Ateneo - UPO

The Linguistic Reconstruction course (60 hours, 12 ECTS) combines the analysis of language data from a pragmatic and a philological approach, with particular regard, respectively, to: (i) the construction of dialogic interaction from a diachronic perspective; (ii) Saint Alexis testual transmission.

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].

Advanced Romance Philology
For attending students, the specific bibliography will be provided in class, following students' interests.
Bibliography (a selection)
Editions:
- La vie de saint Aleis, poème du XIe siècle ... publ. par G. Paris et L. Pannier, Paris, Franck, 1872

- M. Perugi, Saint Alexis, genèse de sa légende et de la vie française. Révisions et nouvelles propositions accompagnées d’une nouvelle édition critique de la vie, Genève, Droz, 2014

- La vie de saint Alexis, éd. crit. par M. Perugi, Genève, Droz, 2000

- M. Eusebi, La Chanson de saint Alexis, Modena, Mucchi, 2001

- La chanson de saint Alexis, essai d’édition critique de la version primitive, avec apparat
synoptique de tous les témoins par F. Zufferey, Paris, Société des anciens textes français,
2020

As an introductory reference manual

- Lino Leonardi, Filologia romanza 1. Critica del testo, Milano-Firenze, Le Monnier Università, 2022

Non-attending students will choose a program with the teacher.

The primary goal of the integrated course is to enable students to acquire a basic knowledge of theoretical and methodological aspects related to the pragmatic and philological analysis of texts, in order to: (i) understand how language may be influenced by contextual factors related to speaker-hearer interaction, analyzed in different historical stages and how pragmatics affects language change, taking into account also the socio-cultural context; (ii) to read a medieval Romance-language text in its manuscript form, and to be able to independently approach and critically analyze a philological problem, also using the bibliographic tools of the discipline.

A further, more advanced, aim is to develop students’ ability of applying theoretical and methodological principles to the investigation of data, specific case studies and texts from Romance, so that they can refine their personal critical capacities with respect to the areas studied.
Finally, didactic methods for teaching Historical Linguistics will be dealt with, taking the topics examined during the course of Advanced Historical Linguistics as a starting point.
The 12 credits to be earned are allocated as follows for attending students:
2.4 credits of taught and interactive instruction;
9.6 credits of individual study.
For non-attending students, the 12 ECTS consist entirely of self-study activities.

Advanced Historical Linguistics:
Students should have basic knowledge of general linguistics and historical linguistics. Students who have never taken an exam in historical linguistics are required to contact the teacher in advance regarding supplementary study material, consisting of an introductory textbook (or parts of it, for those who already have basic knowledge of general linguistics). Fulfilment of these prerequisites will be assessed as a preliminary part of the exam.
Advanced Romance Philology:
Basic philological-linguistic knowledge is expected following a Bachelor's degree in Humanities. Students who have not yet taken an exam in Romance Philology must promptly contact the instructor.

Lectures, seminar discussion, individual study and “web-didactic” (DIR). Interactive teaching is also included during the courses, with the active involvement of students through a seminar approach, in order to develop the ability to analyse texts and data, the assimilation of methodologies and communication skills.

Since the courses are 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.

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%.
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 issues relating to 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.

Advanced Romance Philology
Learning will be assessed both during the course and through a final exam. The evaluation will be based on the following points:
1. During the seminar, students are expected to actively participate in the lectures and discussions;
2. Students will be required to prepare an edition specimen of an unpublished manuscript version of Alexis life, which will be presented and discussed in class;
3. Students must study a general reference volume, to be agreed upon with the instructor;
4. Students must submit a brief critical report (2-4 pages) on a book or a selection of articles read independently, as agreed with the instructor;
5. The oral exam will conclude the assessment process, during which the student will present the work they have carried out.
Weighting of each component for the final grade:
Point 1: 10%; Point 2: 30%; Point 3: 20%; Point 4: 20%; Point 5: 20%
Honors ("cum laude") will be awarded based on the depth and originality of the written work and the oral exam.

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.

Advanced Romance Philology
The seminar for the academic year 2026–2027 will focus on a text of crucial importance to the history of Romance literatures and to the development of the philological method itself as applied to vernacular texts: the Alexis Song.
Alexis is a saint whose life has been recounted in numerous versions in the main Romance languages. The oldest is the French ‘canzone’, composed in the 11th century and preserved in a number of very ancient manuscripts (dating from the early 12th century). To provide some context: whilst listening to a version of this hagiographic text recited by a jester, Pietro Valdo felt a calling to conversion; one of the oldest manuscripts (codex L) can be traced back to the circle of an exceptional figure, Clémence de Barking.
The first part of the course will cover the following topics:
- The Romance lives of Saint Alexius and the Latin sources;
- Metre and form of hagiographic poems (origins and the 12th century) and their transformations;
- The monastic environment between the 11th and 12th centuries, the circulation of texts, and the production of manuscripts;
- Women readers and writers in Normandy and England in the 12th century;
- An introduction to textual criticism and the stemmatic method;
- The manuscript tradition of Alexis.
The second part of the course, which will take the form of a seminar, will involve students studying a manuscript from the Alexis tradition. In particular, we will focus on the ‘lower branches’ of the manuscript tradition. The original poem has, in fact, been subject to rewritings that alter its original form (from the stanza to the laisse, from assonance to rhyme), resulting in prose versions.

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 pragmatic analysis of languages from a historical perspective; to be acquainted with didactic methods for teaching Historical and General Linguistics; to have acquired a fundamental understanding of the topics covered in the course and in the assigned bibliography; be able to comprehend a medieval Romance-language text.

Ability to apply knowledge and understanding:
To be able, at a basic level, (i) to analyze texts identifying pragmatic phenomena and interpreting them in relation to the specific socio-cultural context, (ii) to apply the learned notions to the analysis of different case studies on pragmatic phenomena in languages (or language stages) of the past and/or their development; (iii) to plan simple teaching activities; (iv) to work with an unpublished medieval Romance-language text, placing it within the literary context of its time.

Autonomy of judgment:
To demonstrate an initial level of autonomy in making critical judgments on the pragmatic data examined and the editorial choices within the philological domain.

Communicative skills:
To appropriately use specific scientific terminology, to frame clear discussions on the various topics of study and the linguistic data examined, including editorial choices.

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 (in particular, from the Italian language), at least with regard to some significant case studies concerning pragmatic phenomena from historical and diachronic approaches;
- be able to use the methodological tools provided in class or prepared for independent philological study and work.

In order to achieve a more advanced level in the field of Historical Linguistics, students are required to show what follows:
(i) have acquired a solid knowledge of the field of historical pragmatics; (ii) be able to apply knowledge and understanding in order to identify and interpret the complex correlation between various pragmatic phenomena, structural linguistic elements, and contextual constraints; (iii) demonstrate full autonomy in formulating critical, well-articulated judgments on specific pragmatic changes; (iv) communicate exclusively using specific scientific terminology; (v) combine theoretical learning of concepts and methodologies with direct observation of empirical data, displaying a high level of applied competence.