AMERICAN LANGUAGE

The course is part of the core offering of the MA degree in American, European and Postcolonial languages and Cultures and of the MA degree in Language Sciences. It aims to offer students advanced knowledge and advanced competencies in English. The module focuses on the development of US English and provides students with the necessary tools to master the English language not only as far as interaction and oral productions are concerned but also in writing, as well as theoretical tools to further their reflection on language.

In line with the aims of the Program, this year's American Language course builds on the skills acquired in the BA curriculum (especially vocabulary and comprehension) in order to enhance them and develop new skills of analysis and interpretation, especially the capacity to read, comprehend, respond to, and connect texts of varying degrees of complexity. Students will make progress in their structural knowledge of American English (grammar, syntax, vocabulary) while at the same time studying language in a historical and theoretical perspective. A detailed syllabus is available on Moodle.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon completion of the course, students will be able to
(knowledge and understanding)
• encounter, interpret, and appreciate the work of a major American authors and thinkers from colonial times to modernity
• expand their critical lexicon
• reading, understanding, analyzing texts of varying degrees of difficulty
• grasp and develop connections among different authors

(knowledge application and problem solving)
• identify an important issue or a question independently
• engage in critical reflection
• apply and develop knowledge of the conventions of academic writing (especially the paragraph) for the purpose of producing coherent and well-structrured written responses

(handling complexity and formulating judgements)

• map the scholarly conversation around a controversial or important issue
• produce written responses, articulating a position and making an argument supported by evidence
• develop a sophisticated awareness of context and audience


(Communication skills)
• summarize, paraphrase complex texts, grasping their arguments and relaying them to an audience of peers and for the purposes of responding to them in writing
• participate in a debate presenting a position and offering a contribution
• actively engage in peer-to-peer collaboration in discussing texts, orchestrating a public debate, offering feedback to the work of others

(learning skills)
• mastering the essential features of a written response, displaying the ability to summarize, quote, and analyze
• note-taking
• produce a well-structured written response to a problem, a text, or an author, outlining connections between texts and authors.

Level C1 of the Common European Framework of Reference.
The course assumes a proficient user at the C1/C2 level of the Common European Frame of Reference.

What do great Americans have to say about the language they speak and write in? The course relies on selected readings from landmark texts by key American writers and thinkers from colonial times to modernity (including Emerson, Thoreau, T. S. Eliot and others) to offer a first-hand insight into the historical development of US English, its perception, and its potential. We will identify an important line of reflection on language that is firmly rooted in the US while at the same time discovering its connections and dialogue with a modern and contemporary European and global tradition (Saussure, Kristeva, Agamben). The course builds on the knowledge and the skills acquired in the BA curriculum (especially vocabulary and comprehension) to enhance them and develop new skills of analysis and interpretation, especially the capacity to read, comprehend, respond to, and connect texts of varying degrees of complexity. At the same time, the course materials will enable the students to gain a sense of familiarity and understanding of American thought, developing a grasp of its tradition, an insight into its relevance to the present and into the interdisciplinary potential of an important Euroamerican axis of reflection based on language. The aim is to make headway in the structural knowledge of English (grammar, syntax, vocabulary) and refining one’s sensibility to language use studying the language of the US from a historical and theoretical perspective. The course is open to all interested students.
1. Introduzione al corso: On the ability of getting lost
2. Emerson’s “Father”
3. The insubstantiality of the ego (Emerson’s notion of experience)
4. Thoreau’s notion of “father tongue”
5. Improving time: The father tongue and paternal donation (Cavell on Thoreau)
6. Infancy and history (co-taught with Prof. Massimo Stella)
7. Selections from Infancy and History
8. The infancy of the American classic (Thoreau with Agamben)
9. The development of American English (H. L. Mencken)
10. American Literature and the American Language (T. S. Eliot)
11. Calling and Caressing Nouns (Gertrude Stein)
12. Gertrude Stein continued
13. Saussure in America
14. Language Revolution: Kristeva
15. Conclusion and review

REQUIRED PRIMARY TEXTS
Eliot, T. S. “American Literature and the American Language.”
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Nature” (1844); “Language,” Chapter IV of Nature (1849);
“Experience”
Mencken, H. L. selected pages from The American Language: An Inquiry into the
Development of English in the United States.
Stein, Stein. “Poetry and Grammar.”
Thoreau, Henry David. Walden, chapters 1 and 6.

