ROMANCE PHILOLOGY

The teaching of Romance Philology 1 module 1 is one of the characteristic teachings of the Course of Studies (Master's Degree) in Language Sciences. The general objective of the course is to explain the formation and development of the Romance languages in the Middle Ages and to analyse in depth and in original language some texts of the Romance literatures developed between the 11th and 14th centuries.

1. Knowledge and understanding

To know and understand, in a comparative perspective, the main phenomena of the linguistic change in the medieval Romance context, also in function of an adequate understanding of the characteristics of the Romance languages in today's phase;

Know and understand the main historical, cultural and literary events of the Romance world through textual documentation;

To know and understand the dynamics of text production in the Middle Ages and its dissemination through time and space.



2. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding:


To know how to recognise the main phenomena of linguistic change in the Romance languages and to know how to illustrate their importance, also in order to take into account the peculiarities of these languages at this stage;

To be able to deal, in the relevant context, with the linguistic and historical-cultural analysis of a medieval text, using the investigative tools discussed in the course;

To be able to use philological terminology correctly in the main areas of teaching.


3. Autonomy of judgement:

To be able to orient oneself in the critical debate on themes of philological subject, in order to be able to face the evaluation of alternative hypotheses concerning the same phenomenon (linguistic, literary, historical-cultural) or to formulate hypotheses on various questions of the discipline.


4. Communication skills:

To be able to communicate in a clear and technically appropriate way the contents of the course, using the register relevant to the communicative situation.



5. Learning ability:

To be able to propose in an organic way the contents of the course.
To be able to orient oneself adequately when reading the reference texts.

No specific prerequisites are required

Introduction to Romance philology. The medieval legend of Alexander the Great (Part I).
The module aims to present in the first five lessons the basic data about the formation and development of Romance languages from the common Latin base. Then we will focus on the medieval fortune of the ancient legend about the Macedonian commander reworked in the ancient French "Roman d'Alexandre" and in the Castilian "Libro de Alexandre". The analysis of some episodes taken from the two works will allow us to grasp the originality and peculiarities of the medieval reinterpretation of the life and achievements of Alexander the Great.

M. Mancini (a cura di), La letteratura francese medievale, Roma 2014;
A. D. Deyermond, Historia de la literatura española. 1. La edad Media, Barcelona, Ariel, 2016;
Libro de Alexandre, a cura di J. Cañas, Madrid 1988;
Alexandre de Bernay, Il Romanzo di Alessandro, a cura di M. Infurna e M. Mancini, Milano 2014;
Il lai di Aristotele, a cura di M. Infurna, Roma 2005;
Alessandro il Grande. Il Romanzo di Alessandro. La Vita di Alessandro di Plutarco, a cura di M. Centanni, Milano, 2005;

The examination program for students who cannot attend the course is provided below in the More Information section.

Ask questions about your classroom program and personal readings. The questions allow to test critical thought, as well as the capacity of mastering the subject.
More specifically:
Knowledge and understanding as well as communication skills will be verified through content questions;
The ability to apply knowledge and understanding will be verified through practical exercises, such as the translation of passages from the texts analysed during the course;
autonomy of judgement will be verified by questions on the personal evaluation of the various positions of the critic on the subject dealt with.

Lectures and presentation by the students of precise researches on the theme of the course assigned during the lectures.

Italian

The program for students who cannot attend the course is based on the following texts:
1)
L. Renzi, A. Andreose, "Manuale di linguistica e filologia romanza", Nuova edizione, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2015: of this volume should be studied pp. 16-59, 75-90, 145-170.
2)
Depending on the foreign languages of your curriculum, you can choose one of the following literatures:
A.D. Deyermond, "Historia de la Literatura espan͂ola. La Edad Media", Barcelona, 1972, pp. 21-184
or
M. Mancini (ed.), "La letteratura francese medievale", Rome, Carocci, 2014, cap. 1, 5, 6, 8.
3)
Study of the introduction of the book Alexandre de Bernay, "Il Romanzo di Alessandro", edited by M. Infurna and M. Mancini, Milan 2014; complete reading in Italian of the pages containing the first "branch"; in the original language you will have to prepare the vv. 250-349; 636-695, 1948-2070.
From the "Libro de Alexandre", edited by J. Cañas, Madrid 1988, verses 1-74 and 89-127 must be prepared in their original language for a total of 448 verses.
Study of the introduction and complete reading in Italian of the book "Il lai di Aristotele", edited by M. Infurna, Rome 2005.

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