The certificate in Romance linguistics is an interdisciplinary
curriculum designed for students in any major who wish to gain
expertise in the structure of the Romance languages, which are
historically derived from Latin and are currently spoken across Europe
and the Americas. The program provides a grounding in linguistic theory
coordinated with the study of the structure, history, and/or social
context of French, Italian, Latin, and Spanish.
Requirements
The Romance linguistics certificate requires the completion of seven
courses (21 credits) with a grade of C or better in each course, chosen
with appropriate distribution from the course list below. In addition,
students must demonstrate knowledge of at least two Romance languages
by the completion of the program.
Course Requirements
1. 01:615:201 Introduction to Linguistic Theory (3)
2. 01:615:340 Romance Linguistics (3)
3. One course from among:
01:615:305 Syntax (3)
01:615:315 Phonology (3)
01:615:325 Semantics (3)
4. Four courses from among:
01:190:421 Indo-European Origins of the Classical Languages (3)
01:420:332 French Phonetics and Applied Linguistics (3)
01:420:333 Introduction to French Syntax (3)
01:420:403 History of the French Language (3)
01:420:407 Advanced French Syntax (3)
01:560:304 Introduction to Italian Linguistics (3)
01:940:362 Spanish Phonetics and Phonology (3)
01:940:363 Bilingualism in the Spanish-Speaking World (3)
01:940:364 Contrastive Analysis in Spanish and English (3)
01:940:417 History of the Spanish Language (3)
01:940:419 Dialectology of the Spanish-Speaking World (3)
Other Requirements
Knowledge of two Romance languages must be established either by
completing at least one course at the 200 level or higher in each
language with a grade of C or better, or by placement in the 200 level
or higher (proof required). For the purpose of this certificate, the
Romance languages are considered to be Latin, Catalan, French,
Provençal/ Occitan, Italian, Portuguese/Galician, Romanian, any
Rhaeto-Romance variety, Spanish/Castilian, or Sardinian. Certificate
students who are native speakers of Romance varieties for which there
is no placement test or no course available at Rutgers-New
Brunswick/Piscataway may submit other proof of their language abilities
for validation by a certificate adviser.
Candidates must have
their program approved by a Romance linguistics certificate adviser,
who is appointed by the chair of the Department of Linguistics. Majors
from any field are welcome to enroll in the certificate program.
Substitutions for the above courses may be made only with the approval
of a certificate adviser.
Candidates for the certificate are
encouraged to study abroad, with either the Rutgers Study Abroad
programs in France, Italy, Mexico, Spain, among others, or another
accredited university program. Courses taken abroad may be offered in
substitution for those in the above course list; their suitability must
be evaluated by a certificate adviser on a case-by-case basis.
Candidates will be required to show documentation
(catalog/brochure description, syllabus, texts, exams, etc.) of the
type and content of the course being evaluated. Senior candidates who
take a seminar or pursue an honors thesis project that relates to
Romance linguistics may, with permission of the certificate adviser,
offer one such course as a substitute for one of those required above.
Most upper-level courses have prerequisites, and in the language
departments, these prerequisite courses are typically taught in the
target language.
