BERGAMO
Overview
Date/time interval
Syllabus
Course Objectives
The students will be able to attain a comprehensive knowledge of the main theoretical and methodological principles underlying the scientific study of the world’s languages and sociolinguistic variation. This knowledge represents the first step towards the development of the linguistic competencies required to interpret and produce communication in a variety of contexts.
Course Prerequisites
No prior knowledge is required.
Teaching Methods
The course comprises both frontal lectures and exercise sections; students will be encouraged to use their questions to guide the teaching process and appreciate the application of theoretical notions to the analysis of the reality surrounding them. There will be 10 hours of (recommended, but not compulsory) practical activities aimed at increasing the students’ chances of passing the final exam, irrespective of whether they can attend the lessons or not. Students are warmly recommended to download from the e-learning page of the course a PDF file containing a few exercises focusing on applied principles. The exercises will be discussed during the exercise sections, but exercise keys will be available (on the same e-learning area of the course) for both non-attending and attending students.
Assessment Methods
The assessment will be either in written or spoken form. As far as the contents are concerned, both assessment forms are equivalent. In five out of eight exam sessions, the assessment will be in written form (i.e., the June, July, and September exam sessions), whereas in the remaining three sessions the exam will be in oral form. Students are invited to choose the assessment form that suits them and their needs. The final mark can either be accepted or rejected by a single student, but does not entail any other assessment test. Both written and oral tests involve theoretical questions and exercises similar to those discussed during the training practice hours mentioned in the previous paragraph.
The written test entails 12 questions and exercises concerning the basic principles of Linguistics. The answers to questions 1 to 9 will be attributed from 0 to 2 points; the answers to questions 10 to 12 will receive 0 to 4 points. To pass the test, it is necessary to earn 18 points out of 30.
Contents
The course aims to provide the basic linguistic notions and concepts that enable students to understand the functioning of the human language in both its historical and social contexts.
The main level of analysis of sociolinguistic variation will also be explored.
The topics discussed during the lessons include:
- properties of the human languages: semantic omnipotence, arbitrariness, double articulation, productivity, etc.
- Main features of language signs;
- Phonetics and phonology: phones, phonemes, consonant and vowel sounds, minimal pairs, the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA);
- Morphology: word formation processes and types of morphemes, interlinguistic differences and similarities;
- Syntax: simple and complex sentences; Italian marked word orders;
- Semantics: the lexicon, semantic relationships among words, loanwords, and semantic calques;
- Pragmatics: anaphora and deixis, functions of language, speech acts;
- Introduction to typological linguistics and universals;
- Sociolinguistic variation: variables and levels of analysis, with a special focus on the Italian context;
- Fully fledged languages, dialects, and standardization processes.
Online Resources
More information
1) ALL THE STUDENTS attending the lessons are expected to bring with them the handbook Berruto / Cerruti (2017).
2) NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS should follow the same program as those attending the lessons.
3) Students who need to strengthen their knowledge of Italian grammar (especially as far as syntactic skills are concerned) are invited to consult the following text: Trifone, Pietro e Massimo Palermo 2020, "Grammatica italiana di base. Quarta edizione con esercizi.", Zanichelli. The self-assessment exercises available on the publisher's website are also warmly recommended.
4) ALL THE STUDENTS are expected to consult regularly the e-learning area of the course and download the materials available there (sample tests, useful materials and exercises, and so on).