Ateneo - UPO

Applied Linguistics and Ethnopragmatics

Reference texts for the course, in parentheses the parts to be studied in
depth for the exam:
1) A. Duranti, Etnopragmatica, Roma, Carocci, 2009, II rist. (all).
2) A. Duranti, Etnografia del parlato: per una linguistica della prassi; in B.
Turchetta (a cura di), Introduzione alla linguistica antropologica, Milano,
Mursia, 1996, pp. 157-180.
3) C. Severi, Il percorso e la voce. Un’antropologia della memoria, Torino,
Einaudi, 2004 (in part.: cap. III, pp. 185-239).
For non-attenders add:
4) Guy Deutscher, La lingua colora il mondo. Come le parole deformano la realtà, Torino, Bollati Boringhieri, 2013 (in part.: capp. 5 e 6, pp. 116-179).

The general objective set is to achieve a level of competence that
will allow the successful completion of the course of study and subsequent
work applications wherever in-depth and advanced knowledge of general and
applied linguistics is required.
The first specific objective of the course is to provide the student with the
main linguistic and ethnopragmatic notions necessary to correctly
analyze oral language in all its diaphasic and
diamesic aspects, both in examples provided in class and during the final exam. A
second, more advanced objective is to enable the student to
apply metalanguage and to independently develop the notions and
methodologies learned to linguistic reasoning on theoretical and
empirical data connected to the oral and performative
component of spoken language and its mythical-ritual, pragmatic and sociolinguistic aspects. A
third objective is to prepare students for the teaching of general
linguistics and ethnolinguistics.

Those who have never taken a linguistics examination during their previous university career are required to substitute this course/programme with General Linguistics A from the three-year language course, and in any case to contact the lecturer in advance.
Given the monographic, seminar and advanced nature of the course,
attendance is highly recommended. Anyone who has never taken a linguistics exam during their previous university career is required to replace this course with General Linguistics A from the three-year Languages ​​course. This program is valid until the exam session of
February 2026, after which everyone is required to ask the teacher for a
new updated program.

Frontal lessons and online teaching (DIR); the material in DIR
however, constitutes only and exclusively an aid and does NOT replace in any way
the texts indicated in the program bibliography.
During the lessons, the active involvement of the students is expected through the examination, analysis and commentary of
linguistic and ethnological data, also with short essays and compulsory reports assigned by the teacher, in order to
develop the ability to analyze diachronic and synchronic
material, the assimilation of teaching methodologies
of applied linguistics and specific communication skills.

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/servicesstudentsphysical-
or-learning-disabilities. Students with disabilities,
learning disabilities or special education needs, once they have contacted
the University Staff, must refer to the tutor in charge of the course to
define the modalities of examination
at least 15 days before; some of these must be approved by docent.

Oral examination lasting approximately 30-40 minute. The examination
will be passed when the grade is 18/30 or higher. During the examination
it is possible to withdraw and at the end of the examination to reject the
grade if positive; the grade accepted on the spot can no longer be
changed. The formulation of the overall grade will be based on the
assessment of the appropriate use of the specific metalanguage and the
accuracy and appropriateness of the answers to the questions on the
texts indicated in the syllabus and in class. Honours will be awarded on
the basis of an assessment of in-depth and independent elaboration
skills. In accordance with Art. 35 of the University Teaching Regulations,
students may sit for the same examination no more than three times in
one academic year.

The course will focus on the analysis of the main ethnolinguistic characteristics
of spoken language and ritual voice, both from the point of view of
pragmatics and from the socio-cultural and historical-cognitive point of
view.
After having identified the basic characteristics linked to the use
of the phonic-acoustic apparatus and its biological and historical
evolution, and to the sharing of the extra-linguistic context and the oral
encyclopedia of knowledge between speaker and interlocutor, we will move on to analyze the
main characteristics of spoken discourse: encoding/decoding,
recognition and rotation of turns between speakers,
evanescence/redundancy of the message, incidence of prosodic features,
use of paralinguistic means, gestures, speech acts, theory of
frames/scripts, structure of traditional knowledge and external symbolic
storage systems, etc.; finally, some metalinguistic and cognitive peculiarities of the voice that is embodied in a traditional singer will be highlighted, linking them to the development of consciousness and self-consciousness.

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING: knowing how to illustrate the theoretical bases of
ethnopragmatic and linguistic analysis presented in the course with the
appropriate specific metalanguage; knowing how to understand the
linguistic differences between the different types of performative agency and texts
produced in the enunciation. • ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE AND
UNDERSTANDING: knowing how to set up the ethnopragmatic analysis of texts,
even those never analyzed before; identifying, explaining and evaluating
at least three of the main linguistic characteristics contained in them
(characteristics of the context and their textual impact, type of linguistic register
chosen, focusing mechanisms, discourse signals,
interruptions, overlaps, dialogic repetitions, evaluating the degree of
involvement, symmetry or dissymmetry between the interlocutors,
self-referentiality and identity of the person taking the turn, etc.); provide
examples of at least two of the types of ritual and non-ritual texts
discussed during the course. • JUDGMENT ABILITY: Know how to recognize the
main linguistic phenomena that operate in the examples proposed and
propose appropriately one's own. • COMMUNICATION SKILLS: know how to
express one's knowledge using specific metalinguistic terminology with awareness. • LEARNING SKILLS:
know how to delve into the topics presented and develop a capacity for
critical analysis with respect to the theoretical references presented during the
course and their concrete application