Graduate
Program Descriptions
Spanish Linguistics
The Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese offers an M.A. in Spanish Linguistics, and a PhD in Spanish Linguistics with a Romance Linguistics option. PhD students in Spanish Linguistics may also obtain a certificate in SLATE (Second Language Acquisition and Teacher Education).
Our goal is to train students who are at the forefront of research in their area of linguistics, broadly conceived (e.g. syntactic theory, morphology, second language acquisition, historical linguistics, phonetics and phonology, language contact, etc.) and at the same time have a very solid background in all areas pertaining to the structure, history and sociolinguistics of the Spanish language.
An important part of our students formation involves conducting research alongside faculty members campuswide. This hands-on experience not only allows students build relationships with faculty members but also prepares them to be top-notch scholars and researchers in their own right. As such, our graduate students regularly present their work at national and international meetings in both Spanish/Romance linguistics and general linguistics.
Our program also has strong ties with the Department of Linguistics and our graduate students often work closely with those faculty members. This helps to strengthen their background in their area of linguistics, and enhances the quality of their research.
For the MA degree, students are expected to complete coursework in all main aspects of the structure of the Spanish language (phonetics/phonology, morphology and syntax), as well as in Spanish sociolinguistics, history of the Spanish language and second language acquisition.
At the PhD level, students specialize in one of the aforementioned areas and typically complement their coursework on Spanish with relevant offerings in general linguistics as well as in psychology, speech and hearing, computer science and/or other Romance languages.
Latin American and Latina/o Literatures and Cultures
The Latin American and Latina/Latino section of the Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese is dedicated to examining the broad range of literatures and cultures produced by the historically Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking peoples of the Americas. In a contemporary context, Spanish is increasingly becoming a de facto second language in the U.S., and Brazilian communities have flourished in many areas of the country. Our historical and hemispheric perspective, moreover, reveals the fundamental role that Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking communities have played in the shaping of the territories of the Americas. Through our particular attention to the cultural expression of the region, we examine the complex array of American national and continental realities in a global context.
The research and teaching of the sections faculty focuses on the specificity of Latin American and U.S. Latina/Latino literary writing along with the production of visual cultures (i.e. art, film) and intellectual traditions (i.e. history of ideas, essays, journalism). Our work also examines questions of gender, race, sexuality, space, national identity, trans-nationalism and globalization, the relationship between literature and economics, and intersections of language and power. We particularly emphasize transnational and trans-cultural approaches to Latin American and U.S. Latina/Latino (including Brazilian-American) narratives that critically rethink the historical place of these texts in U.S. academia. Students at both the graduate and undergraduate level explore questions of cultural difference, contact and representation throughout the hemisphere from the pre-Columbian era to the present. The aim of the section is to promote a careful examination of Latin American and Latina/Latino literatures and cultures and, thereby, prepare students to critically engage with the linguistic and cultural complexities of the world they inhabit.
Iberian Literatures and Cultures
The Iberian section of the Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese is dedicated to analyzing the broad range of literatures and cultures produced in the geographical zone that currently corresponds to the Spanish and Portuguese nation-states. The research and teaching of the section's faculty involves a wide range of cultural artifacts, including chronicles, novels, sermons, short stories, poems, essays, plays, magazines, paintings, and movies, all in the contexts of the various linguistic and intellectual traditions in which they arise. Our work also examines how said artifacts relate to such matters as gender, religion, race, class, sexuality, space, nationality, imperialism, globalization, economics, language, and power. Students at both the graduate and undergraduate levels explore questions of cultural difference, contact, and representation throughout the peninsula from the medieval period to the present. Special emphasis is given to critical considerations of the ways in which national identities and literary canons are constructed and maintained, as well as the tensions, omissions, and multiple interests inherent in these constructions. The aim of the section is to promote careful critical examination of Iberian literatures and cultures and thereby prepare students to critically engage with the linguistic and cultural complexities of the world we inhabit.