SPN 4822 Sociolinguistics of the Spanish-speaking World (Spring 2025)

SPN 4822 (class # 24315)
SOCIOLINGUISTICS OF THE SPANISH-SPEAKING WORLD

T 7, R 7-8, MAT 002

3 credit hours

INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION

Instructor:  Dr. Jessi Aaron
Office: Dauer 153
Email: jeaaron@ufl.edu
Phone: (352) 273-3746
Office hours: M 7-8, T 8, o por cita

STATEMENT ON LANGUAGE USE IN THE CLASSROOM

Following departmental policy, this course will be taught in Spanish. Research in language teaching and learning has shown that language instruction must provide significant levels of meaningful communication and interactive feedback in the target language in order for students to develop language and cultural proficiency. The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages recommends that language educators and their students use the target language as exclusively as possible (at least 90%) at all levels of instruction. The Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies follows this recommendation in all coursework.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

El propósito de este curso es aprender sobre la variación en la lengua española hablada. Con enfoque en la diversidad lingüística en el mundo hispanohablante, los temas principales incluirán: 1) la variación fonológica; 2) la variación morfosintáctica; 3) el discurso; 4) las actitudes hacia la variación lingüística; y 5) el cambio lingüístico. Habrá un interés especial en la sociolingüística del español en Florida y el Caribe. Este curso se dará exclusivamente en español.

COURSE MATERIALS

  • Articles for readings are on the web or available in pdf format for download on e-Learning: https://elearning.ufl.edu/
  • All course assignments appear in e-Learning and can be found by clicking on the link in Canvas.

Students are encouraged to employ critical thinking and to rely on data and verifiable sources to interrogate all assigned readings and subject matter in this course as a way of determining whether they agree with their classmates and/or their instructor. No lesson is intended to espouse, promote, advance, inculcate, or compel a particular feeling, perception, viewpoint or belief.

Materials Fee: N/A

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES

 A student who successfully completes this course will be able to:

  • Nombrar y explicar los rasgos fonológicos que varían en el español y saber describir el significado sociocultural de esta variación
  • Nombrar varios fenómenos gramaticales que conllevan información social
  • Predecir el cambio lingüístico basado en patrones de variación contemporánea
  • Reconocer y poder explicar métodos para medir las actitudes lingüísticas en una comunidad

ASSESSMENT

Grade Scale and Policies

Grading Scale

Letter Grade Number Grade
A 100-93
A- 92-90
B+ 89-87
B 86-83
B- 82-80
C+ 79-77
C 76-73
C- 72-70
D+ 69-67
D 66-63
D- 62-60
E 59-0

See the UF Catalog’s “Grades and Grading Policies” for information on how UF assigns grade points.

 

Graded Course Components

 Requirements for class attendance and make-up exams, assignments, and other work in this course are consistent with university policies that can be found in the Catalog.

  • Participation = 10%
  • Individual community report = 15%
  • Homework (6) = 40% (8% each, drop lowest grade)
  • Final group project = 35%

Total = 100%

Participation = 10%

Esta clase tendrá muchas actividades interactivas en clase. Por lo tanto, el éxito del curso depende de la participación activa e inteligente de los alumnos. Estar en clase es necesario, pero no suficiente, para ganar una nota superior en la participación. Todos los alumnos deben traer una copia, sea en papel o en laptop, de la(s) lectura(s) del día todos los días. Además, se espera que los alumnos estén dispuestos a compartir sus ideas, experiencias y pensamiento crítico en clase, y que respeten la naturaleza del trabajo colectivo.

 

Como parte de la nota de participación, los alumnos dejarán comentarios para las presentaciones finales en Discusiones en eLearning. Cada comentario debe incluir al menos dos puntos positivos y una sugerencia para mejorar. Además, habrá otras discusiones en eLearning que se completarán durante la clase y que contarán como parte de la nota de participación.

Dada la importancia de la participación, además de recibir una nota de participación, habrá una política de asistencia:

**Los alumnos pueden perder hasta tres (3) clases sin consecuencias y sin excusa. Después de tres (3) ausencias, cada ausencia sin excusa bajará la nota final por 1%.**

Si hay que faltar, es la responsabilidad del alumno de ponerse en contacto con otro miembro de clase para saber lo que perdió. La profesora no podrá repetir la lección dada en clase.

