Spanish at UFRomance Languages and Literatures Department of Romance Languages and Literatures University of Florida
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Spanish Graduate Courses for
Spring 2002

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A. Literature
(* indicates a course for graduate students only)

SPW 6606* Cervantes González
Course objectives. a) Reading Don Quijote and a selection of Cervantes' other prose works. b) Systematic discussion of different critical approaches to the text. C) Creating a comprehensive bibliography on a subject pertaining to Quijote and related topics. Texts: Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de. El ingenioso hidaldo Don Quijote de la Mancha. 1605, 1615. Eds. Salvador Fajardo and James Parr (Asheville, NC: Pegasus, 1998). Bjornson, Richard. Approaches to teaching Cervantes' Don Quijote. NY: MLA, 1984. Johnson, Carroll B. Don Quixote: The Quest for Modern Fiction. (Illinois: Waveland Press, 2000). A package of copied material selected by instructor. Course evaluation: One bibliographical essay on a specific topic (20%), a 15 pp final paper (25%), presentation (10%), class discussion of bibliographical essay (10%), final exam (20%), attendance and participation (15%).


SPW 6902 Special Study in Spanish or Spanish American Lit González Honor, Wit, Madness
Course description. In the early modern period, the people of Spain lived in a society imbued with strong community values. Duty to family and concern with one's worth in the eyes of others led people to place honor and virtue above personal interest. The tension between individual needs, such as love, and the demands established by social obligations can be found in many texts of this and earlier periods. This conflict was also reflected in language, as well as in many writers' taste for humor and satire.
Texts: In this course, we will follow the development of these tensions through such texts as Rojas' Celestina, the Libro de Buen Amor, Lazarillo de Tormes, María de Zayas' Desengaños, a selection from Cervantes' Entremeses and Novelas Ejemplares, Calderón's La vida es sueño and El alcalde de Zalamea, and Guillén de Castro's Las Mocedades del Cid.
Evaluation: Oral Presentation (10%), one six pp. paper (15%), one 12 pp. paper (25%), one midterm exam (20%), one final exam (20%), attendance and participation (10%).
SPW 6934* Seminar in Spanish American Literature and Culture Barradas
Kitsch y camp en América Latina
Descripción: Las categorías estéticas de lo kitsch y lo camp han sido creadas por y para las culturas europeas y anglo-americanas. Este curso explora las posibilidades de estudiar ciertas manifestaciones artísticas hispanoamericanas como expresiones de estas estéticas. Se parte de los estudios que han definido lo cursi, kitsch y camp en Europa y los Estados Unidos -- Sontag, Gómez de la Serna, Ross -- para luego estudiar textos hispanoamericanos que proponen la posibilidad del empleo de estas estéticas en América Latina: Monsivais, Perlongher, Lemebel e Izaguirre, entre otros. A partir de esa base teórica -- europea, estadounidense y, especialmente, hispanoamericana -- se estudiarán algunos textos literarios -- Puig, Sánchez, Sarduy -- que podrían verse como aplicaciones de estas estéticas. Se estudiarán también manifestaciones de las artes visuales latinoamericanas donde se hace uso de lo "Pop", la cultura popular y lo camp. Tanto el estudio de la teoría como de las obras de literatura y las artes visuales estudiadas en la clase pretenden servir para responder a la pregunta central de este curso: ¿Hay una estética camp y kitsch latinoamericana?
Textos (lista parcial): Carlos Monsiváis, Amor perdido. Pedro Lemebel, Loco afán. Néstor Perlongher, Prosa plebeya. Boris Izaguirre, Morir de glamour. Manuel Puig, La traición de Rita Hayworth. Severo Sarduy, De donde son los cantantes. Luis Rafael Sánchez, La importancia de llamarse Daniel Santos
Calificación: Presentación oral (sobre teoría): 25%. Asistencia y participación en clase: 15%. Trabajo de investigación: 60%
SPW 6938 Contemporary Spanish Theater Alás-Brun
Objetivos: El curso se propone una aproximación temática al teatro español del siglo XX, centrada principalmente en los siguientes aspectos: el papel cambiante de la mujer en la sociedad española (en el ámbito doméstico y laboral), reflejado en la función de los personajes femeninos, su caracterización y los espacios dramáticos que ocupan; el tratamiento revisionista del tema clásico del honor, mediante la desmitificación y subversión de los tópicos a través de la farsa paródica, la tragicomedia grotesca y el "esperpento"; y el impacto de la guerra civil española y la dictadura franquista en la estructura familiar, tanto en el drama de posguerra como en el teatro absurdista, así como en el teatro subterráneo y el de la transición democrática. Se examinará especialmente la influencia de la censura y de la estructura del teatro comercial frente al experimental, la recepción teatral y el uso de determinadas técnicas dramáticas en las distintas obras seleccionadas, como "teatro dentro del teatro" y la ruptura de la "cuarta pared".
Textos: Se analizarán obras de los siguientes autores: Ramón del Valle-Inclán, Los cuernos de Don Friolera; Federico García Lorca, Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín; Carlos Arniches, La señorita de Trevélez; María Martínez Sierra, Canción de cuna; Enrique Jardiel Poncela, Angelina o El honor de un brigadier; Miguel Mihura, ¡Sublime decisión!; Fernando Arrabal, Picnic; Antonio Buero Vallejo, El tragaluz; José Ruibal, Los ojos; y Paloma Pedrero, Resguardo personal.
