Ateneo - UPO

The course (60 hours, 12 cfu) deals with topics related to the linguistic and philological analysis of texts, with particular reference to two issues: (i) the relationship between historical linguistics and typology, i.e. between diachronic investigation and comparison of languages; (ii) transmission and edition of a text in a romance language about an infernal journey.

Advanced Historical Linguistics
(1) Slides and other material uploaded on DIR.
(2) Napoli Maria. 2019. Linguistica diacronica. La prospettiva tipologica. Collana Studi Superiori. Roma: Carocci.
(3) For students who do attend the course: chapter 3 (Spiegazioni diacroniche e sincroniche per gli universali tipologici) and chapter 4 (La variazione tra le lingue e nelle lingue) from Grandi Nicola e Caterina Mauri. 2022. La tipologia linguistica. Unità e diversità nelle lingue del mondo. Roma: Carocci. For students who do not attend the course: the same chapters plus chapter 1 (Obiettivi, metodi e strumenti della tipologia).
(4) Chiara Fedriani and Maria Napoli. 2020. Se insegnare la legge di Grimm ti fa sentire un brontosauro. Un esperimento per una didattica partecipata. In: A. Sansò (ed.), Insegnare linguistica: basi epistemologiche, metodi, applicazioni, Atti del LIII Congresso della Società di Linguistica Italiana, Università dell’Insubria, 19-21 settembre 2019. Officina 21, Milano: pp. 131-146 (https://www.societadilinguisticaitaliana.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/009_Fedriani_Napoli_Atti_SLI_LIII_Insubria.pdf).
(5) For students who do attend the course: 1 paper to be chosen among those that will be made available on DIR. For students who do not attend the course: 2 papers to be chosen among those that will be made available on DIR.

Advanced Romance Philology
For attending students, the specific bibliography will be provided in class, following students' interests. Some titles for further study are:
- L.D. Reynolds - N. G. Wilson, Scribes and Scholars. A Guide to the Transmission of Greek and Latin Literature, Oxford 2013
- Le livre au Moyen Âge, sous la dir. de J. Glénisson, Paris, Presses du CNRS, 1988
- A. Varvaro, Critica dei testi classica e romanza. Problemi comuni ed esperienze diverse, in Id., Identità linguistiche e letterarie nell'Europa romanza, Roma, Salerno, 2004.
- L. Leonardi, Filologia romanza. 1. Critica del testo, Firenze, Le Monnier, 2021
- S. Lefèvre, La magie du codex. Corps, folio, page, pli, cœur, Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 2023 (in press).
Non-attending students will choose a program with the teacher.

The first aim of the integrated course is to enable students to acquire a basic knowledge of aspects related to the philological and linguistic investigation of texts from a diachronic perspective, so that they are familiar on the one hand with the mechanisms of the transmission of a text in the Western Middle Ages, the philologist's working methods on texts, the main moments and articulations of medieval literary history, and on the other hand with the mechanisms through which linguistic change takes place and with the related models of analysis that take synchronic data (in particular typological data) into account. A second, more advanced aim is to enable the student to apply what he/she has learnt on a theoretical and methodological level to the investigation of linguistic data drawn from different languages, case studies and novel texts, so that he/she can refine his/her personal critical capacities with respect to the areas studied.
Finally, a third, more general aim is to enable the student to deal with teaching methods for the teaching of glottology and linguistics on the basis of the topics taught (for the Advanced Historical Linguistics course).

Advanced Historical Linguistics

Students should have basic knowledge of general linguistics and mainly historical linguistics.
Those who have never taken an examination in historical linguistics must contact the teacher in advance for a syllabus supplement, consisting of an introductory textbook (or parts of it, for those who already have basic knowledge of general linguistics). Fulfilment of these requirements will be preliminarily assessed during the examination.

Advanced Romance Philology
Basic knowledge in philology and linguistics expected after a BA in "Lettere".

Lectures, individual study and web-based teaching (DIR). In the course of the lectures, the active involvement of students through a seminar approach is also envisaged, in order to develop the ability to analyse texts and data, the assimilation of methodologies and communication skills.

None.

The overall evaluation will take the final grades of the two exams into account and will be based on the assessment of the whole degree of insightfulness of knowledge, of the degree of autonomy in applying it and of the communicative skills, consistently with the mission and intended learning objectives.

Advanced Historical Linguistics
The final exam consists of an oral examination lasting approximately 30 minutes, aimed at verifying the acquisition of knowledge and understanding of the relevant topics (those included in the objectives and the expected learning outcomes) and the use of appropriate scientific terminology through a 3-section structure: Sect. 1 = questions on theoretical aspects concerning the methodologies of analysis of historical linguistics and typology, with a focus on the concept of "comparison”; Sect. 2 = discussion of data on which to test both the theoretical and methodological knowledge acquired and the ability of applying it empirically (mainly on the basis of the material examined during the course and put on DIR); Sect. 3 = didactic methodologies for teaching linguistics.
The final evaluation will be based on the following criteria: use of appropriate scientific terminology = 10%; answers to questions from Section 1 = 40%; answers to questions from Section 2 = 40%; answers to questions from Section 3 = 10%.

