This course introduces students to the discipline of linguistics through a focus on Spanish- speaking communities and the linguistic diversity amongst them. This advanced task-based course focuses on developing students’ pragmatic competence in Spanish, or the ability to use the language appropriately in different social contexts. To do so, students will analyze how culturally confined politeness norms, contextual elements, and speakers’ identities impact how language is used to carry out different speech acts such as requests, invitations, and apologies, among others, and will compare variation in pragmatic norms among different Spanish-speaking communities.