SLAVIC LINGUISTICS

This course is part of the obligatory courses for students of LLEAP. The general objective of the course is to provide students with a metalinguistic knowledge of the structure of the modern Slavic languages by offering both a diachronic and synchronic analysis of some aspects of their grammar from a comparative and a contrastive point of view.

The general objective of the course is to offer a discussion of some of the most important issues of Slavic linguistics regarding modern Slavic languages as developed by more innovative approaches and from both a synchronic and diacronic perspective.
1. Knowledge and comprehension
Know and comprehend the relevant interlinguistic variation in the grammatical systems of the Slavic languages.
Know the properties that characterize the three groups of Slavic languages (East, West and South Slavic) according to diachronic criteria of their formation as genetically related but also independently developed.
Know and comprehend the recent theoretical analyses regarding the internal structure of the Slavic nominal expressions and the various types of sentential constructions from point of view of morphosyntax and information properties.

2. Ability to apply acquired knowledge and comprehension
Students are supposed to develop abilities to apply the principles of linguistic theory (also in a comparative perspective) to the study of the Slavic languages.
Students are supposed to learn what are the analytic instruments of linguistic analysis and how to apply them in argumentation, reflecting on the structure of the Slavic languages and making appropriate use of linguistic terminology.

3. Encourage students to reflect on their learning experiences and make progress in an independent or collaborative way. Prompt them to identify areas of strength and areas for improvement, and to set goals for future research activities.

There are no prerequisites for this course

The course offers an in-depth comparative and contrastive analysis of some aspects of Slavic morphology and syntax. It is subdivided in two parts, a diachronic and a synchronic one. The diachronic part will consist in lectures which will discuss some historical issues that characterize the Slavic languages and set them apart from other Indo-European language families. The subjects will be mainly philological-lingusitic and will refer to the various phases of the formation of Slavic starting from the disintegration of Protoslavis, through Late Common Slavic, Old Church Slavonic until later medieval times. The lectures will present a summary of up-to-date theoretical concepts and their relevance for the study of Slavic. The main objective is to stimulate critical thinking skills by presenting challenging linguistic problems, analyzing diverse linguistic data, and encouraging students to question, evaluate, and analyze linguistic phenomena from the Slavic language of study.
The in-presence part of the course will present comparative analyses of specific topics in the morphology and the syntax of the contemporary Slavic languages. The topics to be discussed feature: the grammatical categories of Tense, Aspect, Mood and their syntactic representation; the grammar of Case and of definiteness; the structure of the noun phrase; clitic pronouns and cliticization patterns; word order and information structure; subject-verb agreement. The course will also introduce basic notions and methods of modern linguistic theory relevant for the comparative study of the Slavic languages as well as for research into philology.
The general objective of the online learning part of the course is to stimulate the students’ research potential in the field of Slavic linguistics by providing them with the necessary methodological tools to evaluate current research proposals.
By integrating in-person and online learning experiences through activities and content, the aim is to create a dynamic and flexible learning environment that fosters active engagement, collaboration, and deeper learning of fundamental issues in the field of Slavic linguistics.

Comrie B.,G. Stone, D. Short & G. Corbett "Slavonic Languages" in B. Comrie (ed.) The Major Languages of Eastern Europe. Routledge, London 1990, pp. 56-143
Dvornik F. The Slavs: Their early history and civilization. American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Boston 1956
Fici Giusti F. Le lingue slave moderne, Unipress, Padova 2001
Franks S. Parameters of Slavic morphosyntax, Oxford University Press, New York 1995.
Siewierska, A. & L. Uhlirova. "An Overview of Word Order in Slavic Languages." In A. Siewierska (ed.) Constituent Order in the Languages of Europe. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin / New York, Eurotyp 20.1, 1998, pp. 105-149.
Sussex Roland and Paul Cubberley. The Slavic Languages. Cambridge Language Surveys. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press 2006
Further readings
Benacchio R., L. Renzi. CLITICI SLAVI E ROMANZI. CLESP, Padova 1987.
Franks S., T.H. King. A HANDBOOK OF SLAVIC CLITICS. Oxford University Press, New York 2000.

The course work will be evaluated through a class presentation, a brief written reseach paper, and a final written exam. The research paper can be dedicated to a topic chosen by the student and agreed upon with the professor and can regard any topic in the field of Slavic linguistics. The written exam will consist of answering questions in a liberal form. The questions will be chosen from the topics treated during the course. The duration of the written exam is 2 astronomic hours.

The course will be held in a blended modality whereby a portion of the traiditional face-to-face instruction will be replaced by web-based online learning. The latter will include brief videos and online presentations. A forum will be created for questions and the students will be supplied with supporting materials for self learning (slides, pdf, links, bibliography).
Students are requested to frequent the course regularly. The students wishing to take the course as non-frequentants are prompted to contact the professor in order to establish the modes of individual work.

English

written