ITALIAN LINGUISTICS

The course will focus on the birth and the development of Italian language, from its origins to contemporary period. In particular, students will have to discuss on the correlation between language and dialects, on the norm’s fixation and the spread of literary language, as well as the spread of Italian language through centuries. 

General learning objectives include the acquisition of full awareness in the analysis of Italian language structures, especially for what concerns its formal aspects and the differences linked to context varieties.

Attending the course, students will gain theoretical and methodological instruments to: 

• recognize, learn and understand phenomena of Italian language linked to different contexts; 
• know technical language of Linguistics; 
• learn to use linguistc’s tools to analyze and to describe language’s aspects; 
• know how to develop a critical discussion. 

During the course, made of 18 lessons, there will be 2 tests to verify the achievement of different objectives. All students that will do the tests during the course will be able to divide the final program; all other students will do a unique written test before final exam.   

The tests will focus on these subjects: 

• language varieties and their principal linguistic traits; 
• language structures and syntactical analysis; 
• history of Italian language. 

• The architecture of contemporary Italian: the axes of variation. 
• the standard language;
• the spoken; 
• the neo-standard; 
• the dialect and regional Italians; 
• popular Italian; 
• special languages; 
• the structures of language: phonetics and spelling; morphosyntax; marked syntax; punctuation; lexicon. 
• textuality: text types and text requirements. 
• peculiarities of digital texts.
• italian in contemporary communication society. 
• language and the extralinguistic context. 
• history of the Italian language from its origins to the 20th century. 
• unification, norm and expansion of Italian.

• E. Assenza- F. Rossi - F. Ruggiano, Elementi di linguistica italiana, Roma, Pearson, 2023. 

• E. Salvatore, Esercizi di linguistica italiana, Bologna, il Mulino, 2022

• D. Motta, Scrivere e parlare in italiano oggi: parla come mangi e scrivi come parli?, Firenze, Cesati, 2022.

 Please remember that in compliance with art 171 L22.04.1941, n. 633 and its amendments, it is illegal to copy entire books or journals, only 15% of their content can be copied.

For further information on sanctions and regulations concerning photocopying please refer to the regulations on copyright (Linee Guida sulla Gestione dei Diritti d’Autore) provided by AIDRO - Associazione Italiana per i Diritti di Riproduzione delle opere dell’ingegno (the Italian Association on Copyright).

All the books listed in the programs can be consulted in the Library.

The exam will include 2 in-progress tests, open to all students, which will result in those who pass being able to split the program. The tests will be structured with open and closed questions. 

Those who do not take the in-progress tests during the course will then have to pass a written exam, with the same setting as the in-progress tests, before the oral test.

The final exam will be oral. 

The assessment of the examination will take into account the candidate's mastery of the content and skills acquired, linguistic accuracy and lexical property, and argumentative ability.