 

Community Report = 15%

Cada alumno debe escoger un día en que le gustaría presentar sobre una comunidad o región donde hablan español. Pueden escoger de la lista de temas adjunta a este programa o escoger otro tema (en consulta con la profesora). Solo un alumno puede escoger cada tema.

Las presentaciones individuales deben durar entre alrededor de 15 minutos, y deben incluir al menos la siguiente información:

  • Un mapa del lugar y las zonas más relevantes al uso del español
  • Fotos y videos de los habitantes
  • Ejemplos de las hablas regionales (las lenguas o variedades) – para escuchar si es posible
  • Una breve historia de la región y de los grupos sociales presentes
  • Descripción de la realidad sociolingüística de la comunidad, incluso actitudes sobre diferentes grupos o maneras de hablar
  • Historia de la política lingüística de la región y su efecto en los grupos sociales presentes

 

Homework = 40%

Habrá seis (6) tareas en e-Learning. Las tareas son para chequear la comprensión de las lecturas y también para enseñarles a leer los artículos académicos. Es recomendado mirar la tarea antes de leer para saber cuáles son las preguntas y también durante la lectura.

La tarea con la peor nota no contará para la nota final, así que cada alumno tendrá cinco (5) tareas que cuentan para la nota final.

 

Final Group Project = 35%

This group assignment includes several components, some of which are individual and some of which will be created jointly. Within each group, each group member will be assigned a specific role to help with the division of labor and to allow for individualized grading.

Components of group project:

  • Preliminary proposal (group)
  • Project bibliography (group)
  • Description of or creative reaction to a creative work from sociolinguistic community or community of practice (individual; must be different works from each team member)
  • Visual and oral presentation for class, 25-35 minutes (group)
  • Self-evaluation and evaluation of group (individual)

Preliminary proposal (10%)

This should describe the following: 1) region or community of interest; 2) sociolinguistic groups present in the region; 3) why this community is interesting; 4) which group members will fill the roles listed below. The text should be between 250 and 500 words in APA format.

Project bibliography (15%)

Each group member should contribute three or four unique scholarly references on language attitudes, language use, or culture in the community or region of interest. Group members should compile their lists into one bibliography in APA format.

Creative product analysis/production (25%)

Each group member should find a unique work (i.e. not the same as other group members) produced by or about the community or topic of interest. The creative works can include: visual artwork, poetry, literature, music, theatrical works, or other creative enterprises (please check with the professor if you are unsure). Group members should confer with each other to ensure that they have chosen different pieces.

  • Analyze or engage artistically with a cultural product that is relevant to the topic your group has chosen. This flexible assignment allows you to choose the mode of engagement you most prefer, including traditional analysis, poetry, and visual art.

Each student should consider the following questions during the creation of the project element:

  • Who created it?
  • Why was it created?
  • Who is the intended audience?
  • For you, what does it convey about this community?

These works and their analyses or creative reactions should be incorporated into the final group presentations.

Visual class presentation (45%)

This presentation is the culmination of your work over the semester. It should do three things:

  • Draw upon ideas presented in class readings and lectures
  • Present linguistic, cultural, and historical ideas, concepts, and information about your community or region drawn from scholarly sources not otherwise seen in class
  • Present creative works relevant to your community and explain their relevance to the community’s sociolinguistic reality.

Each presentation should last 25-30 minutes, and it should include both text and visual (video and photographic) elements. Audio elements (e.g., voice recordings, music) are also encouraged. ALL students must contribute to the oral presentation of the materials in class.

Self- and group evaluation (5%)

Each student should produce a 500- to 1,000-word reflection on their experience in this group project. The reflection should include the following:

  • What went well in this group project? What part did you most enjoy?
  • What were some of the challenges?
  • If you had to do this project over again, what should you or your group do differently?
  • What was the most important thing you learned from this project?

