Ateneo - UPO

Basic course on the HISTORY OF THE ITALIAN LANGUAGE part 1. From the Origin to the XIII century, with notions of Italian language historical grammar and analysis of Italian most ancient texts.

1. L. MACONI e M. VOLPI, Antichi documenti dei volgari italiani, Roma, Carocci, 2022.

2. P. D’ACHILLE, Breve grammatica storica dell’italiano, nuova edizione, Roma, Carocci, 2019.

3. C. MARAZZINI, La lingua italiana. Storia, testi, strumenti, Bologna, il Mulino, 2015 (capitoli 2-7).

1. Basic knowledge on the Origin of the Italian language and on its historical grammar.

2. Being able to comment on ancient texts written in Medieval Italian vernaculars.

None.

Lessons, exercises, video clips and PPT.

Provision of useful notions to teach the ancient Italian language in high schools. Students will learn to overcome a reductive vision of the grammatical norms, replacing them with a problematic and historical vision of the rules.

Oral exam on the books listed in the bibliography. The exam lasts 20 minutes ca.

Students will be asked to answer five or six questions structured as follows in order to assess the achievement of the above objectives:

1. Three or four questions will concern ancient Italin texts analysis: students should be able to comment them under historical and linguistic aspects. Value 50%.

2. One or two questions will verify the overall knowledge achieved: they may concern historical grammars and dictionaries, linguistic atlases, linguistic tools available in the Web, the history of the Italian language from the Origin to the XIII century, the actors of the linguistic history of Italy in the Middle Age. Value 30%

3. The oral presentation and the dialectical conversation with the teacher will be assessed. Value 20%.

1. The origin of the Italian language: language, vernaculars and dialects.
2. Historical dictionaries and grammars, linguistic atlases, etymological dictionaries.
3. Notions of Italian language historical grammar.
4. History of the discovery of ancient Italian vernacular documents.
5. The Placito Capuano as “birth certificate” of the Italian language. Placiti campani.
6. Vulgar-latin documents and vulgar documents in the IX and X centuries.
7. Documents of Northern Italian vernaculars from the XI century to the beginning of the XIII century.
8. Ancient Tuscan texts from the XI century to the beginning of the XIII century.
9. Middle-south Italian and Sardinian vernaculars documents from the XI century to the beginning of the XIII century.
10. Ancient fragments of Italian poetry.
11. The problem of the language used by the poets of the “Scuola siciliana” and the most ancient manuscript collections of poetries.
12. The first Italian literary prose.

Good basic knowledge on the Origin of the Italian language and on its historical grammar.

2. Being able to comment on ancient texts written in Medieval Italian vernaculars.