LFU:online

The aim of the VU is to provide a broad overview of the American varieties of Spanish. Specific aspects of language contact and modern variety / migration linguistics are taken into account, also taking into account the country-specific language policy in Hispanoamerica.

The American varieties of Spanish are described from North America to Tierra del Fuego. Both geographical, social and situational variations in Spanish language use in Hispanoamerica - particularly in language contact with Amerindian languages ​​- are shown. In addition to the general, often stereotyping, linguistic characteristics of speech communities and hypotheses for the development of the American varieties of Spanish in America, speaker community-specific aspects are explained, e.g .: What influence does Bolivian language policy have on speakers of Indigneous languages ​​in Argentina? Why do limeños think that the most beautiful of Peruvian Spanish comes from a small Peruvian town? How do German Mennonites speak Spanish in Paraguay? Why was the fronteiriço in northern Uruguay fought by the central government in Montevideo? Why is it not correct to speak of spanglish in the United States? What effects did migration flows had on the variedad porteña in Argentina at the end of the 19th century? Why are there no public signs in Quichua in Ecuador, but are there in Peru? What are the reasons for the different speakers' self-perceptions of the Cuban and Puerto Rican varieties, even though the linguistic characteristics are the same? Or: can you build a Mayan identity as a Mexican in Yucatán without an active knowledge of the Amerindian language?

Lecture and discussion

written exam

will be indicated during the course