SPAN 342 Spanish in the United States

This course consists of an introduction to the Spanish language and Spanish-speaking communities in the United States, home to the second-largest Spanish-speaking population in the world. We will focus on questions like: who are the principal groups of Spanish speakers in the US? Where do they live, and how and when did they arrive to the US? What are the principal linguistic features of their Spanish? Who uses Spanish, and in what contexts, and for what purposes? What is the role of Spanish in public services, the media, and schools? In this course, we will also confront social issues such as language attitudes, bilingualism, and the interaction between language and identity.