DIALECTOLOGY

The course aims at developing an in-depth knowledge of the most recent linguistic theories and of their application to dialectological research; in particular, the course aims at making students familiar with the notion of linguistic variation as well as with the relevance of a microparametric approach to the study of linguistic phenomena.

The main aim of the course is to make students familiar with the notion of linguistic variation, both in the social and in the geographical dimension, pointing out the relevance of a microparametric approach to the study of linguistic phenomena.

Detailed educational aims.

1. Knowledge and comprehension
To know the main parameters of variation of the Italian language.
To know the distinctive characteristics of the main Italo-Romance dialectal groups.
To know the formalization of syntactic dialectal phenomena.
To know how to organize empirical data with respect to a theoretical framework.

2. Ability of applying knowledge and comprehension
To be able to recognize and characterize different diastratic e diatopic varieties of the Italian language.
To be able to recognize the main phonetic features of a given dialectal group.
To be able to provide the phrase structure of dialectal sentences.
To be able to analyze empirical data in a methodologically correct way with respect to a given theoretical framework.

3. Autonomy of judgement
To develop a certain degree of awareness in the choice of a given theoretical framework.
To develop sensitivity to the variational dimension of the language and to the importance of crossdialectal microvariation.
To develop the ability of formulating and arguing for a given hypothesis on the basis of empirical data.

4. Communicative abilities
To develop the ability of communicating specific aspects of linguistic theory and research.
To develop the ability of interacting with the teacher and the colleagues in a critical and respectful way.

5. Learning ability
To develop the abitiliy of updating one's background knowledge and acquire new notions in the field of dialectology.

Basic notions of linguistics.

The course will start with a short diachronic sketch of the relation between standard Italian and Italo-Romance dialects, followed by a presentation of the different varieties used in the average contemporary linguistic repertoire. Eventually, a cursory classification of the Italian dialects will be introduced, pointing out the typical phonetic and morphosyntactic features of each dialectal group. The main methodological principles relevant for the collection of linguistic data in the fieldwork will then be presented. Finally, a comparative analysis will be carried out of some morphosyntactic phenomena attested in the Northern Italian dialects and involving mainly the left periphery of the clause.

C. Grassi, A. Sobrero, T. Telmon, "Introduzione alla dialettologia italiana", Laterza - Bari, 2003.
C. Marcato, "Dialetto, dialetti e italiano", Il Mulino - Bologna, 2002.

The student will have to write a short essay (about 3000 words) on one of the issues addressed by the teacher in the classes or on a particular linguistic aspect or phenomenon of his/her own dialect. The content of the essay will then be presented orally and discussed with the teacher.

Traditional classes with in person attendance.

Italian

written and oral