Ateneo - UPO

HISTORY OF THE ITALIAN LEXICOGRAPHY and the “QUESTIONE DELLA LINGUA” after the political Unification of Italy (complete reading of the essay “L’idioma gentile” by E. De Amicis).

The course is divided in two parts.
The first part (modulo I) is dedicated to the history of Italian lexicography and to the lexicographic projects that the Accademia della Crusca is carrying on. Web tools and electronic dictionaries useful for studying and teaching Italian language will be described, paying attention on some possible didactic strategies.
The second part (modulo II) is dedicated to one of the most important author of books for children and young students between XIX and XX century: Edmondo De Amicis. We will read the “Idioma gentile” and analyze De Amicis’ ideas on the Italian language related them to Manzoni’s theory.

1. V. DELLA VALLE, Dizionari italiani: storia, tipi, struttura, Roma, Carocci, 2005.

2. C. MARAZZINI, L’ordine delle parole. Storia di vocabolari italiani, Bologna, il Mulino, 2009 (capp. III-VIII).

3. M. APRILE, Dalle parole ai dizionari, III ed., Bologna, il Mulino, 2015 (capp. IV-VII e IX-XI).

4. E. DE AMICIS, L’idioma gentile, a cura di A. Giardina, Milano, Dalai Editore, 2006 (o altra edizione).

5. Una lettura deamicisiana a scelta (edizione libera: alcuni testi sono liberamente disponibili in Google Libri e in altre biblioteche digitali) – l’assegnazione verrà fatta in classe, perché la lettura sarà legata a successive esercitazioni di filologia e lessicografia digitale: Amore e ginnastica, La carrozza di tutti, Cinematografo cerebrale, Cuore, Costantinopoli, Marocco, La maestrina degli operai, Novelle, Olanda, Ricordi di Parigi, Ricordi di Londra, Ricordi d’infanzia e di scuola, Fra scuola e casa, Spagna, Sull’oceano, La vita militare.

6. Texts and ppt archived in DIR.

Bibliography for non-attending students:

1. V. DELLA VALLE, Dizionari italiani: storia, tipi, struttura, Roma, Carocci, 2005.

2. C. MARAZZINI, L’ordine delle parole. Storia di vocabolari italiani, Bologna, il Mulino, 2009.

3. M. APRILE, Dalle parole ai dizionari, III ed., Bologna, il Mulino, 2015.

4. R. MERIDA, Il salvagente dell’italiano. Dizionari, grammatiche, servizi di consulenza ecc., Firenze, Cesati, 2023.

5. C. MARAZZINI, Da Dante alle lingue del Web. Otto secoli di dibattiti sull’italiano, nuova edizione, Roma, Carocci, 2013.

6. C. MARAZZINI, L’italiano è meraviglioso. Come e perché dobbiamo salvare la nostra lingua, Milano, Rizzoli, 2018.

7. Lettura integrale di E. DE AMICIS, L’idioma gentile, a cura di A. Giardina, Milano, Dalai Editore, 2006 (o altra edizione).

8. Texts and ppt archived in DIR.

1. Good knowledge on the history of the Italian Lexicography.

2. Being able to use different types of dictionaries and lexicographic electronic tools.

3. Being able to teach the Italian language through the most important dictionaries of the past and the present.

4. Good knowledge on the “questione della lingua” in Italy after the political Unification and in the first decades of the XX century.

5. Thorough knowledge of the essay “L’idioma gentile” by De Amicis.

6. Good knowledge of digital tools useful for studying Italian Linguistics, Italian Lexicography, History of the Italian language, Italian literature.

7. [@attending students] Knowing how to use the RALIP computer program to extract first attestations of words from the examined texts; being able to identify any improvements in words backdating by querying Google Books and other electronic corpora.

Students who have not acquired 12 credits in History of the Italian language (L-FIL-LET/12) in their previous career will follow the lessons and the program of the first part (modulo I – history of the Italian lexicography), but they will not attend the second part (modulo II – “questione della lingua” and De Amicis). They have to replace the second part of the course studying the program and following the lessons of History of the Italian language A.

These students are advised to contact the teacher by email and to study in addition C. MARAZZINI, La lingua italiana. Storia, testi, strumenti, Bologna, il Mulino, 2015 (chapters 12-21).

Lessons in the classroom, in the library, in the computer room. PPT and video clips will be used. Students will be invited to practice themselves in the use of electronic dictionaries and computer tools.

