One of the University’s smallest language departments, which emphasizes student initiative and… One of the University’s smallest language departments, which emphasizes student initiative and student-driven expansion, has grown once again.

The Less-Commonly-Taught Languages Center will offer a new course on the Arabic dialect Levantine for the first time at Pitt next semester. The Spring 2011 semester will also mark the second semester of Icelandic at Pitt.

Native speakers of the wide variety of languages, as well as students with a specific focus in each language’s region, enroll in these less popular language courses.

“The goal of LCTL is to represent diversity,” said Claude Mauk, director of the center. “We try to offer a distribution of languages, like Quechua from South America and Swahili from Africa.”

The entire program is about half the size of other language departments at Pitt. The Levantine class has a full enrollment of 16 students and will likely be part of an almost-finalized Arabic Certificate program, although the program still needs approval from the provost office. The dialect is spoken in Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories and parts of Jordan.

The minimum number of students in an Arts and Sciences class is 14, but classes as small as one student can be offered at Pitt as long as the instructor meets requirements, Mauk said.

Mauk said creation of new courses is largely student-driven. When at least one student shows interest, the center will try to find a professor and funding for the class.

The University requires an instructor to be a native speaker and have a master’s degree in language instruction. Teaching experience is preferable but not necessary.

“Popular demand brought the . . . Icelandic program to the university campus,” Icelandic professor Jona Hammer said in an e-mail.

Three students are currently enrolled to take the second level of Icelandic come second semester. Icelandic is the official language of Iceland and is spoken by about 300,000 people, according to Pitt’s website.

In an e-mail Hammer said, “The students enrolled in this language class all have future goals relating to Iceland.”

Mauk said most of the funding for the small classes comes from the School of Arts and Sciences, the provost office’s budget, Middle Eastern language programs and from the Center for International Studies.

“So far, no class had been canceled due to lack of funding,” he said.

The Less-Commonly-Taught Languages Center offers courses on 14 languages, also including American Sign Language and Irish Gaelic