Creating Spanish words
EUS 3937/ SPN 3224
Spring, 2013
Tuesday p. 8, MAT 108
Ana María Díaz Collazos anamdiaz@ufl.edu
Office hours: Tuesday p. 7/ 9, or by appointment
Office: Yon 323
Description and objectives
The art of lexicography goes back to ancient times when Sumerians first recorded in 2600
BC the most valuable signs of their language on clay tablets (Ahumada Lara 1989). This long lexicographical tradition, however, involves an evolution, from old dictionaries written on paper mixed with velum to modern on-line dictionaries. Despite these changes, lexicography continues to play an important role in the process of decoding and recoding the known signs of a language.
The focus of our course, thus, is to study lexicography as conceived and practiced in the
Spanish-speaking world through the leadership of the
Real Academia Española
(RAE, Royal
Spanish Academy) and the Diccionario de la Real Academia Española ( DRAE , Dictionary of the
Royal Spanish Academy). The RAE is an institution created in 1713 for the purpose of regulating the lexicon of the Spanish language during its political domination of Latin America, then called the Indias . Despite the creation of Latin American republics in the 19 th century, the
RAE has continued its efforts to maintain and renew the dictionary, along with other projects.
Nowadays, the DRAE is a valuable resource for consultation and research among students, scholars, and Spanish speakers in general. However, dictionary users do not usually have the preparation required to obtain the most complete results from a search. Thus, this course is designed to impart basic training in the process of dictionary consultation.
We are going to do short readings from blogs, newspapers and other on-line material to discuss the problems of lexicography in the Spanish domain. We are also going to discuss the history of the DRAE since the earliest version, called Diccionario de Autoridades (Dictionary of
Authorities) to understand how the tradition has an impact on the modern version of the dictionary. This will be followed by an exploration of the on-line resources available for the
DRAE and the technical nomenclature needed to understand the information available.
The course will involve class discussions, workshops, and homework assignments. Class discussions will be based on the readings assigned for each day, which will provide the theoretical basis for our lexicographical practice. In workshops you will practice word-searching and discuss its relationship with lexicographic concepts and nomenclature. In addition, you will have the opportunity to individually practice your lexicographic skills through homework assignments that will resemble the activities introduced in the workshops. They will contain a maximum of five short consultation problems with on-line DRAE. Finally, you will produce a brief essay on theoretical lexicography and its impact on practical issues regarding language learning. By the end of the course, you should be more aware of the tools available in the DRAE , as well as of the problems that may arise from its use.
The objectives of these activities are: 1) to gain skills to use the DRAE, which will be useful for other monolingual Spanish dictionary; 2) to achieve a critical approach to information
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given in dictionaries; 3) to understand and contextualize lexicography within linguistics; 4) to acquire the basic theoretical knowledge of lexicography; 5) to enrich our Spanish vocabulary.
Textbook
Diccionario de la Real Academia Española . Madrid: Real Academia Española. Available at: www.rae.es
Additional readings are available on the web, as listed in the bibliography. Worksheets will be posted on sakai.
Pre-requisites
Ideally, students should have taken SPN 3700 and SPN 4940. However, the course is open to anyone with a grade of C or better in SPN 3300 and 3350, or the equivalent, with instructor’s permission.
Grade
Workshops
Class participation and preparation
Homework assignments
Final project
28%
22%
25%
25%
You will submit five (5) homework assignments during the semester. You will answer a set of questions in which you will apply class discussions and readings to the task of word searching, using the DRAE . You will turn in your homework at the beginning of the class on the date assigned. They will be graded on completion.
There will be seven (7) workshops in which you will practice your skills in using dictionaries.
They will resemble the homework assignments, but will take place during class. You will use the on-line version of DRAE in the Language Learning Center and produce a brief report at the end of each workshop, which will be graded on completion. You are allowed one (1) make-up for unexcused absences. After that, you will lose four (4) points per workshop missed. They will be graded on completion.
