EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the course, students should be able to read and understand complex texts and hold a conversation in Amharic.
ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
During the assessment, students should be able to analyse and translate a text in Amharic and hold a conversation.
ADDITIONAL EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES
Autonomy of judgement:
at the end of the course, students should have acquired a significant degree of autonomy of judgement, demonstrating their ability to analyse complex discourse in the Amharic language and to grasp profound and characteristic elements of Ethiopian culture.
Communication skills:
at the end of the course, students will have acquired a significant degree of communication skills in the Amharic language, knowing how to convey complex information effectively and comprehensively
Learning skills:
at the end of the course, students will have acquired a significant degree of learning skills, which will enable them to undertake further studies with a sufficient degree of autonomy.
Intermediate knowledge of the Amharic language
The course consists of lectures, seminars and laboratory activities. Audio and video recordings will be used for the exercises.
Basic grammar: theory and practice (30 hours);
exercises A: listening (10 hours);
exercises B: conversation (8 hours).
The exam consists of a WRITTEN AND ORAL test.
Discussion of project paper: YES.
The written test consists of translating a passage from Amharic into Italian and a few sentences from Italian into Amharic.
Languages in which the exam is held: Italian and Amharic.
General introductions: W. Leslau, “Characteristics of the Ethiopian language group of Semitic languages”, in A.N. Tucker - M.A. Bryan, Linguistic analyses. The Non-Bantu Languages of North-Eastern Africa, London 1966, pp. 593-613; R. Hetzron - M.L. Bender, “The Ethio-Semitic Languages”, in Language in Ethiopia, London 1976, pp. 23-33.
Grammars: M. Cohen, Traité de langue amharique (Abyssinie), Paris 1970; W. Leslau, Amharic Textbook, Wiesbaden 1967; W. Leslau, Reference Grammar of Amharic, Wiesbaden 1995; W. Leslau, Introductory Grammar of Amharic, Wiesbaden 2000.
Histories of the literature: Th.L. Kane, Ethiopian literature in Amharic, Wiesbaden 1975; W. Leslau - Th.L. Kane, Amharic cultural reader, Wiesbaden 2001.
TOPICS:
1 the verbal system;
2 the syntax;
3 the Semitic languages of Ethiopia genetically related to Amharic;
4 history of the Amharic language;
5 fundamentals of Amharic dialectology.
HISTORY OF LITERATURE:
1 the beginnings of the Amharic literature: the ‘royal songs’, 14th-16th c.;
2 the first steps of the religious literature, 16th-17th c.;
3 the national literature, 19th-20th c.;
4 tradition and experimentation in the 20th c.;
5 the tale;
6 the novel;
7 the poetry;
9 epistles and more historical documents;
8 orality and literacy: interferences and reciprocal influences;
10 Amharic as an instrument of the political communication.
Italian
Nessuna
