capital- of MTAW restrict or allow them to renegotiate their identity and to be able to deal with their new social and linguistic environment? 2). What …

Polyphony And Performance In The Poetry Of José María Arguedas, Leslie Bayers

Academic Affairs Faculty and Staff Articles

No abstract provided.

Bilingual Children's Book, Lauren Beth Gagliardi

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Welcome To My House, Bienvenido a mi casa is a bilingual children’s book that defines and explores the rooms of a house. The book uses simple sentence structure and simple dialogue to engage early level Spanish and English readers. Welcome To My House, Bienvenido a mi casa introduces its intention to the reader before the story begins. On the opening pages the reader is given instructions in English and Spanish on how to read the book in order to appreciate both languages. While this message is written simply enough that a young reader could follow and understand it, the intention …