The course aims to analyze in depth topics, issues and authors who, for various reasons, represent crucial turning points in the history of the Italian language.
The course will focus on literary Italian (ancient and modern), but will also examine other uses and registers of the language, such as jargons, technical languages and semiliterate production, taking into account the complex geolinguistic situation of the Italian territory, where dialects and minority languages play even today an important role.
With regard in particular to the earliest phases of the language, texts of outstanding interest, both in prose and in poetry, will be read and commented upon in detail.
The student will therefore acquire an in-depth knowledge of the historical development of the Italian language its earliest attestations to the present.
(S)He will furthermore acquire the ability to apply with confidence the methodology of linguistic analysis to literary and non-literary texts, also in a diachronic perspective.