The course is aimed at acquiring the basic theoretical and methodological principles of General Linguistics. In particular, the course aims to master the conceptual apparatus and specific terminology used in language sciences to describe the structure and functioning of natural languages. The specific learning objectives are:

- a general understanding of the mechanisms that regulate language change in time and space;

- knowledge of how to identify the properties that differentiate human spoken language from other human and animal communication systems;

- knowledge of how to link linguistic phenomena to their relevant analytic level: phonetic-phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic, pragmatic;

- the development of a general awareness of the scope and limitations of cross-linguistic variation.

1. General characteristics of human speech and language. General principles of linguistic analysis. Recent theories and discoveries about the origin of language (outline).

2. The structure of texts: speech acts, conversational implicatures, discourse information structure.

3. The structure of sentences: constituents, phrases, predicate argument structure, intonation structure of sentences, syntactic typology (outline).

4. The structure of words: the notion of word, morpheme and types of morphemes, types of morphologically complex words, word formation processes, quantitative variables (productivity of morphological processes, morphotactic and morphosemantic transparency of complex words), morphological typology.

5. Speech communication: the speech chain; basic organs and principles of speech production; source-filter theory and voicing; vowels vs consonants; the International Phonetic Alphabet (outline); the notion of phonological contrast, types of allophony.

Knowledge and understanding: Knowledge of the basic theoretical and methodological assumptions used in linguistic analysis; this knowledge will be developed through (i) the recognition of the fundamental units of analysis that are relevant to different linguistic phenomena (i.e. speech act, sentence, phrase, word, morpheme, phoneme, phonetic feature); (ii) a general understanding of the parameters along which cross-linguistic variation applies.

Applying knowledge and understanding: Problem-solving skills: extracting simple generalizations from a group of heterogeneous linguistic data; making explanatory hypotheses in relation to a given linguistic phenomenon and identifying the scientifically correct procedure to verify them. 

Making judgments: knowing how to critically reflect on data from ancient and modern languages, knowing how to question commonplaces about language and determining whether or not they have scientific validity.

Communication: mastery of the expressive means of the language sciences for the understanding of linguistic textbooks and the elaboration of very short argumentative texts on linguistic topics.

Lifelong learning skills: a combination of technical disciplinary information and capacities of formal reasoning that allow (i) to analyse linguistic data from written and spoken sources, from ancient as well as modern languages, in a critical and independent way; (ii) to develop transversal skills in the domain of historical heritage (languages and literatures in particular) as well as in the domains of socio-pedagogical and psychological analysis of language learning processes and the dynamics of communication.

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Teaching

Lectures; classroom exercises. Given the technicality of many of the covered topics, the lessons will be structured in a phase of public discussion of linguistic examples from Italian and other languages followed by a phase of systematic treatment of the main theoretical and empirical points. For the same reasons, group exercises will be performed during the lessons with the purpose, first and foremost, of bringing out any doubts or problems in need of further explanation, and secondarily, of simulating the final exam. 

Attendance

No special obligations. A detailed knowledge of the grammar of contemporary Italian is required. 

Course books

The following texts are to be considered as further instrument of individual reflection and systematization of notions and problems that are dealt with during the classes. Therefore, non-attending students are particularly recommeded to rely on those texts. However, the texts do NOT replace the study of the specific topics that are covered during the classes and should therefore be integrated by the supplementary materials that are provided through the Moodle platform - the latter materials being essential for the preparation of the final exam.

1) Graffi & Scalise (2013) Le lingue e il linguaggio. Introduzione alla linguistica, Il Mulino: Capitolo 1 (Che cos'è il linguaggio) + Capitolo 2 (Che cos'è una lingua) with the exception of Sections 2, 5, 8, 9, 10; Capitolo 5 (morphology) with the exception of Section 12; Capitolo 4 (phonetics and phonology) with the exclusion of 4, 5.3, 5.5, 5.6, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13.

2) Lombardi Vallauri (2013) La linguistica. In pratica, 3a edizione, Il Mulino: pag. 38-44 (atti linguistici e implicature), 78-89 (presupposizioni e inferenze), 144-153 (intonazione), 187-208 at the exclusion of Quadro 8.1 (funzioni sintattiche, struttura sintattica, come si costruisce il diagramma ad albero, testa del sintagma, ordine basico e tipologia sintattica, struttura argomentale e valenza, ruoli tematici e struttura profonda, ergatività), 232-237 (struttura informativa dell'enunciato), 245-248 (focalizzazione).

3) For phonetics and phonology, alternative to Chapter 4 of Graffi & Scalise: Simone (2013) Nuovi fondamenti di linguistica, McGraw Hill Education: Capitolo 4 (the sounds of languages) with the exclusion of 4.11.3, 4.11.4, 4.12, 4.13.5, 4.15.

