75747 - Chinese Language and Literature I (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

The students are going to achieve by the end of this course a basic level of knowledge of the Chinese Language; they shall know also some basic notions of the Chinese literary tradition and will be able to repeat what they have learnt both in writing and orally, besides they shall know how to link each notion to the bibliographic sources chosen by the teacher.     

Course contents

Classes will start on Monday 21 September, online.
Last lesson scheduled: December 14th

The first week will be dedicated to an introduction of the Chinese language theory:

Linguistic typology-the origin of writing - the six categories of Chinese characters - diatopic and diachronic variables in spoken and written language - the system of transcription pinyin - two Tang poems.
(For this part students are invited to follow the online lessons and study the materials provided by the teacher. For the bibliographical part, please refer to the text in the curriculum: Abbiati, La lingua cinese, (various editions). This is all in the examination programme.

From the second week, the Language section will begin.

At the end of the course students will be able to reach a language level comparable to HSK2 Chinese.

Writing: Students will be able to use the pinyin transcription system. They will be able to recognize about 400 Chinese characters in the simplified variant used in the People's Republic of China and will be able to write about 300 characters. They will be able to identify the main radicals and search for a new character in the paper dictionary. They will know the six principles of character formation, according to Xu Shen wen jie zi. They will be able to read short descriptive and narrative texts.

Oral: Recognition and production of the four tones. The tone change of 不, 一, and the tonal sandhi. Students will be able to sustain a dialogue to introduce themselves, their family, and a friend. They will be able to make an appointment, (propose/reject an invitation, talk about their habits, their tastes, orient themselves in the surrounding environment, talk about their health) The program also includes some elements of history of Chinese language and writing, which will be dealt with in the first lessons and that students will deepen through the bibliography provided.

 

Linguistic areas: personal pronouns - numbers - calendar - time indicators - countries, nationalities, languages and capitals - living - family  - hours - food and drink - money and currency
Language functions: Greetings - introducing yourself and others - inviting someone to do something - making a phone call - expressing agreement / disagreement - some forms of courtesy - asking permission to do something - expressing probability and approximation - apologizing - asking for information - describing a place or a family person - talking about some cultural differences between China and Italy.
Grammar:
- Personal pronouns (我 你 他 她 它); the pluralizer (们); - The phrase SVO and the expansion on the left (STAVO): the affirmative, negative and the three question forms;
- The adjective phrase and the use of 很
- The 的 constructions;
- The question substitutes and "WH" questions;
- The verbs 是, 有, 在 and their use in the affirmative and negative form. - The numerals (particularities of 两/二. Use of 几 and 多少
- The classifiers;
- The verba dicendi
- Actions in a row
- Some prepositions/verb: 在; 给; 对; 跟;
- The pivot sentences and the use of 让 , 请, 叫
- Reduplication of verb and the use of 一下/一会儿

-Time (时间/时候): Year, month, day; the hours (几点?)

- Daily actions
- Modal verbs: 能， 会， 想， 要
- Compound verbal forms (Word / Object);
- Some subordinate 为什么-因为; 但是, 可是; 所以 - Notes on modal and aspectual use of 了

Readings/Bibliography

1. Language:

Language manual for use in class:

Wu Zhongwei Cinese contemporaneo 1, Beijing, Sinolingua. (Text and Exercise Books). Also in English.

As these texts are difficult to find, the teacher will organise a hand-out of the manual one week after the beginning of the lessons.


Grammar:
Abbiati, La grammatica del cinese moderno. (Not compulsory. Consultation is recommended as an in-depth analysis of what has been discussed in class.)

Dictionary for learning:
Xu, Ardizzoni 2013. Dizionario cinese-italiano per lo studio della lingua cinese, Bononia Univeristy Press, Bologna (Not compulsory. Recommended consultation as reinforcement)

Paper dictionary:
Choice between
Zhao, X. Dizionario di cinese, Zanichelli, Bologna (also electronic version)
or
Casacchia G., Bai Y. Dizionario cinese-italiano, Libreria Editrice Cafoscarina, Venezia

2. History of language and culture: (compulsory)

Abbiati, La lingua cinese, (various editions) or Wong 2020 La fonologia del cinese, UTET, Torino.

Lavagnino, Pozzi 2013. Cultura cinese, Carocci, Rome.

