HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS MOD.1

The module offers an in-depth view of language change from a historical, diachronic perspective. Students will acquire knowledge and understanding of the factors underlying language change, and will learn to decipher texts from earlier stages of the languages they study.

Student Learning Objectives (SLO):

1. Knowledge and understanding.
1a. Students will know and understand the linguistic terminology used in this field of studies.
1b. Students will know and understand, in a comparative perspective, the major mechanisms of linguistic change, and will apply to them up-to-date methods of analysis.

2. Applying knowledge and understanding.
2a. Students will be able to master the appropriate terminology in the processes of application, as well as communication of the acquired skills.
2b. Students will be able to recognize the major triggers of linguistic change, manipulate linguistic forms, derive forms from protolanguages, and account for their development.

3. Making judgements.
3a. Students will become familiar with the most up-to-date critical debate, and will be able to evaluate different hypotheses posed by the scholars, as well as to pose alternative hypotheses.
3b. Students will be able do develop a critical reasoning.

4. Communication skills.
4a. Students will be able to communicate their conclusions - and the knowledge and rationale underpinning these - clearly and unambiguously.
4b. They will also be able to use the correct register to provide information, enucleate problems and find possible solutions.

5. Learning skills.
5a. By studying the recommended books under the guidance of the teacher, students will develop those learning skills that are necessary for them to continue to undertake further study with a high degree of autonomy.

Basic linguistic concepts and terminology acquired in one or more modules such as: general linguistics, language teaching, Germanic/Romance/Slavic philology.

An introduction to language change: possible triggers, types of change and major mechanisms.

Attenders:
- notes taken in class and materials uploaded onto Moodle;
- Shukla, Shaligram / Connor-Linton, Jeff (2008). Il mutamento linguistico. Bologna: il Mulino.
- Campbell. Lyle (2013). Historical Linguistics. An Introduction. 3rd edition. Edinburh: Edinburgh University Press. Chapters: 2 (Sound Change), 9 (Semantic Change and Lexical Change), 10 (Morphological Change), 11 (Syntactic Change).

Non-attenders:
- materials uploaded onto Moodle;
- Shukla, Shaligram / Connor-Linton, Jeff (2008). Il mutamento linguistico. Bologna: il Mulino.
- Campbell. Lyle (2013). Historical Linguistics. An Introduction. 3rd edition. Edinburh: Edinburgh University Press.

Either four (4) or five (5) open questions, to which a specific mark will be assigned, making a total of 30/30 (cum laude). The exam lasts between 60 and 90 minutes.
- Open questions allow to test the acquisition of knowledge, critical thought, as well as specific skills.
More specifically:
- Knowledge and understanding: checked through content questions;
- Applying knowledge and understanding: checked through practical exercises, such as the encoding in XML-TEI of a short text;
- Making judgements: checked through methodological questions;
- Communication skills: checked through open questions (whether students ommunicate their conclusions clearly and unambiguously, as well as the knowledge and rationale underpinning these);
- Learning skills: evaluation of the students' autonomy of judgement.

Lectures, teacher-led discussions.

Italian

The students who attend "Linguistica svedese" are requested to prepare a paper on a diachronic topic in Swedish linguistics.

written

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development