LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY IN THE GREEK WORLD

This lecture course is part of the MA Degree Programme in Antiquities (Philology curriculum). It allows students to further their knowledge and understanding of the historical evolution of Ancient Greek through a specialist lecture course. The aim of the course is to train specialists able to analyse and discuss with competence the diachronic evolution of the language within its socio-historical and cultural context in the light of the latest linguistic methodologies.

By attending this course students will be able to:
- FURTHER their ability to recognize and discuss the main linguistic elements characterizing the historical evolution of Greek, from the Hellenistic period to the dawn of the modern era (1800), in the light of historical and geographical factors.
- FURTHER their ability to critically analyze the details of the main phono-morphological, syntactic and lexical features of Greek, especially as concerns the koine and Byzantine Greek.
- LEARN how to connect Greek linguistic phenomena to wider cross-linguistic diachronic evolutionary trends.
- FAMILIARISE themselves with the tools necessary for the diachronic study of Greek (corpora, databases, grammars, dictionaries, etc.), especially for the later periods.
- ACQUIRE the ability to critically read, interpret and discuss the modern linguistic theories concerning the Greek language.
- ACQUIRE first-hand experience in reading, understanding, commenting, and editing literary and non-literary texts of the post-Classical and Medieval periods.

- Adequate knowledge of Ancient Greek OR knowledge of Modern Greek.
- Adequate knowledge of English (the course will be taught in English).
- Some familiarity with the main linguistic concepts (phonology, morphology, syntax, lexicon, semantics).

This academic year the course is taught by a Visiting professor, Dr Ioanna Manolessou, Director of the Historical lexicon of Modern Greek of the Academy of Athens, and an expert in Ancient, Medieval and Modern Greek linguistics. The course is devoted to the main phenomena that characterize the diachronic evolution of Greek from the Hellenistic period, through the Byzantine and Medieval phase, down to the modern age. The course is for the MA students in Antiquity, but may be of interest also for students of the Corsi di Laurea in History or Modern languages who have an interest in Greek language and culture (including those of the medieval and modern periods). The fifteen lectures will focus on the following topics:

1. Course aims objectives context. Outline. Periodization of Greek. Tools.
2. Main notions of historical linguistics (change in phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics). The notions of diglossia and variation.
3. Post-Classical 1: Historical Context & sources
4. Post-Classical 2: From Ancient Greek to Koine Phonology
5. Post-Classical 3: Evolutions in Morphology, Syntax, Lexicon
6. Early Medieval 1: Historical Context & sources
7. Early Medieval 2: Linguistic developments
8. Late Medieval 1: Historical context & sources
9. Late Medieval 2: Linguistic developments in vernacular Greek
10. Late Medieval 3: Learned Byzantine Greek
11. Early Modern 1: Historical Context & Sources
12. Early Modern 2: Linguistic developments
13. The Modern Greek dialects: differentiation, features, case studies
14. Modern Greek: The language question, koineization, standardisation
15. Recapitulation-questions-special topics

E. J. Bakker, ed., A Companion to the Ancient Greek Language, Chichester, Wiley-Blackwell. (Selected chapters. Further information will be provided during the course).
R. Browning, Medieval and Modern Greek. Cambridge, CUP, 1983.
C. Carpinato, O. Tribulato (eds.), Storia e storie della lingua greca, Venezia, Edizioni Ca' Foscari, 2014.
M. Hinterberger (ed.), The Language of Byzantine Learned Literature. Turnhout, Brepols, 2014.
D. Holton, G. Horrocks, M. Janssen, T. Lendari, I. Manolessou, N. Toufexis, The Cambridge Grammar of Medieval and Early Modern Greek. 4 vols. Cambridge, CUP, 2019.
G. C. Horrocks, Greek: A History of the Language and Its Speakers. Chichester, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010 (particularly the chapters on the Hellenistic and Roman koine).
A. Rollo, ‘‘Greco medievale’ e ‘greco bizantino’’. AION 30 (2008), 429-473.
N. Toufexis, ‘Diglossia and Register Variation in Medieval Greek’. Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 32, 2008, 203−17.

There will be a written exam (in Italian or English, based on the student's preference) that will have a theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part will contain 2-3 questions on specific phenomena in the history of Greek based on topics discussed in the lectures and the reading list. The practical part will consist of a linguistic commentary on a text from one of the periods examined in the course. Further information on the structure and contents of the test will be provided during the course.

Lectures with further textual material provide by the lecturer and uploaded on Moodle. Powerpoint presentations.

Italian

written