The grade for class participation and preparation will be based on your ability to discuss the readings assigned for each of the days. We will discuss the readings in small groups or as a class, so you will need to be prepared. Most readings are available on the web as listed in the bibliography, or they will be posted on Sakai. The instructor may require you to turn in written evidence of your class participation, even during days where there is not workshop scheduled.
You are allowed one (1) unexcused absence, after which you will lose two (2) points per absence.
The final project will be a two (2)-page, double-spaced essay in which you will provide a lexicographic analysis of some aspect of the DRAE . You will choose any reading in Spanish and
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will select a list of three (3) words to analyze, taking care to select words that are challenging or problematic in some respect. You will look up them in the dictionary and read their definitions.
The essay will consist of an examination of yourself as a dictionary user. You will attach the selected text choice, the list of words, and the definitions, but they will not count toward the page limit. You should turn in a copy of your selection before April 2 nd
to receive approval by your instructor, and a first draft of your final essay on April 16 th . These drafts will be worthy 5% of the final project grade. You will submit an electronic copy of your work on April 27 th
before midnight. You should receive confirmation from your instructor that the paper was received.
Evidence of critical thinking is the main source of your grade.
Coursework:
January 8 th
Course presentation and objectives
January 15 th
The art of storing words and meanings
Reading: “La ciencia de la Real Academia.” For this class you need to read from the beginning to the sentence “a una redacción eficiente y clara o a una visión laica y civil.”
January 22 th
Exploring words in old dictionaries
Reading: “La ciencia de la Real Academia”, continuation to the end.
Workshop 1. Meeting: Little 215.
January 29 th
Typing Spanish words into on-line dictionaries
Reading: “La ‘i griega’ se llamará ‘ye’.”
Homework 1.
February 5 th
Exploring definitions
Reading: “Advertencias para el uso de este diccionario.” Read only section 5 (‘Características de cada uno de los elementos de los que consta el artículo’).
Workshop 2. Meeting: Little 215.
February 12 th
What do those dotted letters mean?
Reading: “Advertencias para el uso de este diccionario.” Read sections 1 and 2, until 2.5
(‘Extranjerismos’), included.
Homework 2.
February 19 th
Not all words should be so nice
Reading: Ainciburu, Maria Cecila. “Buscando palabrotas en el diccionario,” p. 103-107
Workshop 3. Meeting: Little 215.
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February 26 th
Dictionary and social changes
Reading: “Matrimonio homosexual, una novedad… para la Academia,” June 14th, 2007.
Homework 3.
March 5 th : NO CLASS, Spring Break
March 12 th
Gender: Political or grammatical correctness?
Reading: Manual del lenguaje no sexista .
Workshop 4. Meeting: Little 215.
March 19 th
What is regional or general Spanish?
Reading: “En ningún sitio se habla el mejor español del mundo”, El País, Dec. 15th, 2011.
Homework 4
March 26 th
Addressing people through verbs
Reading: “Vosotros vs. ustedes by native speakers travelling.” Read only the first page.
Workshop 5. Meeting: Little 215.
April 2 nd
Borrowing foreign words
Reading: “Bluyín, uno de los extranjerismos de moda aceptados en el español”, El Tiempo, Jul.
31st, 2012
Homework 5: Bring the reading you will use for the final project with a selection of words.
April 9 th
Creating your own corpus
Reading: “RAE creará el corpus del español del siglo XXI”, Jun. 14th 2007
Workshop 6. Meeting: Little 215.
April 16 th
Creating your own definitions
Assignment: Send by e-mail the first draft of your final project (worthy 5 % on completion).
Workshop 7. This workshop will take place in regular classroom (MAT 8).
April 23 rd
Dictionary and language policy
Reading: “El Cervantes no debe ser discusión permanente entre ministros,” El País, Jan. 27th,
2012; entry “Instituto Cervantes” (wikipedia).
You will receive feedback on the first draft of your final paper.
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List of readings:
“Advertencias para el uso de este diccionario.” Available at: http://lema.rae.es/drae/?help=1
Ainciburu, María Cecilia. (2004). “Buscando palabrotas en el diccionario: Las malas palabras como cartilla de tornasol en la enseñanza ELE.”
