Ateneo - UPO

Diachronic evolution of the Spanish language from its origins to the modern and contemporary periods, with particular attention to the Middle Ages and the Golden Age.

A) Compulsory readings for all students:
A1. Rafael Lapesa [1981], "Historia de la lengua española", Madrid: Gredos, pp. 13-67, 111-170, 193-220, 237-248, 257-259, 280-299, 367-434, 451-461;
A2. Anthology of texts (for linguistic analysis and commentary) and materials uploaded to the DIR platform by the professor.

B) Additional compulsory reading for non-attending students (recommended for attending students):
B1. Concepción Company Company e Javier Cuétara Priede [2024], "Manual de gramática histórica", México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2024, pp. 19-119.

The course aims to introduce students to the study of the history of the Spanish language and to provide them with the theoretical, critical, and methodological tools necessary to understand, identify, and analyse the main phonetic-phonological, morphosyntactic, and lexical phenomena characterising the different stages in the historical development of the Spanish language, from its origins to the modern and contemporary periods.

A level of knowledge of Spanish equivalent to or above B2 [CEFR]. For students of Modern Foreign Languages, it is preferable to have already taken the second-year exam of Spanish Languistics A.

Lectures and seminars with students participation. A part of the lectures will be dedicated to the analysis of texts.

Didactic materials will be provided by the Professor through the DIR platform.
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, must refer to the tutor in charge of the course to define the examination modalities, concerning academic aspects.

The acquisition of knowledge and competences will be assessed through a written exam [2 hours and 30 minutes] structured as follows: 3 open-ended questions, 1 theoretical-practical question, and 1 text analysis. The exam must be taken entirely in Spanish. The use of dictionary is not permitted.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA AND GRADE ASSIGNMENT: The exam will be considered excellent if it demonstrates: excellent knowledge of the course contents; the ability to present and rigorously analyse the main historical-linguistic phenomena of the Spanish language; the ability to recognise and critically comment on all phonetic-phonological, morphosyntactic, and lexical phenomena present in the text to be analysed; full command of specialised terminology and excellent explanation and argumentative skills. The exam will be considered satisfactory if it demonstrates: good knowledge of the fundamental contents of the course; the ability to present and analyse the main historical-linguistic phenomena of the Spanish language, although with slight inaccuracies; the ability to recognise and critically comment on the main phonetic-phonological, morphosyntactic, and lexical phenomena present in the text to be analysed; good command of specialised terminology and generally appropriate language. The exam will be considered sufficient if it demonstrates: essential knowledge of the course contents; the ability to describe the main historical-linguistic phenomena of the Spanish language, although in a predominantly memorised or not always accurate manner; the ability to recognise only the main linguistic phenomena present in the text to be analysed, with limited commentary; basic use of specialised terminology and sufficient explanation skills. The exam will be considered insufficient if it demonstrates: serious gaps in the knowledge of the course contents; limited knowledge of the main historical-linguistic phenomena of the Spanish language, which does not allow an adequate explanation and analysis of these phenomena; difficulties in recognising and commenting on the main phonetic-phonological, morphosyntactic, and lexical phenomena present in the text to be analysed; inadequate use of the specialised terminology and insufficient explanation skills.

The course focuses on the study of the historical evolution of the Spanish language from the origins to the modern and contemporary age, with particular attention to the shift that have occurred during the Medieval and Modern Age on both the phonetic-phonological field and the morphosyntax and vocabulary sphere. This study will be conducted also through the analysis of text fragments, selected mostly from the Hispanic literary canon.
In particular, the course will focus on the following evolutionary stages of Spanish language:
1. from the pre-Roman languages to Latin in the Iberic peninsula;
2. from the Visigoth period to the Arab Spain;
3. from the birth of Castilian to the reign of Alfonso X, the Wise [9th-14th centuries];
4. the transition from medieval Spanish to classical Spanish [15th century];
5. Spanish language of the Golden Age [16th-17th centuries];
6. Spanish language of the modern and contemporary age [18th-19th centuries].

At the end of the course, students will know:
1. the principles of historical linguistics;
2. the evolutionary stages of the Spanish language;
3. the main changes that occurred in the phonetic-phonological, morphological, syntactic and lexical domains throughout the different evolutionary stages of the Spanish language.

Furthermore, in terms of skills/competences, they will be able to:
1. distinguish and analyse linguistic phenomena (phonological, morphological, syntactic, etc.) from a diachronic perspective;
2. examine and comment on Spanish-language texts from different periods, identifying their main formal features in terms of orthography, morphology, syntax and vocabulary.