Evaluación: Examen parcial (30%), examen final (30%), presentaciones (10%), ensayo (20%) y participación (10%).
B. Hispanic Linguistics
(* indicates a course for graduate students only)
SPN 6715* Formal Instruction & the Acquisition of Spanish Camps
Course objectives: In this course we will study the effects of formal instruction and the role of focus on form on the acquisition of second languages in general and of Spanish in particular. We will analyze the factors that influence the explicit and implicit presentation of grammatical structures, and we will explore the hypothesis that different types of grammatical rules require different levels of cognitive processing and attention to form in the input. Additionally, we will discuss a variety of techniques designed to enhance specific aspects of the input that language learners receive. This course will be taught in English. Students whose field is not Spanish can develop projects related to the acquisition of other languages. Students who are not in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures are encouraged to take LIN 6720 before they take this course. However, enrolling simultaneously in both courses is also an option.
Textbooks/Readings: Doughty, C. & J. Williams (Eds.). (1998). Focus on Form in Classroom Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lee, J. & A. Valdman (Eds.). (1999). Form and Meaning: Multiple Perspectives. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle. Reading packet.
Evaluation: Homework assignments 10%, Class participation 5%, Two (three-page) essays 20%, Creation of 4 activities for focus on form instruction 15%, Discussion of an article in class 10%, Final paper, 12-page discussion of the main theoretical issues studied in this course 40%
SPN 6735* Issues of Spanish Language in Society Lynch
Objectives: The principal objective of this seminar is to establish intellectual connections between the fields of sociolinguistics, sociology, political science, cultural studies and education, within the context of the Spanish-speaking world. We will analyze the following topics: language as a social and ideological construct, Spanish language expansion and language shift within the frameworks of colonialism and globalization, the conceptualization of social class and gender in language variation theory, diglossia and social networks in Spanish language contact situations, contemporary language policy and bilingual education in the Spanish-speaking world. Class discussions will be conducted in Spanish; readings will be in Spanish and English. Students in the Spanish graduate program must submit written work in Spanish, but other students may submit written work in English.
Texts: Course packet of selected readings.
Evaluation: Participation in class discussions, 20%; Presentation of articles, 20%; Two term papers (12-15 pages each), 60%.
SPN 6785 Advanced Spanish Phonetics Lord
Course objectives: This advanced phonetics course has many purposes. Primarily, it serves as an introduction to and analysis of the sound system of Spanish from both an articulatory and an acoustic perspective. Throughout the semester, we will discuss the difference between phonetics and phonology, different models for studying Spanish phonology (rule-based, Optimality Theoretic, etc.), and the representation of the sound patterns of a language (phonetic transcription). We also study some of the most important processes that affect sounds in Spanish. In addition, the course discusses dialectal variation between varieties of Spanish insofar as the phonetic and phonological inventories are affected and, for non-native speakers of Spanish, provides a contrastive analysis of Spanish and English sound inventories to aid in native-like pronunciation.
Textbooks/Readings: The primary textbook is Robert M. Hammond's The Sounds of Spanish: Analysis and Application (Cascadilla Press, 2001). There will also be a required packet of selected readings for graduate students on topics related to the class material (available at the beginning of the semester from T.I.S. Bookstore).
Evaluation: Partial exams - 40%. Homework and class participation - 20%. Final project - 30%. Article presentation - 10%
SPN 6845 History of the Spanish Language Pharies
Metas: Estudiaremos el desarrollo del español desde sus orígenes en el latín del imperio romano hasta hoy día. En particular nos enfocaremos en los principales cambios fonéticos que determinaron la fisonomía actual de la lengua, y en los cambios morfológicos, tanto en el sistema nominal como en el verbal, que crearon la nueva gramática. Puesto que todo esto supone un conocimiento de la estructura fonológica y morfológica del latín, también dedicaremos unas horas a este tema. Finalmente, examinaremos de manera detenida algunas muestras de la lengua española en su forma más primitiva.
Texto: Penny, Ralph. Gramática histórica del español. Barcelona: Ariel, 1993 (o su versión inglesa A History of the Spanish Language, Cambridge: UP, 1991, disponibles en Gator Textbooks).
Evaluación: Pruebas 20%, exámenes 40%, proyecto 20%, examen final 20%. Habrá pruebas breves cada dos semanas aproximadamente sobre el material recién estudiado. Bajo proyecto se entiende el análisis lingüístico de un texto medieval.

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