REQUIRED CRITICAL TEXTS
Agamben, Giorgio. Infancy and History, selected pages.
Cavell, Stanley. “Words and Sentences” (On Thoreau).
de Saussure, Ferdinand. Selected pages from Course in General Linguistics.
Kristeva, Julia. Selected pages from Language the Unknown.
Professor’s DISPENSA/TEXTBOOK (Moodle)

All the required texts, whether primary or critical, are available on Moodle in a folder called "Course Packet," containing:
Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Language,” Chapter IV of Nature (1849). Ralph Waldo Emerson. Edited by Richard Poirier. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1990. 12-17, “Nature.” Essays: Second Series (1844). Ralph Waldo Emerson. Edited by Richard Poirier. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1990. 235-247. Emerson, "Experience, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Edited by Richard Poirier.
Henry David Thoreau, “Reading" e Economy." Walden (1854). The Writings of Henry D. Thoreau. Intro. By Joyce Carol Oates. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989. Chapters 6 and 1.
Stanley Cavell, “Words and Sentences.” The Cavell Reader. Ed. Stephen Mulhall. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. 260-294; 260-272. (Moodle)
Giorgio Agamben, Infancy and History. Trans. Liz Heron. London: Verso, 1933. Selected pages.
H. L. Mencken, selected pages from The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1947. First edition 1919.
T. S. Eliot, “American Literature and the American Language.” The Sewanee Review 74.1 (Winter 1966): 1-20.
Gertrude Stein, “Poetry and Grammar.” Lectures in America. Boston: Beacon, 1985. First ed. 1935. 209-231.
Ferdinand de Saussure, pagine scelte da Course in General Linguistics. Trans. Wade Baskin. Edited by Perry Meisel and Haun Saussy. New York: Columbia, 2011. 1-20; 32-33; 65-78.
Julia Kristeva, Language the Unknown: An Initiation into Linguistics. New York: Columbia University Press, 1989. Part I and Part III (Moodle)

Other suggested texts:
Mena Mitrano, English for American Studies: The Delectable Speaker. Venice: Libreria Editrice Cafoscarina, 2021). PRINT. Available at Libreria Cafoscarina.
Zoltán Kövecses, American English: An Introduction. Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press, 2000.
Robert McCrum, Robert McNeil, and William Cran, The Story of English. London: Penguin, 2002.

Evaluation will be based on a final exam which will test two core skills targeted by the course: analyzing and connecting. Students will be given 2 hours to complete the exam.
Structure: The final exam will be articulated in two (2) prompts or tests, which will require each a response with a limited number of lines. The prompts aim at ascertaining the mastery of the course materials together with capacity of reading and analysis of a particular text and the ability to apply reading and critical skills by connecting different authors or ideas or issues. The exam will be structured as follows: Test 1, one prompt aimed at ascertaining the mastery of the course materials and the capacity of reading and analyzing a particular text (40%); Test 2, one prompt aimed at ascertaining the ability to apply reading and critical skills by connecting different authors or ideas or issues (60%).

The precondition for accessing the exam is at least a C level in Esercitazioni Linguistiche. Students without a passing level in Esercitazioni will not access the exam. Earning a B+ or an A in Esercitazioni Linguistiche will impact positively on the final grade.

written

Lecture
Student contributions (opener experience: textual commentary)
Debate

English

Regular attendance is highly recommended as there will be in-class practice.

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development