Ateneo - UPO

Language, orality, and writing: the voice as a tool for knowledge and self-awareness

1) F. Albano Leoni, Voce. Il corpo del linguaggio, Roma, Carocci, 2022 (ALL); 2) D. Crepaldi, Neuropsicologia della lettura, Roma, Carocci, 2020 (ALL); 3) A. De Dominicis (a cura di), La voce come fenomeno culturale, Roma, Carocci, 2002, n. ed. 2023 (caps. 1 to 8, pp.7-157). 4) C. Severi, Il percorso e la voce. Un’antropologia della memoria, Torino, Einaudi, 2004 (part.: cap. III, pp. 185-239). Those who did not take any examination of Linguistics must add to the programme: 5) R. SIMONE,Nuovi fondamenti di linguistica. Seconda edizione, Milano, McGraw-Hill, 2024 (ALL).

The course's primary objective is to provide students with the key linguistic, sociolinguistic, and ethnopragmatic notions necessary to correctly analyze language in all its diaphasic and diamesic aspects (orality, aurality, literacy, etc.), both through examples provided in class and during the final exam. A second, more advanced objective is to enable students to apply metalanguage and independently develop the concepts and methodologies learned to linguistic reasoning based on theoretical and empirical data related to the performative component of languages ​​and the mythical-ritual aspects of the voice. A third objective is to prepare students for the teaching of applied linguistics.

Given the monographic, seminar-based, and advanced nature of the course, attendance is highly recommended. Students who do not attend at least two-thirds of the lectures must agree on a specific program with the instructor at least three months before the chosen exam session. Students who have not taken the General Linguistics A and B exams or the Integrated Elements of Linguistics exam during the three-year period are required to agree on the program and exam procedures with the instructor at least three months in advance. In any case, the exam will also include R. SIMONE, Nuovi fondamenti di linguistica. Seconda edizione, Milano, McGraw-Hill, 2024 (ALL); This program is valid until the February 2027 exam session, after which all students are required to request a new, updated program from the instructor.

Lectures and online teaching (DIR); however, the material in the DIR is intended solely as an aid and does NOT replace the texts listed in the program's bibliography. During the lessons, students are expected to actively engage in the analysis and commentary on linguistic and ethnological data, including through short essays and written or oral reports that will contribute to the final assessment. This will develop the ability to analyze diachronic and synchronic material, the assimilation of applied linguistics teaching methodologies, and specific and appropriate communication and metalinguistic skills.

Students with disabilities, Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD), or Special Educational Needs (SEN) can request dedicated services and tools by contacting the Career Development and Coordination and Student Services Staff and by visiting the dedicated page on the University website: https://uniupo.it/it/servizi/servizi-studentidisabilied-dsa. Students with disabilities, SLD, or SEN, after contacting the University Staff, must contact the instructor in charge of the course to arrange the exam procedures at least 20 days before the exam; some of these procedures must be approved by the instructor in advance.

Oral exam lasting approximately 30-40 minutes. A pass is considered a pass if the grade is 18/30 or higher. Pursuant to Article 35 of the University Teaching Regulations, students may take the same exam no more than three times in an academic year. Students may withdraw during the exam and reject their grade at the end of the exam if they pass; a grade accepted immediately cannot be changed. The overall grade will be based on the assessment of the appropriate use of the specific metalanguage (33%), the accuracy and appropriateness of responses to questions on the texts indicated in the syllabus (33%), and the activities completed (including oral and written reports and essays) during class (34%). The overall grade will be based on the assessment of the appropriate use of the specific metalanguage and the accuracy and appropriateness of responses to questions on the texts indicated in the syllabus and in class, as well as on the paper presented by each student during the course. Honors will be awarded based on an evaluation of in-depth analysis and independent development skills in both the written paper and the oral exam.

The course will focus on analyzing the key characteristics of the voice as an intrinsic and inseparable element of language and its coevolution, from both a pragma-linguistic and sociocultural and historical-cognitive perspective. After identifying its animal and human origins and the basic functions related to the use of the phononic-acoustic apparatus and its biological coevolution, the course will address its perception and classification, its use as a working tool and as a cultural asset, and the relationships between the voice and historical-natural languages, between the voice and writing, between the voice and the neurolinguistics of reading (graphematics of languages ​​and the history of alphabets, reading aloud, dyslexia, etc.). Finally, an examination of the ethnolinguistic and ethnopragmatic characteristics of the ritual voice will highlight some metalinguistic and cognitive peculiarities of the voice embodied by a traditional singer, linking them to the development of consciousness and self-consciousness, to inner voices.

The goal is to achieve a level of competence that will allow successful completion of the course and subsequent professional applications wherever in-depth and advanced knowledge of general and applied linguistics is required. KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING: Ability to illustrate the theoretical foundations of linguistic and ethnopragmatic analysis presented in the course using the appropriate specific metalanguage; ability to understand the linguistic differences between the various types of performative agency and texts produced in utterance. • ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING: Ability to conduct linguistic analysis of texts, even those never analyzed before; identify, explain, and evaluate at least three of their main pragmatic, diamesic, and diaphasic characteristics (contextual characteristics and their textual impact, type of linguistic register chosen, focalization mechanisms, discourse cues, interruptions, overlaps, dialogic repetitions, evaluate the degree of involvement, symmetry or dissymmetry between interlocutors, self-referentiality and turn-taking identity, etc.); provide examples of at least two of the types of written and oral texts covered during the course. • JUDGMENT ABILITY: Know how to recognize the main linguistic phenomena at work in the proposed examples and propose their own appropriately and independently. • COMMUNICATIVE SKILLS: know how to express one's knowledge using specific metalinguistic terminology with awareness and fluency of expression. • LEARNING SKILLS: knowing how to delve into the topics presented and developing a capacity for critical analysis with respect to the theoretical and practical references presented during the course and their concrete application in one's own paper, also written with the aid of audiovisual and IT material.