Hispanic Linguistics is a formal specialization in the Department of Linguistics whose academic structure is modeled on that of the graduate program in general linguistics. Students in the Hispanic Linguistics specialization are required to take courses dealing with Spanish linguistics issues in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. The students are also expected to write their doctoral dissertation on a theoretical question to be examined mainly through an analysis of Spanish.

Students apply for admission to the Ph.D. program in the Linguistics Department and specify their interest in Hispanic Linguistics on the application form. The specialization in Hispanic Linguistics benefits from the excellence of the Linguistics Department, which offers a highly motivating research environment for students. Students who specialize in Hispanic Linguistics will follow a curriculum in general linguistics including one course per semester among the Hispanic Linguistics courses offered. A number of Merit Fellowships, Assistant Lectureships and Scholarships (e.g. Del Amo Scholarship) are available for qualified students.

Studies in Hispanic Linguistics have proven influential in recent approaches to linguistic theory as diverse as descriptive and formal grammar, dialectology and variation, language contact, language change, bilingualism and language acquisition. The specialization provides graduate students the opportunity to focus on Hispanic Linguistics and comparative Romance, and it confers a degree in Linguistics that recognizes the special concentration. It gives the students an academic identity and an in-depth area of concentration on Spanish morpho-syntax, syntax and phonology from the perspective of second language acquisition, socio-linguistics, and diachronic linguistics.

	Mario Saltarelli (Spanish, Italian, and Linguistics) - saltarel@usc.edu  Mario Saltarelli is a comparativist with research interest in synchronic and diachronic aspects of morpho-phonology and syntax. His current approach aims at uncovering the role of universal constraints in the differentiation observed across time and present-day language varieties. His areas of study include Hispanic languages and their geographical variations in the wider context of Romance and their contact languages.
	Carmen Silva-Corvalán (Spanish and Linguistics) - csilva@usc.edu Carmen Silva-Corvalan's research interests lie mainly in the study of language in contexts of use, languages in contact and bilingualism, and general sociolinguistics. Her studies of Spanish language variation aim at unraveling the meaning of language constructions in situated acts of  communication. In recent years, she has been investigating the bilingual acquisition of grammatical knowledge, as well as the development of narrative skills by Spanish-English bilingual children.
	Maria Luisa Zubizarreta (Linguistics) - zubizarr@usc.edu Maria Luisa Zubizarreta works on comparative syntax, with the goal of uncovering the grammatical properties that are invariant across languages and those that are subject to parametric variation. She has recently developed an interest in second language acquisition. More specifically, she investigates the role of universal principles and parametric variation in second language acquisition.

Students

Students in the Hispanic Linguistics specialization are integrated in one graduate program administratively as well as academically. They participate in leadership responsibility in graduate activities in the Department. They present papers at prestigious national and international meetings of the profession (LSRL, LSA, ICL, LASSO, WECOL, Symposium on Spanish and Portuguese Linguistics, Spanish in the USA), and they have been publishing the outcome of their research in proceedings and anthologies.

The Hispanic Linguistics Students Association (HILSA) was created in 2003 by the students in the HL specialization. This organization gives the students a friendly environment where they can present and share their research. Furthermore, the association organizes workshops and seminars where faculty and students discuss their work. HILSA organized a parasession on Hispanic Linguistics and Other Romance Languages as part of the Western Conference on Linguistics (WECOL) 2004.

Prospective students are encouraged to contact the faculty, the current graduate students or HILSA

(hilsa@usc.edu) for questions and details about the HL specialization.

For further information, please contact:

Department of Linguistics

University of Southern California

University Park, GFS 301

Los Angeles, CA  90089-1693

Tel: (213) 740-2986

Fax: (213) 740-9306

e-mail: lingdept@usc.edu