HISTORY OF THE ITALIAN LANGUAGE II

The course is part of the Bachelor Degree in Humanities (Lettere), curriculum of Antiquity and curriculum of Science of the literary text and communication.
Aim of the course is to provide students with a basic knowledge of the external linguistic history of Italian, from the Origins to the Contemporary Era, with special regard to the most relevant periods of the linguistic codification (the Trecento, the "questione della lingua" in the 16th century, the 19th century, the national diffusion of written and oral Italian after 1861). The achievement of these objectives will enable students to apply autonomously the methods and tools of the history of the Italian language to the historical-linguistic analysis and contextualization of texts written in Italian vernaculars and Italian, in any of its varieties, between the Middle Ages and the 20th century.

1. Knowledge and comprehension:
1.1 to be familiar with the most relevant events of the external linguistic history of Italian, from the Origins until the present, with special regard to the periods of the linguistic codification and the so-called "questione della lingua";
1.2 to know and comprehend the main phenomena of internal evolution of the Italian language, on a orthographic, phonological, morphological, lexical and syntactic level;
1.3 to comprehend the linguistic and textual peculiarities of the so-called "italiano dei semicolti", from the 16th until the 19th century;
1.4 to know and understand the contexts of production and the linguistic forms of the texts written by the "semicolti" (uneducated writers) before Italy's National Unity (1861).
2. Capability of applying knowledge and comprehension:
2.1 to orientate oneself in the periodization of the history of Italian, by proving able to place the main protagonists (writers, grammarians, linguists, etc.) in the corresponding historical-geographical contexts;
2.2 to be able to contextualize linguistically a text in an Italian vernacular and Italian, in any of its varieties;
2.3 to be able to analyze texts written by "semicolti" (uneducated writers).
3. Judgement ability:
3.1 to be able to evaluate critically the different positions in the century-long debate known as "questione della lingua", by recognizing elements of continuity through time (such as Classicism, Florentinism, Anti-Florentinism, etc.);
3.2 to be able to judge the editorial choices concerning texts written by "semicolti" (uneducated writers).
4. Communicative abilities:
4.1 to be able to communicate the specific characteristics of the history of the Italian language, by connecting them with the political, social, literary and cultural history of Italy and Europe;
4.2 to make use of a convenient scientific terminology by analyzing texts, notably the selection of the earliest records of Italian read and commented upon during the lessons.
5. Learning abilities:
5.1 to be able to study critically the reference texts, by hierarchizing information and allowing notions to interact mutually.

Students are expected to have already attended the course History of the Italian language I. They will not be allowed to enroll for the exam if they have not passed History of the Italian language I. The final result of History of the Italian language (12 credits) will be the average of the evaluation of the two exams.

The course is divided into two parts. The first part will be devoted to a synthetic overview of the main events of the history of the Italian language, starting from its origins (via the transition from Latin to Romance and the emergence of the earliest written records in vernacular) until the present. Particular attention will be paid to the most relevant periods of the codification of Italian and to the so-called “questione della lingua”. The second part will be consecrated to the so-called "italiano dei semicolti", that is to say to the use of Italian (or better, of varieties of Tuscan-based Italian often interfered by local dialects) by uneducated writers.

Claudio Marazzini, La lingua italiana. Profilo storico, 3a ed., Bologna, il Mulino, 2002.
Enrico Testa, L'italiano nascosto, Torino, Einaudi, 2014.
Notes taken during the classes.
Handouts given in the classes, that will also be available on Moodle.

Students will have to pass an oral exam of 20-30 minutes. During the exam, students will demonstrate their knowledge of the subjects that have been illustrated in the lessons and that are described in the reference texts. In particular, students are expected to orientate themselves in the history of the Italian language, by connecting its main events with the political, social, literary and cultural history of Italy and Europe. Furthermore, as far as the second part of the course is concerned, students are expected to analyze one of the texts that have been read and commented upon during the lessons.

Frontal teaching. All materials (texts in photocopies) will be available in the e-learning platform moodle.unive.it. Although the course is not conceived as a seminar, feedback from students will be constantly solicited, according to an interactive and dynamic idea of teaching.

Italian

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