Group roles

Group roles may include:

  • editor/proofreader
    • responsible for correct language usage in all written work
  • internet researcher
    • seeks out relevant websites or cultural information
  • meeting/group work facilitator
    • sets up meetings, sets meeting agenda, guides group through the goals for each meeting, addresses interpersonal conflicts
  • graphic designer
    • responsible for the visual aspects of the group presentation, including videos used and any artwork created

ALL students are responsible for searching for scholarly articles, reading the relevant readings, and contributing written text to the group assignments.

CALENDAR

This calendar is subject to change for pedagogical or logistical motivations. To the extent possible, students will be notified in advance of any such changes.

Fecha Lectura (para completar antes de clase) Para entregar
Week 1
1/14
1/16 Holmes. 2013. What do sociolinguists study? pp. 1-12.

Walker, Cap. 2 “Variation and variables”, 5-15.
Variación Fonética y Fonológica
Week 2
1/21 Alfaraz. 2011. Cuban Spanish in the US context.

 

 Tarea 1
1/23 Díaz-Campos, Fafulas, and Gradoville. 2011. Going retro.

Schmidt. 2013. Regional Variation in the perception of sociophonetic variants of Spanish /s/.
Week 3
1/28 Lynch. 2009. A sociolinguistic analysis of final /s/ in Miami Cuban Spanish.

 
1/30 Jansen. 2017. Los sonidos del merengue.

Carvalho. 2006. Spanish (s) aspiration as a prestige marker on the Uruguayan-Brazilian border.
Variación Morfosintáctica
Week 4
2/4 Presentaciones individuales Tarea 2
2/6 Walker, Ch. 6, “Variation in grammatical systems,” 65-92. ENTREGAR PROPUESTA
Week 5
2/11 Presentaciones individuales
2/13 DeMello. 1995. Tense and mood after No sé si.

Aaron. 2004. The gendered use of salirse in Mexican Spanish.
Week 6
2/18 Presentaciones individuales
2/20 Schwenter. 1999. Evidentiality in Spanish morphosyntax.
Entonación y Discurso
Week 7
2/25 Presentaciones individuales Tarea 3
2/27 Alvord. 2010. Disambiguating declarative and interrogative meaning with intonation in Miami Cuban Spanish.

Brown & Cortés-Torres. 2013. Puerto Rican intensifiers
Las Actitudes Lingüísticas: La Sociología de la Lengua
Week 8
3/4 Presentaciones individuales Tarea 4
3/6 Lindemann. 2011. Who’s “unintelligible”? The perceiver’s role.

Delforge. 2013. Not correct but not bad either.
Week 9
3/11 Presentaciones individuales  
3/13 Callahan. 2004. Native speakers’ attitudes toward the use of Spanish by non-native speakers.

Strom. 2015. Social hierarchy in local Spanish-language print media.

 ENTREGAR BIBLIOGRAFÍA
Week 10
3/18 Spring Break
3/20 Spring Break
Week 11
3/25 Presentaciones individuales
3/27 Delerme. 2013.The Latinization of Orlando.

García, Espinet & Hernández. 2013. Las paredes hablan en El Barrio.

 ENTREGAR OBRA CREATIVA
El Cambio Lingüístico
Week 12
4/1 Presentaciones individuales Tarea 5
4/3 Labov. 2001. The Darwinian paradox.

Torres Cacoullos. 2011. Variation and grammaticalization.
Week 13  
4/8 Rasico. 1986. The Spanish lexical base of Old St. Augustine Mahonese.

Brown & Raymond. 2012. How discourse context shapes the lexicon.
Conclusión
4/10 Presentaciones finales Tarea 6
Week 14
4/15 Presentaciones finales
4/17 Presentaciones finales
Week 15
4/22 Presentaciones finales ENTREGAR EVALUACIÓN FINAL

BIBLIOGRAPHY of COURSE READINGS

Aaron, Jessi E. 2004. The gendered use of salirse in Mexican Spanish: Si me salía yo con las amigas, se enojaba. Language in Society, 33(04), 585-607.

Alfaraz, Gabriela. 2011. Cuban Spanish in the US context: Linguistic and social constraints on the variation of syllable final (r) among Cuban newcomers. Sociolinguistic Studies, 5(2), 291-320.

