Spanish Linguistics Commons^™

A Corpus For Investigating English-Language Learners' Dialog Behaviors, Nigel Ward, Paola Gallardo

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

We are interested in developing methods for the semi-automatic discovery of prosodic patterns in dialog and how they differ between languages and among populations. We are starting by examining how the prosody of Spanish-native learners of English differs from that of native speakers. To support this work, we have collected a new corpus of conversations among college students. This includes dialogs between a nonnative speaker of English and a native, dialogs between native speakers of English, and Spanish conversations.

Bailamos Juntos: Salsa En Los E.E.U.U. Y El Mundo, Betty Tran

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

This composition traces the history of Cuban-American cultural identity formation through the lens of music and dance. As the author explains, Cuban immigrants cultivated a rich music and dance culture in New York City by creating a series of Latin and Afro-Cuban music genres and dances that brought diverse groups of people together. As a Vietnamese-American woman, Tran sees several connections between her family’s Vietnamese heritage and the cultural histories of Cubans who came to the United States as refugees seeking asylum from political oppression. As a first-generation college student, Tran believes it is important to share this composition as …

España Ante El Mundo: Spain's Colonial Language Policies In North Africa, Lotfi Sayahi

Languages, Literatures and Cultures Faculty Scholarship

During its presence in Northern Morocco and the Western Sahara, Spain lauded its colonial policies, and relations with the native populations in general, as being more successful than those of the other colonial power present in the region, France. While it is true that France’s educational policies were narrowly aimed at forming acquiescent elites of the Maghrebi societies, Spain’s policies in turn were severely conditioned by a hyper-awareness of existing ethno-religious divisions, a product of the prominence of religion in the historical relations between Iberia and the Maghreb. In this essay, I discuss the differences in Spain’s educational policies between …

Tuteo O Ustedeo: Un Estudio De Las Formas De Tratamiento En Las Publicidades De Escaparates / Tutoiement Ou Vouvoiement: Une Etude Des Formes D'Adresse Dans Les Publicités Des Vitrines, Charlotte M. Klein

Senior Independent Study Theses

In both French and Spanish, there exist two pronouns of the second person singular form of address: tu/vous and tú/usted, respectively. While the first of each pair is typically considered the ‘informal’ pronoun of address, the second is more ‘formal’, creating a complicated distinction that every person must resolve when speaking. This project analyzes the difficulty of choosing between the two forms of address through the lens of politeness theory, emphasizing the concepts of solidarity and power as well as other important factors that contribute to this complex decision. To show how the pronouns are …

Span 202: Intermediate Spanish Ii (Focus On Literature & Culture)—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Kelly Kingsbury Brunetto

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

During Spring 2015 I undertook a curricular revision of UNL's fourth-semester Spanish course (SPAN202) with the objective of improving the materials to help the course better achieve its stated goal of moving students "away from knowledge about the language and expertise in using isolated skills into a practical and fluid use of the language in which [they] synthesize [their] isolated skills." As it existed at the time, in theory SPAN202 focuses on synthesis and helping students negotiate higher levels of discourse, but in practice it tended to get bogged down in a comprehensive grammar review. In reality, some grammar topics …

The Effect Of Short-Term Study Abroad On Second Language Spanish Phonetic Development, Silvina Bongiovanni, Avizia Y. Long, Megan Solon, Erik Willis

Faculty Publications

This study explores the impact of study abroad (SA) on second language Spanish phonetic development. Twenty-seven English-speaking learners of Spanish, 15 who were participating in a 4-week SA program in the Dominican Republic and 12 who were studying at their home (AH) institution, were recorded 5 weeks apart (at the approximate beginning and end of their respective programs). Recordings were analyzed acoustically, and four groups of segments were examined: word-initial /p t k/, intervocalic /b d ɡ/, intervocalic /ɾ/ and /r/, and word-final /l/. Productions at Time 1 and Time 2 as well as between the SA and AH groups …

