History of the Italian Language

Year
0
Academic year
2019-2020
Code
01012077
Subject Area
Italian Linguistics
Language of Instruction
Portuguese
Other Languages of Instruction
Italian
Mode of Delivery
Face-to-face
Duration
SEMESTRIAL
ECTS Credits
6.0
Type
Elective
Level
1st Cycle Studies

Recommended Prerequisites

Not applicable.

Teaching Methods

1) Theoretical analysis, analysis of texts by the teacher, viewing of contextualizing materials.

2) Contact with libraries and bibliographic specimens, oriented handling of platforms.

3) Analysis of texts by students, individually or in groups, under the guidance of the teacher, exercises of presentations and resuming texts.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the semester, the students are expected to:

1) Know the linguistic evolution which proceeds from the change from Latin to the various Italian speeches and then until the Unification of Italy.

2) Know how it happened and what factors influenced the choice of the language for the politically unified Italy, and how was its evolution.

3) Understand the concept of linguistic variation in the context of such evolution.

The historical evolution of the Italian Language will be studied under a descriptive-explanatory perspective that pays particular attention to linguistic variation.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1) Origins of Italian. The Vulgar Latin. From Latin to Italian. A) Phonetics: vowels; consonants. B) Morphology: productivity of I and II declensions; neutral plural; prepositional prefixes and phonetic duplication; verbal system: future and conditional. C) Lexicon: allotrope; phonic body; expressiveness. Latinisms in the current Italian.

2) Training and dissemination of Italian. Migration: Germanic, Arab and Byzantine influx. The medieval polycentrism (Dante Alighieri, De vulgari eloquentia). The issues of language and the literary codes (P. Bembo,Prose della volgar lingua).

3) The language of the politically unified Italy. The positions of Graziadio Isaia Ascoli and A. Manzoni. Affirmation and diffusion. Migration and interference (G. Pascoli, Italy).

4) Italian and dialects. Linguistic fragmentation. From volgari to the dialects. Substratification. Dialectal chart. Relations between Italian and dialects today. Law 482 on historical linguistic groups. The Italian in the world.

Head Lecturer(s)

Andrea Ragusa

Assessment Methods

Final evaluation
Exam: 100.0%

Continuous evaluation
Mini Tests: 50.0%
Synthesis work: 50.0%

Bibliography

Bonomi, I. et alli (2008). Elementi di linguistica italiana. Roma: Carocci.

De Mauro, T. (2003). Linguistica elementare. Bari: Laterza.

De Mauro, T. (dir.) (2003). Gradit. Grande dizionario italiano dell’uso. Torino: UTET, 6 vols.

Graffi, G., S. Scalise (2003). Le lingue e il linguaggio. Introduzione alla linguistica. Bologna: Il Mulino.

Marnoto, R. (2011). O italiano, uma língua para a Itália unida. In R. Marnoto (Ed.), Causa pública (pp. 23-45). Coimbra: Instituto de Estudos Italianos da FLUC, IUC.

Serianni, L., G. Antonelli (2011). Manuale di linguistica italiana. Storia, attualità, grammatica. Milano: Bruno Mondadori.