The investigation of the possible didactic use of dictionaries and electronic tools will be part of the program of the lessons, obviously focused on the teaching of the Italian language and on its history. Educational strategies used by Italian teachers in the late XIX century and in the beginning of the XX century will be presented and discussed, starting a useful comparison with today’s teaching of the Italian language. This comparison can let usefully recover strategies of the past that nowadays appear mostly abandoned, combining them with the use of new digital instrumentation.

Oral exam on the books listed in the bibliography and on texts archived in DIR.

The exam of Italian Linguistics (12 cfu) lasts 40 minutes ca.

However, the exam can be divided into two different parts lasting 20 minutes each, and corresponding to module I and module II (in this case the final grade will be the result of the average of the marks obtained in the two tests).

The exam will be structured as follows:

- Three or four questions on the history of the Italian lexicography and on the dictionaries listed in the program of the exam. Value 40%.

- One question on electronic dictionaries, on Internet tools for lexicographers, on new lexicographic projects of the Accademia della Crusca, on didactic strategies for teaching ancient and modern Italian trough dictionaries. Value 10%.

- Two questions on the essay “L’idioma gentile” by De Amicis. Value 25%.

- [@ attending students] The teacher will comment on the written exercise delivered by the student before the end of the lessons and previously discussed in class: exercises in digital philology and extraction of words backdating from the texts examined. Value 25%. [@students who CANNOT attend the course: four questions concerning the “questione della lingua” from Dante to the present time].

The oral presentation and the dialectic conversation with the teacher will be assessed.

1. What is a dictionary? Which is the difference between the word “dictionary” and “vocabulary”? Different type of dictionaries for different aims.

2. Voice structure in monolingual vocabulary.

3. Electronic dictionaries, online dictionaries and paper dictionaries.

4. General dictionaries published in the XX century: VOLIT, GRADIT, De Mauro by Paravia editor and DIB, Zingarelli, DISC, Devoto-Oli, Garzanti, Treccani.

5. The Accademia della Crusca and the Italian lexicography in the XVII century. Continuity and innovation: Alberti di Villanova Illuminist lexicographer.

6. The XIX century. The Crusca’s model in the first half of the century and suggestions of correction to the Vocabolario. The “Crusca veronese” by Antioni Cesari. The “Proposta” by Vincenzo Monti. The Tramater. The fifth edition of the Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca. The Tommaseo-Bellini. The Giorgini-Broglio. The Rigutini-Fanfani. The Petrocchi.

7. Synonym dictionaries from the XIX century to the present days: how a dictionary can change its structure.

8. The XX century. The “Dizionario modern” by Alfredo Panzini and other dictionaries of neologisms (from the XIX century to the present days).

9. Dictionaries by the Accademia d’Italia. The first Dizionario aereo italiano by F.T. Marinetti.

10. The DOP by Migliorini, Tagliavini e Fiorelli (pronunciation dictionary).

11. Historical dictionaries: GDLI and TLIO.

12. Etymological dictionaries: DEI, DELI, LEI, Dizionario storico-etimologico Treccani.

13. “Dizionari di famiglie di parole”: DIR and RIF.

14. Web resources for Italian Linguistics and Lexicographers.

15. Lexicographical projects that Accademia della Crusca is carrying on. Methods for collecting word backdates.

16. Assignment of readings to students. Presentation of electronic corpora of literary texts and techincal texts. Presentation of IT tools for linguistic analysis of texts: RALIP and AntConc. Corpus VoDIM and VIVer. ArchiDATA project.

17. Students will give a lecture on their reading, showing the results of the analysis of the text read trough the computer program RALIP (Automatic “retrodatatore” of Italian post-unification words) and trough a check in Google Books, in order to find modern Italian words born after the political unification of Italy. Starting from the file available in LiberLiber, the students will also prepare a reliable digital edition of De Amicis’ books analysed for lexicographic purposes.

18. The “questione della lingua” after the political Unification of Italy: “manzoniani” and “antimanzoniani”.

19. Manzoni’s ideas to promote the linguistic unification of Italy. Teachers, grammarians and lexicographers who followed Manzoni’s ideas: dictionaries of use, dictionaries of synonyms, domestic dictionaries, grammars, reading books.

20. Full reading and commentary of the essay “L’idioma gentile” by De Amicis.

- Good knowledge on the history of the Italian Lexicography and on “questione della lingua” in Italy after the political Unification.

- Knowing how to use linguistic terminology in a coherent and appropriate way.

- Knowing how to use the tools presented in class appropriately and for educational purposes: electronic dictionaries, online databases.

- Thorough knowledge of the essay “L’idioma gentile” and its author De Amicis.