La Educación En La Lengua Materna: Una Mirada A La Escuela De Verano En Pacheco Elementary, Elizabeth Tjepkema

World Languages and Cultures

This project focuses on dual immersion elementary education and the importance of native language literacy by observing summer school at Pacheco Elementary. Native language literacy for Spanish-speakers is the foundation for successful second language acquisition and literacy. By having a solid foundation in Spanish literacy, elementary students are able to explore what it means to be fully literate in their own language before moving on to learning English in school. Through the observation of the processes of learning how to read and write in Spanish, I will gain a better understanding of the importance of Spanish literacy for Spanish-speaking children. …

La Recuperación Del Sujeto A Través De Los Personajes Femeninos En Tres Novelas Españolas Contemporáneas Escritas Por Mujeres, Paloma Pérez Valdés

Conference Papers

Mi presentación analiza la recuperación del sujeto en tres novelas españolas contemporáneas escritas por mujeres, Queda la noche de Soledad Puértolas, Azul de Rosa Regàs y Nubosidad variable de Carmen Martín Gaite. Debido a las prácticas modernistas en las que se presenta la esencia de un ser cuyos rasgos ya no aparecen como persistentes sino como cambiantes nace el personaje moderno y a continuación la tan cuestionada muerte del sujeto. Desde entonces han sido muchos los intentos de recuperación del sujeto y de alguna manera se han agotado las vías. No obstante, en la literatura contemporánea española se observan nuevas …

Conexión, Colaboración Y Aprendizaje Más Allá Del Aula: #Instagramele, Adelaida Martín Bosque, Pilar Munday

Languages Faculty Publications

En este artículo hablaremos de cómo una plataforma de redes sociales, Instagram, puede usarse en la clase de ELE para practicar vocabulario, reforzar estructuras gramaticales, crear conversaciones y -quizás más importante- conectar a los estudiantes con una comunidad de aprendizaje global que les permita continuar practicando el español incluso después de terminar el curso. La red de Instagram ofrece varias ventajas para la práctica del español: el uso de imágenes asociadas a palabras o expresiones, la posibilidad de interacción entre los participantes o, gracias a su sistema de etiquetado, el acceso a ejemplos creados por nativos de todo el mundo …

The Subjunctive Selecting Habits Of Spaniards And Spanish Language Learners In Jaén, Spain, Ashleigh M. Ladner

Honors Theses

Because the Spanish subjunctive mood is so variable and does not adhere to a straightforward set of rules, research about its everyday uses by native speakers is very useful and enlightening for learners of the Spanish language. This particular study focuses on several matrices that have exhibited variation in other studies on the topic such as no pensar que, no creer que, dudar que, no dudar que, creer en la posibilidad de que, alegrarse de que, and dar pena de que. This study found that the second language learners (SLLs) demonstrated more variability regarding subjunctive/indicative mood selection than the native …

Labor, Vera Bauluz

CGU MFA Theses

I make sacred objects from scratch, from ready mades, from industrial materials, and sometimes from trash or recycling. I treat those objects with love and reverence to embed them with essence and soul. I propose conversations with objects exquisitely executed, that question our social order and the machine, easily understood by everybody, although still challenging our understanding of contemporary art.

The placement of the work and the lighting, as fundamental part of the installation, attempts to generate strokes of conscience that enhance human understanding and capabilities beyond a specific discourse.

Humor and sacred coexist in my installation and in my …

Duolingo For Homework Practice, Pilar Munday

Languages Faculty Publications

A guide for language educators to use DUOLINGO as homework for their students. Each student can go at their own pace, and can focus on areas which are more difficult to them.

