00489 - Latin Grammar

Learning outcomes

Knowledge to be obtained by the end of the course: 1) the student knows the morphosyntax of the Latin language at an intermediate level
 2) he knows some basic elements of Latin metrics
 3) he knows some basic elements of the history of the Latin language aimed to provide a full understanding of the main syntactic structures. 

Skills to be obtained by the end of the course: 1) he can recognize and describe appropriately the main morphosyntatic structures
 2) he can read Latin metrics scanning the texts listed in the programme 3) he can produce simple sentences in Latin
 4) he can translate and analyze previously seen texts.

Course contents

SPECIAL FOCUS COURSE

The language of Apuleius's Metamorphoses: creativity and the re-examination of linguistic conventions. The novel of Charite and Tlepolemus (Met. 4.23-27; 6,25-32; 7,1-14; 8,1-14).

The aim of the course is to explore the linguistic peculiarities of the Apuleius novel, constantly confronting it with the linguistic paradigm, both in terms of morphosyntax and lexicon. With regard to the latter, particular attention will be paid to the tension between the recovery of archaic or even conventional elements (e.g. typical of sermo cotidianus, of the erotic language, of sectoral languages such as military and legal) and the tendency to innovate (with the introduction of neologisms or occasional formations).

PART 1 (prof. Lucia Pasetti); start: February, 12th

Reading and analysis of Apul. met. 4,23-27 and 6,25-32; 7,1-5 (Charite and Lucius in the den of robbers)

PART 2 (prof. Elisa Dal Chiele); Apul. met. 7,5-14 and 8,1-14 (From comedy to tragedy: the double ending of the story of Charite)

CORE COURSE

Latin grammar (particularly syntax) will be examined at an advanced level; basic knowledge of historical grammar will be consolidated

LATIN TEXTS

students are required to read in original language all the texts presented in the special focus course.

HANDBOOK, see below, Bibliography.

CRITICAL ESSAYS
one out of the essays listed below, in Bibliography.

N.B.

Students with SLDs or temporary or permanent disabilities: it is recommended that you contact the relevant university office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/it ) and your teacher to discuss the most effective strategies for following the course and/or preparing for the exam.

non-attending students are required to read two critical readings and, as additional texts, 18-23 of Book IV of the Metamorphoses (the adventures of the robbers before the beginning of the story of Charite and Tlepolemus). The rest of the program remains unchanged.

Erasmus students, and students who intend to choose the course as a single exam, or outside the options of their course of study, are requested to contact the teacher BEFORE making their choice final.

Readings/Bibliography

LATIN TEXTS

For the text and commentary of Apuleius, Metamorphoses, see:
Apuleio, La novella di Carite e Tlepolemo, a cura di Lara Nicolini
Napoli, D'Auria, 2000.

As an alternative:

Apuleio, Metamorfosi, Libri 4.-6 a cura di Lara Nicolini, Caterina Lazzarini e Nicolò Campodonico. Testo critico Lara Nicolini; traduzione di Luca Graverini, Milano-Roma, Mondadori-Fondazione Valla, 2023 (for the chapters in Books IV and VI)

and Apuleius, Le metamorfosi, a cura di Lara Nicolini, Milano, BUR, 2005 (for the chapters in Books VII and VIII).

HANDBOOKS
Morphology and basic syntax: Dionigi – E. Riganti – L. Morisi, Il latino, Bari, Laterza 2011 (= Verba et res. Morfosintassi e lessico del latino, 2 voll., Bari, Laterza, 1999).

Syntax at an upper-intermediate level: A. Traina - T. Bertotti, Sintassi normativa della lingua latina (Patron) 2015.

Historical linguistics: A. Traina - G.B. Perini, Propedeutica al latino universitario, Bologna (Patron) 1995, capp. I-V.

CRITICAL ESSAYS
Students are required to select one of the following readings (further readings will eventually indicated during the classes):

L. Bocciolini Palagi, Il suicidio eroico di Carite-Didone (Apul. Met. 8, 13-14), Invigilata Lucernis 21, 1999, 63-78.

S.A. Frangoulidis, Homeric allusions to the Cyclopeia in Apuleius' description of the robbers' cave, La Parola del Passato 47, 1992, 50-58

S.A. Frangoulidis, Charite's literary models: Vergil's Dido and Homer's Odysseus, in C. Deuoux, Studies in Latin Literature and Roman History, VI, Bruxelles 1992, 435-450.

S.A. Frangoulidis, Scaena feralium nuptiarum: wedding imagery in Apuleius' tale of Charite (Met. 8.1-14), American Journal of Philology 120.4, 1999, 601-619.

S.A. Frangoulidis, Epic Inversion in Apuleius' Tale of Tlepolemus/Haemus, Mnemosyne 45.1, 1992, 60-74

B. L. Hijmans Jr., Charite worships Tlepolemus-Liber. (Apuleiana Groningana VIII), Mnemosyne 39.3/4, 1986, 350-364

W. Keulen, Some legal themes in Apuleian context, in M. Picone, B. Zimmermann, Der antike Roman und seine mittelalterliche Rezeption, Basel, Birkhäuser, 1997, 203-229

D. Lateiner, Tlepolemus and the spectral spouse, in S. Panayotakis, M.Zimmerman, W. Keulen, The ancient novel and beyond (Mnemosyne. Supplements, 241), Leiden, 219-238

E. Mignogna, Elisa, Carite ed Ilia: sogni di sogni, H. Hofmann & M. Zimmerman, Groningen colloquia on the novel. 7, 1996, 95-102

L. Nicolini, Lara, Falsi miti e «fabulae» vere: Apuleio, met. 6, 29 e un insegnamento ovidiano, MD 69, 2012, 217-222

S. Papaioannou, Charite's rape, Psyche on the rock and the parallel function of marriage in Apuleius' «Metamorphoses », Mnemosyne 51.3, 1998, 302-324

  

 

 

Teaching methods

Lectures; interactive lessons with exercises and readings of Latin texts in the original language, aimed to control the learning proces. A laboratory on grammar will be activated.

Assessment methods

-The final examination consists of a conversation with the examiner; the student will demonstrate to meet the learning objectives, in particular:

1) to have acquired an adequate knowledge of Latin grammar (phonetic, morphology, syntax) at an intermediate level, both from a synchronic and a diachronic point of view: therefore, to pass the examination it is required a good basic knowledge of Latin Language.

2) to know the content of the thearical essays included in this program.

3) to be able to apply theoretical knowledge in practical situations, by performing translations and analysis of the Latin texts listed in the course contents.

Assessment guidelines:

-failing grades: lack of basic linguistic knowledge and inability to produce a correct translation and interpretation of the text

-passing grades: basic linguistic knowledge, translation and interpretation of texts mostly correct, but inaccurate and lacking in autonomy.

-positive grades: language proficiency at an intermediate level; translation and interpretation of the texts fully correct, but not always accurate and autonomous.

-excellent grades: language proficiency at an intermediate-hight level; translation and interpretation of the texts non only correct, but autonomous and accurate

N.B.

Students with LDSs or a temporary or permanent disability: it is advisable to contact the relevant university office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/it) in good time: it will be their task to propose any adjustments to the students concerned, which must in any case be submitted 15 days in advance to the teacher for approval; the teacher will assess their appropriateness in relation to the teaching objectives.

 

Teaching tools

Materials to sopport teaching, whether in paper or electronic format, will be provided during classes or made available online

Office hours

See the website of Lucia Pasetti

See the website of Elisa Dal Chiele