The exam will be passed successfully if the final grade is equal to or higher than 18/30. To achieve 18/30, students must be familiar with the main theoretical issues relating to the diachronic investigation of languages from a typological perspective and be able to analyze relevant linguistic data at least at a basic level. To obtain a higher mark, students must demonstrate autonomy of judgement, consistent argumentation and depth of analysis. Honours will be awarded in the case of high accuracy in all answers.

Advanced Romance Philology
Learning will be verified in progress and with a final exam. The evaluation will be based on the following points:
1. Students are required to actively participate during the seminar discussion;
2. Students will be asked to write down a specimen edition of an unpublished medieval text, which will be presented and discussed in class;
3. Students are required to study a book, chosen with the teacher;
4. Students are required to provide a review (ca 2 pages) on a book or a group of articles;
5. The oral interview (exam) will conclude the evaluation process with the presentation by the candidate of the work done.
Point 1.: 10% of the final evaluation. Point 2.: 30%. Point 3.: 20%. Point 4.: 20%. Point 5. 20%.
Honors will be awarded on the basis of the acuteness of the written work and the oral interview.

The integrated teaching programme includes various issues related to linguistic-diachronic and philological-textual analysis, also through the examination of specific case studies and texts.

Advanced Historical Linguistics
1. Introduction: historical linguistics, diachronic approach and old synchrony.
2. The typological approach and the functional model.
3. The study of the past in the light of the present: the problem of language comparison (from a synchronic and diachronic perspective).
4. Variation and language change.

5. Synchronic and diachronic explanations in historical linguistics and typology.
6. Didactic methods for teaching linguistics.

Advanced Romance Philology
The course is divided into two parts: in the first one the teacher will provide a general framework, and will show the tools for an independent study of an unpublished text written in a medieval romance language; in the second part (seminar) students will work directly on a medieval text, and they will present the results of their work at the end of the course.

Topics of the first part:
- Writing in the Middle Ages: who? how? when? where? why and for whom?
- Types of books in the Middle Ages: describing a complex object.
- Reading and transcribing a medieval text (exercises).
- Palaeography, codicology and philology.
- Problems in the transmission of a text in the Middle Ages: concepts and vocabulary of philology.
- History of books, history of texts.

In the second part of the course the class will deal with the edition of a medieval text. Students will be guided in the reading of the text, in the transcription, in the study of the language, in order to produce a specimen edition of the text itself.

Advanced Historical Linguistics

To achieve a basic level of knowledge and skills students are required to show what follows:
Knowledge and understanding:
- to know and understand the theoretical issues and main aspects related to the historical and diachronic analysis of languages using a typological approach;
- to be acquainted with didactic methods for teaching Historical Linguistics and General Linguistics.

Ability to apply knowledge and understanding:
- to be able to apply the learned notions to the analysis of different case studies on languages (or language stages) of the past and/or their development;
- to be able to discuss problems related to diachronic and synchronic comparison;
- to be able to plan teaching activities concerning Historical Linguistics and General Linguistics.

Autonomy of judgment:
- making evaluative judgments regarding the diachronic data examined at least at a basic level.

Communicative skills:
- to know how to use specific scientific terminology in a coherent and appropriate manner, in order to set up a clear and insightful account of the relevant topics and the linguistic data examined.

Learning ability:
- to widen knowledge of theoretical and methodological notions in the field of Historical Linguistics, while enhancing their skills in the empirical analysis of data drawn from specific languages, at least with regard to some exemplary case studies concerning the combination of diachronic and typological approaches.
In order to achieve a more advanced level, students are required to show what follows:
- to be able to apply knowledge and understanding by grasping the complex implications between the study of languages of the past and their typological characterization in the light of the languages of the present;
- to show sound judgment in the insightful evaluation of specific linguistic phenomena and changes from both a typological and diachronic perspective;

- to develop communicative skills at a high level, in order to use exclusively specific scientific terminology and to provide a clear, well structured and consistent account of relevant topics;

- to combine the learning of theoretical notions with the direct observation of diachronic data from ancient and modern languages, acquiring the ability to interpret such data and being able to place different types of phenomena and/or changes in a typological framework.

Advanced Romance Philology
Students are expected to:
- (at a basic level) expose the knowledge and skills acquired during the course and demonstrate mastering vocabulary and methods of Romance philology;
- (at an advanced level) deal independently with a medieval text, using methods and bibliographical tools of Romance philology.