El Pasado Lingüístico Colonial Y Las Lenguas De Instrucción En La Educación Filipina, David Sánchez-Jiménez

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Theoretical Approach In A Case In Diachronic Phonetism: Betacism And Its Repercussions In Modern Spanish (Acercamiento Teórico A Un Caso De Fonetismo Diacrónico: El Betacismo Y Sus Repercursiones), Eva NúÑEz-MéNdez

World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations

This research deals with the loss of distinction between the bilabial and labiodental sounds, /b/and /v/, in Spanish using a theoretical and linguistic diachronical perspective. The phonetic evolution of these sounds and their confusion dates back t0 the roots of the Spanish language in the Peninsula territories, especially in the north, in close geographic contact with the Basque. This confusion was already taking place in Vulgar Latin and, specifically, in the Vulgar Latin spoken in the Peninsula. This lack of distinction evolved slowly until the seventeenth century when both sounds lost their phonemic contrast. Differences between the …

The Politics Of Spanish In The World, José Del Valle

Publications and Research

This article offers an overview of the spread of Spanish as a global language focusing on the policies and institutions that have worked, particularly in the last couple of decades, on its promotion. The actions of institutions as well as corporate and cultural agencies involved in this sort of language policy are to be understood as part of a wider movement of internationalization of financial activities and political influence.

Lo Político Del Lenguaje Y Los Límites De La Política Lingüística Panhispánica, José Del Valle

Publications and Research

This article introduces glottopolitical studies (political approaches to language) and discusses the meaning of the political within this field. It analyzes consensus-based language policies as deployed by Spain´s language academy and instances in which antagonistic relations surrounding language manifest themselves.

Maternal Perceptions Of Agency In Intergenerational Transmission Of Spanish: The Case Of Latinos In The U.S. Midwest, Isabel Velázquez

Spanish Language and Literature Papers

This article examines the ways in which a group of first-generation Latino immigrants to the U.S. Midwest conceptualized their role in their children’s bilingual development. Respondents were asked to identify the individuals or institutions on which their children’s language and academic development depended, as well as household practices perceived as conducive to Spanish maintenance, and perceived obstacles to their children’s use of Spanish in the domains of home, school, and community. Discussion centers on maternal perceptions of agency because of the centrality of the mother in intergenerational minority language transmission. It is argued here that immigrant mothers’ perceptions of agency …

A Closer Look At 'Incluso' And 'Excepto', Amy S. Orf

Faculty Works

In presenting prepositional pronouns, many Spanish textbooks include incluso and excepto in a list of exceptions that are used with the subject pronouns yo and tú, instead of mí and ti. While it is true that incluso and excepto do not directly precede mí and ti, it is not true that they always require the subject pronouns yo and tú. I argue that pronoun use with incluso and excepto is more complicated than indicated in textbooks and that it actually varies according to the context of the sentence.

Pedagogía De Hablantes De Herencia: Implicaciones Para El Entrenamiento De Instructores Al Nivel Universitario, Lina M. Reznicek-Parrado

Department of Modern Languages and Literatures: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study researches the differences in pedagogical needs between learners of Spanish as a Foreign Language (FL learners) and learners of Spanish as a Heritage Language (HL learners) at the university level. By using the UNL Modern Languages and Literatures Department as an illustrative case and based on an analysis of the Heritage Language student profile in the context of the United States, this study seeks to explore arguments in favor of providing training for university-level instructors of Spanish that responds to the specific pedagogical needs of Heritage Language Learners.

The relevancy of this study is not only based on …

Aerobic Degradation Of Α-, Β-, Γ-Hexachlorocyclohexane By Narragansett Bay Bacterioplankton, Ian M. Rambo

Senior Honors Projects

Hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) are a family of chlorinated organic compounds that were previously used as agricultural insecticides. HCHs are recognized as persistent organic pollutants due to their toxicity, recalcitrant properties, and tendency to bioaccumulate in food webs. Although HCH was first synthesized in 1825, its use was not widespread until the discovery of the insecticidal activity of the γ-HCH isomer in 1942. γ-HCH and its toxic waste isomers α-HCH and β-HCH were banned from production and use by the United Nations in 2009, yet these chemicals still present environmental problems due to their persistence in soils and surface waters. HCHs continue …