This course presents a linguistic survey of Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries in Latin America, with a focus on the regional, social, and ethnic diversity in language use. Through the study of the history of Spanish and Portuguese in the region, contact with Amerindian and African languages and language planning and policy, students will gain an understanding of how the Spanish and Portuguese varieties spoken in Latin America were formed and of the social reality in which they exist today. Readings will be drawn from a selection of classic and contemporary research in the area written in Spanish, and will be critically assessed through tutorial discussion and in a final essay. Students will carry out a research project on a topic of their choice drawn from areas covered in the course.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
Upon successful completion of this course, students will have the knowledge and skills to:- Understand the role of language in society, in particular as it applies to the Latin American context;
- Critically engage with scholarship in the field;
- Conduct an original empirical analysis in the area of sociolinguistics;
- Think about, write and present an argument using evidence and results from sociolinguistic research, comprising published and original work.
- Conduct and present research in Spanish.
Indicative Assessment
Responses to questions based on tutorial reading, submitted weekly in Spanish (20%) [LO 1, 2]2 x 50-min in-class tests (30%) [LO 1, 2, 3]
2,000-word essay, in Spanish (30%) [LO 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Oral presentation with PowerPoint, in Spanish (20 mins) (20%) [LO 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.
Workload
130 hours of total student learning time made up from:a) 36 hours of contact over 12 weeks: 24 hours of lectures, 12 hours of tutorial, and
b) 94 hours of independent student research, reading and writing.
Requisite and Incompatibility
Preliminary Reading
Lipski, John M. 1994. Latin American Spanish. London: Longman.
Mar-Molinero, Clare. 2000. Politics of language in the Spanish-speaking world. London / New York: Routledge.
Penny, Ralph. 2000. Variation and change in Spanish. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Penny, Ralph. 2002. A history of the Spanish language (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 1
- Unit value:
- 6 units
If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 6.00 | 0.12500 |
Course fees
- Domestic fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2021 | $3630 |
- International fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2021 | $5580 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.