Romance Languages and Literatures

College of Letters and Science
Graduate Office: 5309 Dwinelle Hall, (510) 642-8037

Program Director: Steven Botterill, PhD (Department of Italian Studies)
Department Website: Romance Languages and Literatures

PhD Program

The PhD in Romance Languages and Literatures is a doctorate in three Romance languages and literatures (French, Italian, and Spanish, including Spanish-American), prepared with emphasis in the literature or in the linguistics or philological history of one of the three. The program is intended to afford students the opportunity to undertake more detailed comparative studies among the Romance languages and their literary cultures than is normally the case in any single department’s program. It is founded upon the belief that a truly comprehensive understanding of any of the major Romance languages and its literature must be nourished by a substantial degree of familiarity with all of them.

Students choose from among three plans whose prerequisites vary slightly. Plans I and II require a BA degree with studies in Spanish, Italian, or French, approximately equivalent to the undergraduate major at UC Berkeley (30 upper division semester units). Plan III requires either a BA degree with studies in Spanish, Italian, or French, as for Plans I and II, or a BA in linguistics with expertise in at least two major Romance languages.

Students are admitted for one of the three plans and present a combination of courses and personal study to satisfy the requirements of the particular plan chosen, developed in consultation with a graduate adviser and designed to prepare the students for the qualifying examination. Students designate one Romance field (choosing from among French, Italian, or Spanish and Spanish-American) as their emphasis; the remaining two languages and literatures are designated "collaterals." Applications for admission should be submitted to the department of the language and literature of major emphasis.

• Plan I requires a detailed knowledge of the major literature, knowledge of the first collateral literature as prescribed in a supplied reading list of 15 items, and knowledge of the master works of the second collateral as prescribed in a reading list of 10 items. In addition, familiarity with the linguistic history of the Romance languages, with emphasis on the major language, is required.
• Plan II requires a detailed knowledge of the major literature and a detailed command of one broad, integrated field (period, movement, or genre) in both of the collateral literatures, to be chosen by the student in consultation with a graduate adviser and in accordance with the student’s special area of interest in the major literature. Individually tailored reading lists for both the collateral literatures (15 and 10 items, respectively) are to be developed by the student, as advised and approved by a faculty member of the department concerned. Familiarity with the linguistic history of the Romance languages, with emphasis on the major language, is also required.
• Plan III requires an in-depth knowledge of the structure and history (internal and external) of the major language, and an in-depth knowledge of either the history or the structure, depending on whether the student’s preferred orientation is diachronic or synchronic, of the Romance language designated as first collateral.

Students are given three options with respect to the second collateral:

1. Familiarity with the history and structure of the third language.
2. Familiarity with the history and structure of a related Romance language (Catalan, Galician, Occitan, Portuguese, Rumanian, or Romance-based creoles).
3. Abroadly defined field of linguistics (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics), philology (textual criticism, medieval literature), or the application of linguistics to literature, the field to be chosen by the student in consultation with a graduate adviser.

Students will develop an individually tailored reading list for the option they choose, in consultation with and approved by an appropriate faculty member. The course entitled Linguistic History of Romance Languages, taken as either French C202, Italian C201, or Spanish C202, is also required.

In all plans, work beyond the requirements may be added in other Romance fields (such as Catalan, Portuguese, Occitan, or Rumanian).

General Requirements for all plans include fluency in the major language and reading knowledge of the collateral languages as well as Latin. Students must show a reading knowledge of any one of the languages by passing a written examination that the Department of Spanish and Portuguese coordinates for the program. For the remaining two, students may demonstrate reading knowledge by written examination; by holding a graduate student instructorship in the language in question; by passing, with a grade of B or better, an upper division or a graduate-level course in the literature of those languages; or, in the case of Latin, by passing Latin 1 and 2. A reading knowledge of German is also recommended.

Students in all three plans must also demonstrate knowledge of the linguistic history of the Romance languages. Students in Plans I and II are offered the option of satisfying this requirement either by passing, with a grade of B or better, the graduate course entitled Linguistic History of Romance Languages (French C202; Italian C201, or Spanish C202), or by examination during the qualifying examination. Study is guided, in the second case, by a standard reading list. The course is a required part of the program for students in Plan III.

Students in all plans take a qualifying examination. The qualifying examination committee is composed of a minimum of five members: three representing the main field of focus, a designated "outside" member from the student’s first collateral, and one additional member representing the second collateral. This examination is oral and normally three hours long.

Once students successfully complete the qualifying examination, they will arrange with a faculty member to direct the dissertation and they will propose the remaining members of the dissertation committee together. The dissertation is expected to embody the results of original research on a subject chosen in consultation with the director.

The normative time allowance for completing the doctoral program is six years.

Graduate Courses

Students in the Romance Languages and Literatures degree program draw upon the full range of courses offered by the Departments of French, Italian Studies, and Spanish and Portuguese. Please refer to departmental listings in this bulletin.