4) For morphology, optional further reading: M.S. Micheli (2020), La formazione delle parole. Italiano e altre lingue. Roma, Carocci.

Assessment

There will be a written test lasting about half an hour. This test includes both structured tests (to assess declarative knowledge and the general understanding of concepts) and semi-structured and unstructured tests (open procedural tasks) to assess the ability to reproduce the procedures of linguistic analysis proposed in the classroom. Semi- and non-structured tests also allow verifying the students' ability at coordinating different notions and analytical skills that are necessary to solve simple problems from unseen linguistic data. The learning outcomes will then be measured by attributing an overall judgment that takes into account not only the mastery of the topics covered and the ability to recall or recognize them, but also the ability to apply the procedures and elaborate ideas and original solutions in relation to real linguistic phenomena. If requested by the student, a short oral interview will also be possible, aimed at looking through the results of the written test, commenting on eventual errors, motivating the choices that were made, completing missing parts etc.

The final score, out of thirty, takes into account all the aspects above. Tests in which the students will show - in addition to basic declarative knowledge and a general understanding of concepts - the ability to apply the correct methodology to the analysis of new lingusitic data and the capacity of solving general linguistic problems will obtain an evaluation of excellence. Tests in which the students will only show basic declarative knowledge and a general understanding of concepts will obtain a pass mark.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Teaching

Individual study, based on both the supplementary materials provided by the teacher through the Moodle platform, and the course books listed below.

Attendance

No special obligations. A detailed knowledge of the grammar of contemporary Italian is required. 

Course books

The following textbooks are to be considered as an important instrument for the systematization of the notions and the problems that are dealt with in the course. Therefore, non-attending students are particularly recommeded to rely on those texts. However, the texts do NOT replace the study of the specific topics that are covered during the classes and should therefore be integrated by the supplementary materials that are provided through the Moodle platform - the latter materials being essential for the preparation of the final exam.

1) Graffi & Scalise (2013) Le lingue e il linguaggio. Introduzione alla linguistica, Il Mulino: Capitolo 1 (Che cos'è il linguaggio) + Capitolo 2 (Che cos'è una lingua) with the exception of Sections 2, 5, 8, 9, 10; Capitolo 5 (morphology) with the exception of Section 12; Capitolo 4 (phonetics and phonology) with the exclusion of 4, 5.3, 5.5, 5.6, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13.

2) Lombardi Vallauri (2013) La linguistica. In pratica, 3a edizione, Il Mulino: pag. 38-44 (atti linguistici e implicature), 78-89 (presupposizioni e inferenze), 144-153 (intonazione), 187-208 at the exclusion of Quadro 8.1 (funzioni sintattiche, struttura sintattica, come si costruisce il diagramma ad albero, testa del sintagma, ordine basico e tipologia sintattica, struttura argomentale e valenza, ruoli tematici e struttura profonda, ergatività), 232-237 (struttura informativa dell'enunciato), 245-248 (focalizzazione).

3) For phonetics and phonology, alternative to Chapter 4 of Graffi & Scalise: Simone (2013) Nuovi fondamenti di linguistica, McGraw Hill Education: Capitolo 4 (the sounds of languages) with the exclusion of 4.11.3, 4.11.4, 4.12, 4.13.5, 4.15.

4) For morphology, optional further reading: M.S. Micheli (2020), La formazione delle parole. Italiano e altre lingue. Roma, Carocci.

Assessment

There will be a written test lasting about half an hour. This test includes both structured tests (to assess declarative knowledge and the general understanding of concepts) and semi-structured and unstructured tests (open procedural tasks) to assess the ability to reproduce the procedures of linguistic analysis proposed in the classroom. Semi- and non-structured tests also allow verifying the students' ability at coordinating different notions and analytical skills that are necessary to solve simple problems from unseen linguistic data. The learning outcomes will then be measured by attributing an overall judgment that takes into account not only the mastery of the topics covered and the ability to recall or recognize them, but also the ability to apply the procedures and elaborate ideas and original solutions in relation to real linguistic phenomena. If requested by the student, a short oral interview will also be possible, aimed at looking through the results of the written test, commenting on eventual errors, motivating the choices that were made, completing missing parts etc.

The final score, out of thirty, takes into account all the aspects above. Tests in which the students will show - in addition to basic declarative knowledge and a general understanding of concepts - the ability to apply the correct methodology to the analysis of new lingusitic data and the capacity of solving general linguistic problems will obtain an evaluation of excellence. Tests in which the students will only show basic declarative knowledge and a general understanding of concepts will obtain a pass mark.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.