Ateneo - UPO

The Synchronic and Diachronic Linguistic course (60 hours, 12 ECTS) combines the analysis of language data from, respectively, a sociolinguistic and pragmatic perspective (with a special focus on the Italian language). We will concentrate mainly on the relationship between language use (namely, variation) and social factors, and on the construction of dialogic interaction from a diachronic perspective.

Sociolinguistics Students who attend the course (1) Slides and other material uploaded on DIR. (2) Chapters n. 3 (L’italiano regionale), n. 6 (L’italiano dei giovani) and n. 7 (L’italiano dei nuovi media) from: Silvia Ballarè, Ilaria Fiorentini and Emanuele Miola (eds.), Le varietà dell’italiano contemporaneo, Carocci, Roma, 2024. (3) For language and gender issues: (i) Paolo D’Achille and Anna Thornton. 2023. Se c’è il perito, ci deve essere anche la perita (e sono entrambi vivi e vegeti.)! Italiano Digitale 27/4: 1-2.; (ii) Anna Thornton. 2022. Genere e igiene verbale: l’uso di forme con ə in italiano. Annali del Dipartimento di Studi Letterari, Linguistici e Comparati. Sezione linguistica n.s. 11: 11-54. The two papers will be made available on DIR. (4) 1/2 papers to be chosen among those that will be made available on DIR. For more details about Sociolinguistics, attending students can consult: Gaetano Berruto and Massimo Cerruti. 2019. Manuale di sociolinguistica, nuova edizione. UTET/De Agostini, Novara. Beside the bibliographical references mentioned above, students who do NOT attend the course will also study: (5) Gaetano Berruto e Massimo Cerruti. 2019. Manuale di sociolinguistica, nuova edizione. UTET/De Agostini, Novara. (6) Chapter 1 (L’italiano come gamma di varietà) and Chapter 2 (Tendenze di ristandardizzazione) from: Gaetano Berruto, Sociolinguistica dell'italiano contemporaneo, Carocci, Roma, 2012 (new edition). Further reading suggested for consultation: Fabiana Fusco. 2024. Lingua e genere. Carocci, Roma. Advanced Historical Linguistics (1) Slides and all the other material uploaded on DIR. (2) Chiara Fedriani e Maria Napoli, Pragmatica storica dell’italiano: ieri, oggi, domani. In Studi e Saggi Linguistici LXIII, 2, 2025 [available on DIR] (3) Andrea Sansò, I segnali discorsivi, Carocci, Roma, 2020: only chapter 2 (Come nascono e si sviluppano i segnali discorsivi). (4) For students who do attend the course: 2 papers to be chosen among those that will be made available on DIR. For students who do not attend the course: 3 papers to be chosen among those that will be made available on DIR. (5) 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). (6) Filippo Domaneschi, Introduzione alla Pragmatica, Carocci, Roma, 2014 [as an introductory reference manual].

The primary goal of the integrated course is to lead students to tackle at least the main issues, methodologies and challenges related with the analysis of linguistic data from a sociolinguistic perspective, on the basis of a synchronic approach, and from the pragmatic perspective, on the basis of a diachronic approach, in order to widen their understanding of how: (i) language may be influenced by society and by contextual factors related to speaker-hearer interaction, analyzed in different historical stages; (ii) how pragmatics affects language change, taking into account also the socio-cultural context. A further, more advanced, aim is to develop students’ ability of applying theoretical and methodological principles to the investigation of empirical data (in particular, from the Italian language) and to the examination of specific case studies. Finally, didactic methods for teaching Historical and General Linguistics will be dealt with, taking the topics examined during the course of Advanced Historical Linguistics as a starting point.

Students should have basic knowledge of general linguistics and historical linguistics. Those who have never taken an examination in general linguistics and/or historical linguistics must contact the teacher in advance for a syllabus supplement, consisting of an introductory textbook for each domain. Fulfillment of these requirements will be preliminarily assessed during the examination.

Lectures and “Web didactic” (DIR). In the course of the lectures, the active involvement of students through the examination, discussion and presentation of linguistic data and case studies (also through the use of online resources) is also envisaged, in order to develop the ability to analyze language, the assimilation of didactic methodologies and communicative skills.

