GLOTTOLOGY

Single discipline educational activity

Course Sheet

Academic Year of enrolment:

2021/2022

Type of Course:

Basic

Optional/Mandatory:

Compulsory

Degree:

Bachelor's Degree Programme in HUMANITIES

Disciplinary Sector:

HISTORICAL AND GENERAL LINGUISTICS

Language:

Italian

Credits:

Programme Year:

Professor and Collaborators:

LUPINU Giovanni

Hours of classroom activity:

Prerequisites:

A good preliminary knowledge of Italian grammar will help students.

AF code:

40001426

Assessment Methods

Verification of learning:

The exam consists of an oral test: students will be questioned only on topics explained in class by the teacher.
The questions to the student will normally be 3 and will allow to give a broad answer. A score ranging from 1 to 10 will be assigned to each question. The final score is given by the sum of the scores of the individual questions (passing is obtained with 18).
The evaluation criteria are: terminological precision; clarity in defining concepts, competence in analyzing the problems faced and in chronological references, pertinence and synthesis in responses.
Students must register for the exam through the self.studenti starting from 15 days before and up to 2 days before.

Teaching period

Second semester

Objectives

At the end of the course the student will acquire basic notions of theoretical linguistics, typological linguistics and sociolinguistics. Furthermore, he will acquire the basic notions of historical linguistics, with examples taken from Indo-European linguistics and Romance linguistics.

Contents

The course introduces students to the sciences of language especially from a diachronic (or historical) perspective, that is, paying attention to the change of languages.
Languages, in fact, constantly change, as we can observe in our daily experience as speakers: just think of the new words ("neologisms") that are often introduced in Italian, e.g. in the form of borrowings from other languages. In other cases, linguistic change is more difficult to observe for speakers, and its consequences are seen only after generations. In this way it can happen, for example, that one language, Latin, is the father of the medieval Romance languages from which many modern European languages have been derived (Italian, French, Spanish, Sardinian ...).
During the course, questions like these will be asked: Why do languages change over time? How do they change? Are there any general trends observed in linguistic change? How can languages be classified from a genealogical point of view?
In the first part of the course students will be provided with basic notions of general linguistics. In the second part of the course, students will approach the methods used today in historical linguistics.

Recommended Bibliography

Lecture notes provided by the teacher in PowerPoint format and uploaded to the site edissuf.uniss.it.
Gaetano Berruto, Massimo Cerruti, La linguistica. Un corso introduttivo, Torino (UTET Università) latest ed. available.
Non-attending students will have to study lectures notes uploaded on the edissuf.uniss.it website together with an additional reading to be agreed upon after an interview with the teacher.

Methods of Provision

Conventional

Teaching Methods

Lectures by the teacher; discussions in the classroom; practice exercises.

Contacts/More Information

During the course there will be the possibility to organize additional lectures for students who request them.

GLOTTOLOGY

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GLOTTOLOGY