Fall 2009

Spanglish

Listed in: Spanish, as SPAN-94

Faculty

Ilan Stavans (Section 01)

Description

A cultural study of language in the Hispanic world (Spain, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States), this course spans almost five hundred years, from the arrival of Spanish to the Americas with Columbus' first voyage, to present-day "pocho lingo" in Los Angeles.  It focuses on the verbal interactions of the missionaries to Florida and the Southwest, the linguistic repercussions of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848, the age of acculturation in the early half of the 20th century, the political agitation of the Chicano Movement as manifested in word games, and the hip-hop age of agitprop.  Students will analyze works by Junor Díaz, Giannina Braschi, Susana Chávez-Silverman, Luis Humberto Crosthwaite, and others.  Topics like translation, Bilingual Education, lexicography, and the social impact of mass media will be contemplated.  Emphasis will be made on the various modalities of Spanglish, such as Dominicanish, Cubonics, and Nuyorican.  Plus, the development of Spanglish as a street jargon will be compared to Yiddish, Black English, and other minority tongues.  Conducted in English.

Limited to 25 students.  Fall semester.  Professor Stavans.

If Overenrolled: Privilege Spanish majors, upper-class students, and students interested in linguistics and cultural studies.

Offerings

2022-23: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Fall 2009, Fall 2014, Fall 2017