30923 - General Linguistics 1 (GR. D)

Learning outcomes

The course aims at introducing the basics properties of human language, its levels of analysis (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics) and their interrelations. Both a synchronic and diachronic perspective will be adopted. The course will give an overview of the main theoretical models in linguistics and their epistemological foundations. Moreover, it will provide the students with some basic notions regarding the various subdisciplines of linguistics, such as typology (and the serch for linguistic universals), sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, lexicology, computational linguistics. At the end of the course, the students will be able to analyze any text from the phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic point of view.

Course contents

This course aims to provide the student with the essential notions to the scientific study of language both from a synchronic and a diachronic perspective. The course does not presuppose any previous training in linguistics. The present syllabus provides the student with a guide throughout the course, which constitutes of six modules.

1) The first part will deal with the concept of language itself. We will introduce the structuralist paradigm in linguistics analyzing Ferdinand de Saussure's texts in the italian edition of his Cours de linguistique générale, in particular the concepts of "linguistic sign", and the dicothomies between langue vs. parole, synchrony vs. diachrony, paradigm vs. syntagm. We will also read texts from the italian version of Saussure's Cours (translated and commented by Tullio de Mauro), that will be avalable for students at the library. We will have a critical discussion of the structuralist paradigm introduced by Saussure, through the analysis of other authors such as C. S. Pierce ed Eugenio Coseriu.

2) In the second part we will define the particular character of human language discussing the concepts of the biplanar nature of linguistic signs, arbitrariness, double articulation, discreteness, semantic omnipotence or pluri-functionality, recursivity, linearity, ambiguity, distance, and cultural trasmission.

3) The third part will deal with the central issues of this course, since it faces the levels of analysis of a linguistic synchronic system. We will deal with phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics.

4) The fourth part will concentrate on linguistic diversity in the world's languages. We will deal with linguistic geography, genetic-genealogical classification of the language families and linguistic typology.

5) The fifth part will be on synchonic variation: any language hosts variation and most time this kind of variation can be related to extra-linguistic factors. We will spend some time on the main issues dealt with in sociolinguistics presenting the basic assumptions and the operative notions of the field.

6) The last part will deal with diachonic change in languages. We will trace the origins of historical linguistics and present the main phenomena of linguistic change.

Readings/Bibliography

Bibliography (compulsory for the final exam):

 

Berruto G. e Cerruti M., La linguistica. Un corso introduttivo. Utet.

 

Berruto G., Fondamenti di Sociolinguistica (2010 fifth edizion). Roma-Bari: Laterza. Chapters 3, 4, 5 e 6. Section 4.3, 5.4.2 and 5.4.4 excluded, pages 109-1118, 153-156 and 163-168. NB: page numbers may vary in different editions.

 

 

Advice:

 

http://www2.let.uu.nl/UiL-OTS/Lexicon/ (online, in English)

 

AAVV, Dizionario di linguistica e di filologia, metrica e retorica, Einaudi.

 

 

Other material:

Ppt slides discussed in class will be available for downloading every thursday from AMS Campus (page "Insegnamenti" in the teacher's official web site). Other usefull texts will be mentioned in class and will be made available for students at our library.

Teaching methods

The course is essentially based on frontal teaching. I will use power point slides to illustrate the issues discussed in class.

Assessment methods

The final exam aims at assessing the theoretical knowledge acquired by the students during the course, as well as their ability to apply this knowledge to concrete cases of linguistic analysis. The assessment is carried out by means of a written examination, which lasts 2 hours.

The questions are of different nature: there are both open and multiple choice questions, which may deal with both theoretical and practical aspects of the program. The questions refer to all the topics mentioned in the program (see description and textbooks sections), both those addressed in class and those that are explained in textbooks. Topics include: basic notions and concepts of general linguistics, phonetics and phonology, morphology and the lexicon, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, linguistic typology, language variation and change, basic notion of sociolinguistics and history of linguistics. Practical exercises will include phonetic transcriptions, minimal pairs, morphological and syntactic analyses and will mainly but not exclusively concerned with the Italian language.

The final grade is given by counting the number of correct answers. Incorrect or blank answers correspond to 0 points, partially correct answers are also taken into account. Criteria for assessing the correctness of the answers include: qualitative precision, formal accuracy, clarity of writing. High grades are therefore given to those students who demonstrate to have a global and harmonious knowledge of the subject and its specific terminology, to communicate ideas in a proper and clear way and to have acquired adequate analytical skills. A partial knowledge of the subject and its specific terminology, an overall fair but not perfect way of communicating, and less refined analysis skills imply average grades. A limited knowledge of the subject and its specific language/terminology, poor communication and analysis skills imply low grades. Those students who prove to have an inadequate and/or insufficient knowledge of the subject (in both its theoretical and practical parts) and its specific terminology will fail the exam.

Teaching tools

Office hours

See the website of Maria Mazzoli