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) Silvia Ballarè, Ilaria Fiorentini e Emanuele Miola (a cura di), 2024, Le varietà dell’italiano contemporaneo, Carocci, Roma,: only chapters 3 (L’italiano regionale), 6 (L’italiano dei giovani) and 7 (L’italiano dei nuovi media).
(3) For language and gender issues: (i) Edoardo Lombardi Vallauri, 2026, L'italiano in bilico. Quello che sì, quello che no, Il Mulino, Bologna: only chapter 5, Se la lingua italiana sia sessista; (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 (paper 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, new edition, UTET/De Agostini, Novara.

Beside the bibliographical references mentioned above, students who do NOT attend the course will also study:
(5) Gaetano Berruto and Massimo Cerruti, 2019, Manuale di sociolinguistica, new edition, UTET/De Agostini, Novara.
(6) Gaetano Berruto, Sociolinguistica dell'italiano contemporaneo, Carocci, Roma, 2012 (new edition): only chapters 1 (L’italiano come gamma di varietà) and 2 (Tendenze di ristandardizzazione).

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.
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.

Students should have basic knowledge of general linguistics and historical linguistics.
Students who have never taken an exam in general and/or historical linguistics must contact the teacher in advance regarding supplementary study material, consisting of an introductory textbook for each domain. Fulfilment of these prerequisites will be assessed as a preliminary part of the exam.

Lectures and “Web didactic” (DIR). Interactive teaching is also included during the course. Students will be required to exam, discuss and present linguistic data and case studies (also through the use of online resources), 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.
Grades are assigned according to the following criteria:
A. Marks in the 18–22 range will be awarded for:
• sufficient knowledge and understanding of theoretical and methodological principles of sociolinguistics (SL) and of historical pragmatics, and their application to the analysis of the relationship between language and society and of pragmatic change;
• limited autonomy in making critical judgments on linguistic data and case studies concerning sociolinguistic variation and pragmatic change;
• sufficient communication skills, particularly regarding the use of specific scientific terminology.
B. Marks in the 23–26 range will be awarded for:
• satisfactory knowledge and understanding of theoretical and methodological principles of SL and of historical pragmatics, and their application to the analysis of the relationship between language and society and of pragmatic change;
• satisfactory autonomy in making critical judgments on linguistic data and case studies sociolinguistic variation and pragmatic change;
• satisfactory communication skills, particularly regarding the use of specific scientific terminology;
C. Marks in the 27–30 range will be awarded for:
• good or excellent knowledge and understanding of theoretical and methodological principles of SL and of historical pragmatics, and their application to the analysis of the relationship between language and society and of pragmatic change;
• good or excellent autonomy in making critical judgments on linguistic data and case studies concerning sociolinguistic variation and pragmatic change;
• excellent communication skills, fully appropriate and consistent with specific scientific terminology.
D. Honours (cum laude) will be awarded based on an assessment of accuracy, depth, and the ability to elaborate on the responses.

SL
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 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.
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; 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 course examines different issues in the domains of Sociolinguistics and Historical pragmatics from both a theoretical perspective and an empirical perspective, through the analysis of data and case studies.

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, at a basic level, (i) to analyze problems concerning the correlation between language use and external factors, and the construction of dialogic interaction from a diachronic perspective; (ii) 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; (iii) to plan simple teaching activities concerning General and Historical Linguistics.

Autonomy of judgment:
To demonstrate an initial level of autonomy in making critical judgments on synchronic and diachronic data.

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

Learning ability:
To develop sufficient theoretical and methodological knowledge, while enhancing 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: (i) to have acquired a solid knowledge of the field of sociolinguistics and historical pragmatics; (ii) to be able to apply knowledge and understanding to grasp and interpret the complex correlation between different sociolinguistic (in synchrony) and pragmatic (in diachrony) phenomena, structural linguistic elements, external factors, and contextual constraints; (iii) to demonstrate full autonomy in expressing critical and well-articulated judgments on specific data and case studies; (iv) to communicate exclusively using specific scientific terminology; (v) to combine the theoretical learning of concepts and methodologies with direct observation of empirical data, showing high applied competence.