ITALIAN LANGUAGE-INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED-1

The course aims to explain the sociolinguistic context of written and spoken Italian, taking into consideration the most relevant events throughout the history of Italian language.
In particular, the course will first briefly deal with the most important turning points in the history of Italian language: changes from Latin to local vernacular, formation of the literary Florentine during 14th c., the “Questione della lingua” in the 16th c., Tuscan-based Italian’s spread after the unification of Italy (1861).
In the second part, the course will focus on Contemporary Italian and the sociolinguistic context, which will be compared, as well as possible, to students’ native languages: after a brief introduction regarding key concepts in Sociolinguistics (dialect, linguistic variable, linguistic variety), the linguistic geography of Italy will be explained, with a particular stress on the relation between dialects and Standard Italian. In the last part, Italian language as a means of communication for daily conversation will be considered, starting from the difference between the written language and orality and, finally, analysing the coexistence of different varieties of language depending on communicative situations.
The explanation of the subjects discussed in class will be supported by the reading of some passages taken from the masterpieces of Italian literature (if necessary, they will be simplified depending on linguistic skills of the students).