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.
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.
teacher profile teaching materials
2) Enrico Testa, L'italiano nascosto. Una storia linguistica e culturale, Torino, Einaudi, 2014.
3) Nicola De Blasi, Geografia e storia dell'italiano regionale, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2014.
Attending students can replace some chapters of volumes 2-3) with notes and materials provided in class.
Programme
Two varieties of Italian: popular Italian and regional Italian yesterday and today.Core Documentation
1) Paolo D'Achille, Italiano dei semicolti e italiano regionale. Tra diastratia e diatopia, Padova, libreriauniversitaria.it, 2022.2) Enrico Testa, L'italiano nascosto. Una storia linguistica e culturale, Torino, Einaudi, 2014.
3) Nicola De Blasi, Geografia e storia dell'italiano regionale, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2014.
Attending students can replace some chapters of volumes 2-3) with notes and materials provided in class.
Reference Bibliography
1) Gaetano Berruto, Sociolinguistica dell'italiano contemporaneo, Roma, Carocci, 2012.Type of delivery of the course
Taught class involving active participation on the part of the students, who can write a paper on the topic of the course. Attendance is recommended. The syllabus is the same for all students, regardless of whether they attend.Attendance
Popular Italian and regional Italian are two varieties of Italian that emerged after national unification and identified in studies in the mid-twentieth century. The first one, examined above all in writing, is a social variety, typical of people who have had an incomplete school education; the second one, analyzed mostly in speech, is a geographical variety, which characterizes speakers from different Italian areas. Both varieties were born from the encounter of basic Tuscan-Florentine Italian with the various Italo-Romance dialects and therefore are in part superimposable. The course aims to present, from different and complementary points of view and reading the texts, the main issues raised by the study of popular Italian and regional Italian.Type of evaluation
An oral exam at the end of the course. Interim assessments will not be available, but attending students can take a final written test that replaces the oral exam. The exam will focus on the material referred to under ‘Bibliography’ and on the topics dealt with during the course. The exam will assess: 1) the depth and breadth of the knowledge of the subject acquired; 2) command of the technical vocabulary; 3) the ability to bring together critically topics and issues dealt with during the course.