ROMANCE PHILOLOGY

The course is expected to show the student full awareness of the linguistic transition in Latinized areas from Latin to Romance varieties and to have direct knowledge of the first literary texts in ancient French and Castilian.

1. Knowledge and understanding:
to know and understand, in a comparative perspective, the main phenomena of linguistic change in medieval Romance area, also in function of an adequate understanding of the characteristics of the Romance languages in modern phase;
know and understand the main historical, cultural and literary events of the Romance world through its textual documentation;
to know and understand the dynamics of the production of texts in the Middle Ages and their dissemination through time and space.

2. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding:
to be able to recognise the main phenomena of linguistic change in the Romance languages and to be able to illustrate their relevance also in order to take into account the peculiarities of these languages in modern phase;
to be able to face, in the context of pertinence, the linguistic and historical-cultural analysis of a medieval text, using the investigative tools discussed during the course;
know how to correctly use philological terminology in the main areas of teaching.

3. Autonomy of judgement:
to be able to orient oneself in the critical debate on philological topics, in order to be able to start then 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:
be able to communicate the course content in a clear and technically appropriate manner, using the relevant register for the communication situation.

5. Learning skills:
be able to propose the course contents in an organic way.
be able to find your way around the reference texts in the right way.

No prerequisites are required

Introduction to the Romance linguistics and philology and presentation of the new Romance literary traditions through reading and commenting on epic texts from the French and Castilian areas.

L. Renzi, A. Andreose, Manuale di linguistica e filologia romanza, Bologna, Il Mulino 2015;
A. Limentani, M. Infurna, L'epica romanza nel Medioevo, Bologna, Il Mulino 2007;
M. Bensi (a cura di), La canzone di Orlando, Milano, Rizzoli 2014;
A. Baldissera (a cura di) Cantare del Cid, Milano, Garzanti 2015.

The examination programme for students who cannot complete their preparation in the classroom is provided below in the More Information section.

The student will be asked eight open questions on the topics covered in the lecture: four (two points each maximum) will focus on the linguistic change in the transition from Latin to the Romance varieties, two (five points each maximum) will be on the small volume by Limentani and Infurna and on the Introductions to the two epic texts (to be prepared individually), and two (seven points each maximum) will involve the translation and commentary of one passage in ancient French and one in Castilian of the texts covered in the lecture. The time available for the written assignment will be one hundred minutes.

Lectures. Many examples will be used to illustrate the linguistic change in late antiquity and the Middle Ages, and the passages of the chosen epic texts will be read in their original form, translated and commented on both linguistically and in literary terms.

Italian

The syllabus for those who cannot complete their preparation in the classroom is based on the following texts and is in no way detrimental to those who attended the lectures:
1)
L. Renzi, A. Andreose, Manuale di linguistica e filologia romanza, Nuova edizione, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2015: pp. 16-59, 75-90, 145-170. (These pages replace the introductory lectures on historical linguistics and the first four questions of the written assignment will focus on these pages)
2)
A. Limentani, M. Infurna, L'epica romanza nel Medioevo, Bologna, Il Mulino 2007;
3)
Reading in original language with commentary on the following texts that the student must be able to translate: G. Caravaggi, A. D’Agostino (a cura di), Antologia della letteratura spagnola, vol. I, Dalle Origini al Quattrocento, Milano, Led 1996, pp. 35-67 e M. Bensi (a cura di), La canzone di Orlando, Milano, Rizzoli, vv.168—341; 2259-2396.
4)
Full reading in Italian translation with study of the Introduction of the following volumes:
"La canzone di Orlando", a cura di M. Bensi, Milano, Rizzoli, and "Cantare del Cid", a cura di A. Baldissera, Milano, Garzanti.

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