This course introduces students to the linguistic and cultural structures that underlie the family of Romance languages. Through hands-on language analysis of written and audiovisual texts, students will analyze how the Romance Languages have evolved over time in key linguistic domains such as lexicology, semantics, morphology, syntax, and phonology. This course will also critique the social contexts that have resulted in the spread of these languages outside of Europe. Students will consider what it means to be a speaker of a Romance Language in today’s world.

By the end of this course, students will have an increased awareness of the variety of Romance speaker contexts. They will also be able to use their knowledge of language structures to help them passively understand selections of audiovisual and written texts from different times and places in the Romance-speaking world. Upon completion of this course, students may be interested in pursuing accelerated language sequences or pursuing a major or minor in the Romance Language departments (French, Italian, Spanish & Portuguese) at UC Berkeley.

(Enrollment Note: Students can enroll in any section regardless of the Romance language they have studied. )

Prerequisite:No prior linguistics knowledge is necessary for this course. This course is taught in English but requires at least intermediate knowledge of one or more Romance Language. This is equal to completion of 2 semesters of a university course in French, Spanish, Latin, Italian, Portuguese, Catalan, Romanian, or other. Native speakers and Heritage speakers are welcome. Please contact Oliver Whitmore (whitmore.1@berkeley.edu) for more information.

Meets Historical Studies, L&S Breadth

Meets Social & Behavioral Sciences, L&S Breadth