BERGAMO
Overview
Date/time interval
Syllabus
Course Objectives
The course is divided into two parts: 1. an in-depth examination of the linguistic ‘structures’ of Italian (regardless of its diachronic development); 2. An in-depth examination of the non-standard ‘varieties’ spoken in Italy and, in particular, the so-called dialects. In the part given over to ‘Structures’ students will acquire the empirical knowledge and theoretical skills to understand and describe the phonetic and phonological structures (sounds), morphology (word formation), syntax (sentence structure), and lexis (words) of the standard language. The second part of the course dedicated to ‘Varieties’ will offer the student an overview of Italy’s alternative rich linguistic heritage represented by the dialects, focusing in particular on their phonological, morphological and syntactic structures; the second part of the course also includes the study of regional varieties of Italian and the varieties spoken outside of Italy in the large Italian diaspora communities worldwide. Students will therefore gain an in-depth knowledge of Italo-Romance varieties, acquiring the expert skills to situate and contextualize them in a synchronic and comparative perspective and understand the problems associated with their linguistic analysis and interpretation.
By the end of the course students will acquire an essential knowledge of Italian linguistics and, in particular, will possess the analytic and theoretical skills to understand the complex structural relationship between standard and non-standard varieties within the Italian context. The expected learning outcomes include:
a) the ability to analyse the phonetic-phonological, morphological, syntactic and lexical structures of the principal Italo-Romance varieties;
b) the ability to read and understand linguistic texts and texts in dialect;
c) a knowledge and understanding of various current theoretical ideas and theories.
Course Prerequisites
Other than an excellent command of Italian, there are no prerequisites for this course.
Teaching Methods
Teaching is principally through face-to-face lectures supported by PowerPoint presentations uploaded to the course’s e-learning platform. Lectures will also include practical activities including the completion of linguistic exercises (carried out in groups) and the reading and discussion in class of short texts. Students are warmly encouraged to take part in all class discussions.
In addition to the reading lists published on Leganto, PowerPoint presentations uploaded onto the course’s e-learning platform also contain specific bibliographies for each of the arguments covered in each of the lectures.
Assessment Methods
Assessment is carried out through a (15-minute) oral discussion and marked out of a total of 30. The assessment consists in a series of questions relating to both parts of the course (‘Structures’ and ‘Varieties’) to ascertain the students’ ability to describe, understand and analyse in sufficient depth and with the required expertise the linguistic structures of Italian and the other Italo-Romance varieties. Students will be offered a selection of topics to choose from for in-depth discussion which may also involve the use of textual materials (short passages and linguistic exercises).
Contents
The course will examine a wide selection of topics relating to the structures and varieties of Italo-Romance. These include:
Structures:
• A linguistic tour of Italy: an overview of the linguistic variation exhibited by different Italo-Romance varieties;
• Phonetics and phonology: phonemics, allophonic variation, syllable structure, r fonosintattico ‘phonosyntactic strengthening’, regional variation;
• Morphosyntax: nominal morphology, pronominal systems, perfective auxiliary selection and participle agreement, temporal, aspectual and modal distinctions;
• Pragmatics and semantics: word order and the pragmatic-syntax interface, lexis (standardization, de-Tuscanization, prestige, geosynonyms, geohomonyms, dialectalisms);
Varieties:
• Distribution of the dialects: areal and typological classifications, isoglosses;
• Northern dialects: phonetic, morphological and syntactic structures;
• Central-southern dialects: phonetic, morphological and syntactic structures;
• Italian vs Tuscan, regional features of Tuscan Italian;
• Regional Italian: dimensions of phonetic, morphological and syntactic variation;
• Italian in Switzerland: principal dimensions of phonetic, morphological, syntactic and lexical variation;
• Italian and the dialects outside of Italy.
Online Resources
More information
1) Attendance at lectures is strongly recommended. Students are required to consult regularly the e-learning platform of the course and to download all required materials.
2) The curriculum is the same for students who are unable to attend lectures. They are not required to undertake any additional readings, but are expected to download and study the PowerPoint presentations and all other materials available on the course’s e-learning platform.
3) Those without a basic knowledge of linguistics are advised to study an introductory handbook to linguistics.
4) Erasmus students and those with personal or individual learning plans (PDP/PEI) are advised to contact the lecturer at the beginning of the course.
5) For any other information students may contact the lecturer at the following email address: adam.ledgeway@unibg.it