OVERVIEW

This course provides the essential notions for the scientific study of language from a synchronic and a diachronic perspective. Firstly, the foundations of phonetics and phonology will be introduced: special attention will be devoted to the description of the IPA. Subsequently, the basic notions of morphology and syntax will be discussed. The second part is devoted to the basic principles of phonetic, phonological and morphosynctactic change. The Indo-European family will be described in detail.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

This course will provide students with basic theoretical and methodological notions for the description and interpretation of the linguistic data and phenomena they will deal with in the course of their studies. More specifically, the first part of the course (general linguistics) aims to familiarize students with key concepts in linguistics (e.g. language, languages, linguistic sign), and to provide the conceptual and terminological means needed to study language at the various levels of linguistic analysis (phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics). The second part of the course (historical linguistics) aims to introduce basic notions concerning language change and the genealogical and typological classification of world languages.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this course, the student will know all main levels of linguistic analysis, namely phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, some basic notions of pragmatics, lexicon, and their possible interrelations from a synchronic and diachronic perspective. The student will have gained some basic knowledge about different theoretical frameworks and their epistemological basis (generative linguistics vs. typological-functional approach). The student will also know the basis of historical linguistics and will be able to analyse the dynamics of simple linguistic changes at the phonetic and phonological, morphological and syntactic levels, including phenomena of grammaticalization, analogy and reanalysis. The student will know the presumable origin of Indo-European and will be able to classify the languages of Europe from a genetic perspective, including non-Indoeuropean ones, and the Indoeuropean languages spoken outside Europe. 

PREREQUISITES

This is an introductory course in Theoretical and Historical Linguistics in the sense that it does not presuppose any previous training in the subject. 

TEACHING METHODS

Oral lectures with slides. For the academic year 2021/22, this course will be thaught remotely.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

This course aims to provide the student with the essential notions to the scientific study of language both from a synchronic and a diachronic perspective. The course will start with some introductory remarks about the concepts of "language" and its constitutive features. Therefore, the foundations of phonetics and phonology will be introduced: special attention will be devoted to the description and use of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and to the Italian phonological system compared to those exhibited by the main European languages. Subsequently, the basic notions of morphology, syntax, semantics and lexicon will be discussed.
The second part of this course is devoted to the basic notions of Historical Linguistics. Principles and dynamics of phonetic, phonological, morphosynctactic and semantic change will be illustrated and discussed, with special attention cast on processes of analogy, grammaticalization, and reanalysis.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Gaetano Berruto & Massimo Cerruti. 2017. La linguistica. Un corso introduttivo. Torino: UTET. Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4 (until Section 4.3 included), 6.
• Elisabetta Magni. 2014. Linguistica storica. Bologna: Patron.
• Slides (available on Aulaweb)

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

CHIARA FEDRIANI (President)

FRANCESCA STRIK LIEVERS

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Lessons will start during the week beginning with Monday, October 4th, 2021. The schedule will be provided in due time.

Class schedule

GLOTTOLOGY AND LINGUISTICS B

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Written exams with both exercises (phonetic transcription of three Italian words, minimal pairs, morphological analysis of four derived and compound words, syntactic tree), and questions on General linguistics and Historical linguistics topics.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The written text which includes both exercises (phonetic transcription, minimal pairs, morphological analysis of derived words and compounds, syntactic tree) and questions about topics in general linguistics and historical linguistics illustrated and discussed during the course.

Exam schedule