Asele. Actas 15.
Available at: http://cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/biblioteca_ele/asele/pdf/15/15_0101.pdf
“El Cervantes no debe ser discusión permanente entre ministros”, El País, Jan. 27th, 2012.
Available at: http://cultura.elpais.com/cultura/2012/01/27/actualidad/1327696174_970777.html
“En ningún sitio se habla el mejor español del mundo,” El País, Dec. 15th, 2011. Available at: http://cultura.elpais.com/cultura/2011/12/15/actualidad/1323903603_850215.html
“Instituto Cervantes,” Wikipedia. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instituto_Cervantes
“La ciencia de la Real Academia,” La página del idioma español, Dec. 2nd, 2012. Available at: http://www.elcastellano.org/ns/edicion/2012/diciembre/ciencia.html
“La ‘i griega’ se llamará ‘ye’,” El País, Nov. 5th, 2010. Available at: http://cultura.elpais.com/cultura/2010/11/05/actualidad/1288911609_850215.html
“Los ‘estadounidismos’ entran en el diccionario de la RAE,” El País, Oct. 15th, 2012. Available at: http://cultura.elpais.com/cultura/2012/10/10/actualidad/1349893853_744008.html
Manual del lenguaje no sexista . ACSUR-Las Segovias. Available at: http://www.acsur.org/IMG/pdf/Manual_de_lenguaje_no_sexista.pdf
“Matromonio homosexual, una novedad… para la Academia,” La página del idioma español,
June 23rd, 2012. Available at: http://www.elcastellano.org/noticia.php?id=2037
“RAE creará el corpus del español del siglo XXI,” La página del idioma español, June 14th,
2007. Availabe at: http://www.elcastellano.org/noticia.php?id=451
“Vosotros vs. ustedes by native speakers travelling.”
Antimoon. Learn English effectively .
Available at: http://www.antimoon.com/forum/t6551-0.htm
Additional bibliography:
Ahumada Lara, Ignacio. (1989). Aspectos de lexicografia teórica: Aplicaciones al diccionario de la Real Academia Española
. Grranada: Universidad de Granada.
Alvar Ezquerra, Manuel. (2002). De antiguos y nuevos diccionarios del español . Madrid: Arco.
Haesch, Günther. (1997). Los diccionarios del español en el umbral del siglo XXI . Universidad de Salamanca: Salamanca.
Porto Dapena, José Álvaro. (2002). Manual de técnica lexicográfica
. Madrid: Arco.
Academic Integrity
All students are required to abide by the Academic Honesty Guidelines which have been accepted by the University. The UF Honor Code reads: We, the members of the University of
Florida community, pledge to hold ourselves and our peers to the highest standards of honesty and integrity.
On all work submitted for credit by students at the University of Florida, the following pledge is either required or implied: “On my honor, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid in
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doing this assignment.” For more information please refer to http://www.dso.ufl.edu/studentguide
Accommodations
Students requesting classroom accommodation must first register with the Dean of Students
Office. The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student who must then provide this documentation to the Instructor when requesting accommodation. For more information see http://www.dso.ufl.edu/drc
Counseling and Wellness
A variety of counseling, mental health and psychiatric services are available through the UF
Counseling and Wellness Center, whose goal is to help students be maximally effective in their academic pursuits by reducing or eliminating emotional, psychological, and interpersonal problems that interfere with academic functioning. The Center can be found online at http://www.counseling.ufl.edu/cwc or reached by phone at 392-1575.
Grade Scale
The final grading scale is as follows:
A = 100-93 C(S) = 76-73
A- = 92-90 C-(U) = 72-70
B+ = 89-87 D+ = 69-67
B = 86-83 D = 66-63
B- = 82-80 D- = 62-60
C+ = 79-77 E = 59-0
NOTE: A grade of C- will not be a qualifying grade for major, minor, Gen Ed, Gordon Rule or
Basic Distribution Credit courses. For further information regarding passing grades and grade point equivalents, please refer to the Undergraduate Catalog at
( http://www.registrar.ufl.edu/catalog/policies/regulationgrades.html
).
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