Spanish 690N - Language and Nurture

In this course, we will be looking at the relationship between language and ?nurture? through a variety of lenses, and from a cross-cultural perspective. The course begins with an introduction to attachment theory more broadly, and then visits specific roles of language in the relationship between child and caretakers from a number of perspectives. We will bring together the literature on infant crying and caretaker response to cries, aspects of infant-directed speech and alternatives to infant-directed speech cross-culturally, the role of song and its effect on infants? nervous systems, embodied communication systems with infants, and the role of bilingualism in caretaker-child attachment. We will consider practices in Western and non-Western societies, and analyze public discourses around these practices in post-industrial societies. We will attempt to unify the many areas of study including but not limited to linguistics, psychology, anthropology and biology under the umbrella of ?Language and Nurture?. Where possible, we will play special attention to Spanish and other languages spoken in Latin America and on the Iberian Peninsula.