36
Glottology and Linguistics
UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI "L'ORIENTALE"
Overview
Date/time interval
Syllabus
Course Objectives
Knowledge and Understanding
The aim of the course is to provide an introduction to general linguistics as a foundation for the subsequent study of specific linguistic traditions, with particular reference to the languages of Asia and Africa (e.g., in the fields of Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and Swahili linguistics).
Within this framework, the expected learning outcomes include the student’s knowledge of the semiotic foundations of linguistics, the structural organization of language at its various levels of analysis (phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics), the ways in which speakers use language, the relationship between language and society, language change, and the fundamentals of the history of linguistics.
An initial and introductory application of this knowledge to a specific linguistic domain is also required.
Applying Knowledge and Understanding
The course aims to provide students with the knowledge and methodological tools necessary for the following activities: classification and analysis of signs; recognition of the main general properties of language; classification of speech sounds and their transcription using the International Phonetic Alphabet; phonemic segmentation and analysis; analysis of prosodic features; morphological segmentation of morpho-syntactic words and classification of morphemes; syntactic analysis through tree diagrams and labeled brackets; analysis of semantic relationships between lexemes.
Students must also demonstrate an awareness of the historical development of the various concepts and methods in linguistics, and be able to place them within the appropriate general theoretical framework. They are also expected to apply these analytical skills to Italian and to another language of their choice (Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Swahili, or another).
Further Expected Learning Outcomes
Making Judgments:
Students must be able to autonomously apply the analytical methods learned to new linguistic data not previously addressed in class or course materials; likewise, they must be able to illustrate general linguistic concepts through original examples drawn from languages they are familiar with, ensuring these are formally appropriate and relevant.
Communication Skills:
Students must acquire the technical terminology of the discipline and demonstrate the ability to use it appropriately and correctly.
Learning Skills:
The course is intended to develop in students the ability to learn within their chosen areas of linguistic specialization by critically and originally applying the general linguistic analytical tools acquired during the course.
Course Prerequisites
None
Teaching Methods
The course will include the following activities:
1. Lectures presenting concepts in linguistic theory and history;
2. Illustration of theoretical content through the analysis of concrete cases drawn from one or more specific languages, subjected to analytical tools and procedures;
3. Application of analytical tools to linguistic data in exercises that students are required to complete independently and which will be corrected in subsequent lessons;
4. Collective exercises carried out during class hours.
Assessment Methods
Students can choose between two options:
1) assessment during the course: one or two (depending on organizational possibilities) written tests during the course or immediately after it plus one oral exam which must be held by (i.e. not later than) the summer session immediately following the end of the semester and in which students will be exempted from answering questions on a part of the syllabus;
2) single exam: a single oral exam which can be held in any session. The exam will include exercises which can also be proposed to the student in the form of a written test (to be carried out within the oral exam). In the interview, students will answer questions on the entire syllabus.
Texts
1. Basile, G., et al. (2010), Linguistica generale, Rome, Carocci;
2. Graffi, G. (2019), Breve storia della linguistica, Rome, Carocci;
3. Lazzeroni, R., Il mutamento linguistico, and Gusmani, R., Interlinguistica, in: R. Lazzeroni (ed.) (2017, 1st ed. 1987), Linguistica storica, Rome, Carocci.
4. One specific section to be chosen from the options listed below, according to the individual student’s interests:
4.i. (for students of Chinese): Banfi, E. and Arcodia, G. F., La famiglia delle lingue sino-tibetane, in E. Banfi and N. Grandi (eds.) (2022, 1st ed. 2012), Le lingue extraeuropee: Asia e Africa, Rome, Carocci, pp. 363–411;
4.ii. (for students of Japanese, Korean): Banfi, E. and Arcodia, G. F., La posizione del coreano e del giapponese, in E. Banfi and N. Grandi (eds.) (2022, 1st ed. 2012), Le lingue extraeuropee: Asia e Africa, Rome, Carocci, pp. 263–302;
4.iii. (for students of Hindi, Urdu, Persian): Candotti, M. P. and Da Milano, F., Le lingue indo-europee in Asia, in E. Banfi and N. Grandi (eds.) (2022, 1st ed. 2012), Le lingue extraeuropee: Asia e Africa, Rome, Carocci, pp. 81–142;
4.iv. (for students of Arabic, Geʿez, Amharic): Brugnatelli, V., La famiglia delle lingue afro-asiatiche, in E. Banfi and N. Grandi (eds.) (2022, 1st ed. 2012), Le lingue extraeuropee: Asia e Africa, Rome, Carocci, pp. 443–487;
4.v. (for students of Georgian): Tomelleri, V. S., La “famiglia” delle lingue caucasiche, in E. Banfi and N. Grandi (eds.) (2022, 1st ed. 2012), Le lingue extraeuropee: Asia e Africa, Rome, Carocci, pp. 143–487;
4.vi. For students interested in other languages, alternative readings for this specific section (point 4 of the list) may be arranged with the lecturer.
5. Additional materials will be made available by the lecturer through his personal page on the university website.
Contents
Topics:
1. Semiotic basis of linguistics;
2. Phonetics;
3. Phonology;
4. Morphology;
5. Lexicon;
6. Syntax;
7. Semantics;
8. Pragmatics;
9. Language and society;
10. Language change;
11. Brief Survey of Linguistic History
Course Language
Italian.
More information
Students taking the 8-ECTS exam are exempt from point 3 in the list of texts (two chapters from R. Lazzeroni (ed.), Linguistica storica), which corresponds to point 10 in the list of topics.