Alvord, Scott M. 2010. Disambiguating declarative and interrogative meaning with intonation in Miami Cuban Spanish. Southwest Journal of Linguistics, 28(2), 21-66.

Brown, Esther, & Cortés-Torres, Mayra. 2013. Puerto Rican intensifiers: Bien/muy variables. In Selected Proceedings of the 6th Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics, ed. Ana M. Carvalho and Sara Beaudrie, 11-19. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.

Brown, Esther L., & Raymond, William D. 2012. How discourse context shapes the lexicon: Explaining the distribution of Spanish f-/h‑ words. Diachronica, 29(2), 139–161. doi 10.1075/dia.29.2.02bro

Callahan, Laura. 2004. Native speakers’ attitudes toward the use of Spanish by non-native speakers: From George W. to J. Lo. Southwest Journal of Linguistics, 23(1), 7-34.

Carvalho, Ana M. 2006. Spanish (s) aspiration as a prestige marker on the Uruguayan-Brazilian border. Spanish in Context, 3(1), 85-114.

Delerme, Simone. 2013. The Latinization of Orlando: Language, whiteness, and the politics of place. Centro Journal, 25(11), 60-95.

Delforge, Ann Marie. 2013. Not correct but not bad either: Another look at the social meaning of “velar r” in Puerto Rican Spanish. Selected Proceedings of the 6th Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics, ed. Ana M. Carvalho and Sara Beaudrie, 158-168. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.

DeMello, G. 1995. Tense and Mood after No sé si. Hispanic Review, 63(4), 555-573.

Díaz-Campos, Manuel, Fafulas, Stephen, and Gradoville, Michael. 2011. Going retro: An analysis of the interplay between socioeconomic class and age in Caracas Spanish. In Selected Proceedings of the 5th Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics, ed. Jim Michnowicz and Robin Dodsworth, 65-78. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.

García, Ofelia, Espinet, Ivana, & Hernández, Lorena. 2013. Las paredes hablan en El Barrio: Mestizo signs and semiosis. Revista Internacional de Lingüística Iberoamericana, 1(21), 135-152.

Holmes, Janet. 2013. What do sociolinguists study? An introduction to sociolinguistics (4th ed.) (pp. 1-12). London: Routledge.

Jansen, Silke. 2017. Los sonidos del merengue: Variación lingüística e identidad en la música nacional dominicana. Revista Internacional de Lingüística Iberoamericana, 15(2), 145-160.

Labov, William. 2001. The Darwinian paradox. In Principles of linguistic change, vol. 2. Blackwell.

Lindemann. 2011. Who’s “unintelligible”? The perceiver’s role. Issues in Applied Linguistics, 18(2), 223-232.

Lynch, Andrew. 2009. A sociolinguistic analysis of final /s/ in Miami Cuban Spanish. Language Sciences, 31, 766-790.

Rasico, Philip D. 1986. The Spanish lexical base of Old St. Augustine Mahonese: A Missing Link in Florida Spanish. Hispania, 69(2), 267-277.

Schmidt, Lauren B. 2013. Regional Variation in the Perception of Sociophonetic Variants of Spanish /s/. Selected Proceedings of the 6th Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics, ed. Ana M. Carvalho and Sara Beaudrie, 189-202. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.

Schwenter, SA. 1999. Evidentiality in Spanish morphosyntax: A reanalysis of (de)queísmo. Estudios de variación sintáctica, 65-87. Madrid: Vervuet-Iberoamericana.

Strom, Megan. 2015. Social hierarchy in local Spanish-language print media: The discursive representation of Latino social actors in the United States. Discourse & Society, 26(2), 230-252.

Torres Cacoullos, Rena. 2011. Variation and grammaticalization. The Handbook of Hispanic Sociolinguistics, Manuel Díaz-Campos (ed.), 148-167. Malden, MA-Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

Walker, James A. 2010. Variation in linguistic systems. New York: Routledge.

 

BASIC COURSE COMMUNICATION INFORMATION

Communications

I will communicate with the class via Canvas email. To protect your privacy, please do not use regular ufl email to communicate with me or your fellow students regarding the class.