Since the course is conceived of as a seminar, attendance is strongly recommended. Students with physical disabilities, learning disabilities or special education needs can request specific services and tools via the Staff Sviluppo e Coordinamento Carriere e Servizi alle Studentesse e agli Studenti, consulting the University webpage: https://www.uniupo.it/en/services/services-students-physical-or-learning-disabilities Students with disabilities, learning disabilities or special education needs, once they have contacted the University Staff, can refer to the tutor in charge of the course to define the examination modalities, concerning academic aspects.

The overall evaluation will take the final grades of the two individual 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. Sociolinguistics The final exam is oral and takes approximately 30 minutes. Candidates will be expected to answer some questions showing knowledge and understanding of the relevant topics, and using appropriate scientific terminology. More precisely, the exam is structured as follows, namely it is made up of 3 sections: Sect. 1 = questions on theoretical and methodological aspects related to sociolinguistics; Sect. 2 = questions on language variation as influenced by external factors; Sect. 3 = analysis and 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/or the material put on DIR). The final evaluation will be based on the following criteria: use of appropriate scientific terminology = 10%; answers to questions from Section 1 = 20%; answers to questions from Section 2 = 35%; answers to questions from Section 3 = 35%. 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 fundamental issues concerning historical pragmatics, with a focus on the different pragmatic phenomena analyzed; 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%. Both the exams 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 issues concerning the relationship between language and society and the investigation of languages from a historical-pragmatic 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 judgment, consistent argumentation and depth of analysis. Exams may be passed with a full grade (30/30) “cum laude” in the case of high accuracy in all answers.

Sociolinguistics I Part, theoretical and methodological sociolinguistic issues 1. Introduction to the lessons. 2. Basic sociolinguistic notions and preliminary issues on the relationship between language and society. 3. Variation and sociolinguistic variables. 4. Data in Sociolinguistics. Part II, Variation in the Italian language 5. The “architecture” of contemporary Italian. 6. Analysis and discussion of case studies. 7. (Gender mainstreaming) Language, gender and society. Advanced Historical Linguistics Part I, Introduction to pragmatics and historical pragmatics Unit 1. Basic pragmatic notions: context, speech acts, the cooperative principle and conversational maxims. Unit 2. From pragmatics to historical pragmatics: objects, methods, and challenges. Part II, Data analysis Unit 3. Analysis of case studies related to pragmatic phenomena from a historical perspective, such as speech acts and (im)politeness, deixis, discourse markers, and changes that may have affected them. Unit 4. Pragmatic analysis of literary texts through the DIADIta corpus. Unit 5. Gender mainstreaming: ‘feminine’ speech acts? Unit 6. Didactic methods for teaching 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-methodological issues and main aspects related to the sociolinguistic analysis and the pragmatic analysis of language from a historical perspective; - to be acquainted with didactic methods for teaching Historical and General Linguistics. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding: - to be able to discuss problems concerning the correlation between language use and external factors, and the construction of dialogic interaction from a diachronic perspective; - to be able to apply the learned notions to the analysis of different case studies concerning language variation and pragmatic change, identifying sociolinguistic and pragmatic phenomena in the examined texts; - to be able to plan teaching activities concerning Historical and General Linguistics. Autonomy of judgment: - making evaluative judgments regarding the synchronic and diachronic data examined at least at a basic level. Communicative skills: - to use specific scientific terminology in an appropriate manner. Learning ability: - to learn theoretical and methodological notions, while enhancing their skills in the empirical analysis of data (in particular, from the Italian language), at least with regard to some case studies relevant to the main topics of the courses. In order to achieve a more advanced level, students are required to show what follows: - to be able to apply knowledge and understanding showing solid independence of interpretation, evaluation and judgment in the analysis of: (i) the relationship between social factors and language use (especially as regards the Italian sociolinguistic situation); (ii) the relationship between different pragmatic phenomena, structural linguistic elements, contextual effects; (iii) of pragmatic changes. - to develop communicative skills at a high level, in order to use exclusively appropriate scientific terminology and to provide a well structured and consistent account of relevant topics.