OVERVIEW

This course has been specifically designed for foreigner students and provides them with the essential notions for the scientific study of language from a synchronic perspective. Firstly, the foundations of phonetics and phonology will be introduced: special attention will be devoted to the description of the Italian phonological system and to the IPA. Subsequently, the basic notions of morphology and syntax will be discussed, with a special focus typical morphological processes of Italian.

AIMS AND CONTENT

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. 

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 Linguistics in the sense that it does not presuppose any previous training in the subject.

TEACHING METHODS

Oral lessons and slides (available on Aulaweb). Oral lessons will be delivered online on Microsoft Teams. Slides will be uploaded on the Aulaweb platform.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

This course aims to provide foreigner students with the essential notions to the scientific study of language from a synchronic 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 and syntax will be discussed.

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.
• Slides (available on Aulaweb)

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

MANUELA MARIANI (President)

FRANCESCA STRIK LIEVERS

LESSONS

LESSONS START

End of September 2020. 

Class schedule

GLOTTOLOGY AND LINGUISTICS

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

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

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The written test 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