I am happy to answer your questions. Please feel free to message me should you have any concerns about the class, would like guidance on the readings or assignments, or would like to offer feedback about the organization or content of the course. If you send me a message, you can expect a reply by the end of the next business day. On weekends, I may not reply to messages.

For collaborative assignments, you can protect your privacy by creating Collaborations within Canvas. Please always remain within Canvas when communicating about coursework with your peers.

 

UNIVERSITY POLICIES

Attendance and make-ups

Requirements for class attendance and make-up exams, assignments, and other work in this course are consistent with university policies that can be found at: https://catalog.ufl.edu/ugrad/current/regulations/info/attendance.aspx.

Students requiring accommodation
Students who experience learning barriers and would like to request academic accommodations should connect with the disability Resource Center by visiting https://disability.ufl.edu/students/get-started/. It is important for students to share their accommodation letter with their instructor and discuss their access needs, as early as possible in the semester.

UF course evaluation process
Students are expected to provide professional and respectful feedback on the quality of instruction in this course by completing course evaluations online via GatorEvals. Guidance on how to give feedback in a professional and respectful manner is available at http://gatorevals.aa.ufl.edu/students. Students will be notified when the evaluation period opens and can complete evaluations through the email they receive from GatorEvals, in their Canvas course menu under GatorEvals, or via http://ufl.bluera.com/ufl/. Summaries of course evaluation results are available to students at http://gatorevals.aa.ufl.edu/public-results/.

University Honesty Policy
University of Florida students are bound by the Honor Pledge. On all work submitted for credit by a student, the following pledge is required or implied: “On my honor, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid in doing this assignment.” The Student Honor Code and Conduct Code (Regulation 4.040) specifies a number of behaviors that are in violation of this code, as well as the process for reported allegations and sanctions that may be implemented. All potential violations of the code will be reported to Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution. If a student is found responsible for an Honor Code violation in this course, the instructor will enter a Grade Adjustment sanction which may be up to or including failure of the course. For additional information, see https://sccr.dso.ufl.edu/policies/student-honor-code-student-conduct-code/.

In-class recording
Students are allowed to record video or audio of class lectures. However, the purposes for which these recordings may be used are strictly controlled. The only allowable purposes are (1) for personal educational use, (2) in connection with a complaint to the university, or (3) as evidence in, or in preparation for, a criminal or civil proceeding. All other purposes are prohibited. Specifically, students may not publish recorded lectures without the written consent of the instructor.

A “class lecture” is an educational presentation intended to inform or teach enrolled students about a particular subject, including any instructor-led discussions that form part of the presentation, and delivered by any instructor hired or appointed by the University, or by a guest instructor, as part of a University of Florida course. A class lecture does not include lab sessions, student presentations, clinical presentations such as patient history, academic exercises involving solely student participation, assessments (quizzes, tests, exams), field trips, private conversations between students in the class or between a student and the faculty or guest lecturer during a class session.

Publication without permission of the instructor is prohibited. To “publish” means to share, transmit, circulate, distribute, or provide access to a recording, regardless of format or medium, to another person (or persons), including but not limited to another student within the same class section. Additionally, a recording, or transcript of a recording, is considered published if it is posted on or uploaded to, in whole or in part, any media platform, including but not limited to social media, book, magazine, newspaper, leaflet, or third-party-note/tutoring services. A student who publishes a recording without written consent may be subject to a civil cause of action instituted by a person injured by the publication and/or discipline under UF Regulation 4.040 Student Honor Code and Student Conduct Code.

Procedure for conflict resolution
Any classroom issues, disagreements or grade disputes should be discussed first between the instructor and the student. If the problem cannot be resolved, please contact the Undergraduate Coordinator or the Department Chair. Be prepared to provide documentation of the problem, as well as all graded materials for the semester. Issues that cannot be resolved departmentally will be referred to the University Ombuds Office (http://www.ombuds.ufl.edu; 352-392-1308) or the Dean of Students Office (http://www.dso.ufl.edu; 352-392-1261).

Resources available to students
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