BA students should also choose one of the books suggested at the end of each chapter of Lavagnino, Pozzi 2013.

For MA students it is added:

Cheng, A. (1997) Storia del pensiero cinese, Einaudi. (Vol. 1)

and a book of your choice between:

- Gernet, Jacques, Il mondo cinese - Dalle prime civiltà alla Repubblica Popolare, Einaudi, Torino (up to page 272) /

- Vogelsang, Kai, 2014, Cina. Una Storia Millenaria, Einaudi, 2014 (up to page 270)

- Edoarda Masi, Cento Capolavori della Letteratura Cinese, Macerata: Quodlibet (until the Song Dynasty excluded);

- Madaro, La parola - lingua cinese moderna standard, Cafoscarina.

- Fei Xiaotong, From the soil, the foundations of Chinese society : a translation of Fei Xiaotong's Xiangtu Zhongguo, with an introduction and epilogue / by Gary G. Hamilton and Wang Zheng. Berkeley : University of California Press, 1992

- Wang Hui 2011. La questione tibetana tra Est e Ovest, ManifestoLibri, Rome

- Louie, K. (ed.) 2008. Modern Chinese Culture, New York: Cambridge University Press (chapter 1, 2, 3 to which one of your choice can be added, to be brought with critical analysis).

- Sorace, Franceschini, Loubere 2019. Afterlives of Chinese Communism, ANU Press and Verso Books, Australia (DOI: 10.22459/ACC.2019) (three readings of your choice, to bring with critical analysis)

- Jacka, Tamara 2013. Contemporary China: Society and Social Change.

Students who are not attending will agree on an additional text with the teacher.
All books are available at the department library or online.

Teaching methods

Following the emergency health prevention measures by Covid-19, we are all invited to follow the University's guidelines. Classes will be held online in the first part of the course. Further guidance will be provided later.

The ppt files, videos used in class and any in-depth audio or video will be made available to students on IOL at the end of each lesson.
Students can upload their homework and practice on IOL when requested by the teacher.
Subgroups will be created on Teams where students can work in small groups, prepare role-plays and self-correcting work to be returned to the classroom.
The study of each teaching unit (UD) will be dedicated 6 hours in class, to which will have to correspond about 10 hours of individual or group study.

Assessment methods

At the end of the course students will have to take an online written exam lasting 60 minutes (EOL platform) or 120 minutes in class.
The written test will focus on the linguistic-communicative part and the history of the language (Pinyin and character dictation, grammar, vocabulary, text reading - in characters)
References: Contemporary Chinese; La Lingua cinese plus explanations in class and supplementary materials provided by the teacher  (30% online; 50 % in class).
Passing the exam allows you to take the oral test.
The oral test will consist of a linguistic and historical-literary assessment of the scheduled texts. (50% online; 30% in class)

References: Contemporary Chinese; La Lingua cinese plus explanations in class and supplementary materials provided by the teacher and the historical-literay part (see above)

For the historical-literary part, students will have to present a 5 page essay on a topic chosen among those proposed by the book La cultura cinese (in program) and its expansion. (20%)

The paper shall contain:
- notes
- bibliography and sitography of the materials consulted.
- glossary of at least 10 Chinese-Italian keywords (names, cities, book titles, historical periods)

For MA students, the subject of the paper, which will be 10 pages instead of 5 (BA students), will be discussed with the teacher on the basis of the bibliography provided or other, in case of different specific interests of the students.

NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS

Students who attend at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending.

Students who for personal reasons will not be able to follow the course via synchronous mode, will be able to access the lesson materials via VIRTUALE portal. The final test, both written and oral, will be equal to that of the students attending.

In one year there will be six written and six oral exams (January, May, June, July, September, January).

GRADES OF ASSESSMENT: the preparation of those who demonstrate to have perfectly assimilated both the contents explained in class and the part of the program to be studied independently will be evaluated as excellent (or at least very good);

The ability to pronounce the four tones correctly and to read the language texts in the manual fluently is an important criterion for distinguishing good preparation from barely sufficient preparation.

Full sufficiency is recognised for those who have the basics of the programme and have only sporadic uncertainties with regard to details, while on the contrary, oral or written tests will not be considered suitable where there are substantial, linguistic or theoretical gaps.

Teaching tools

- Language manual (textbook and workbook).
- Use of power-points and videos for presentation of UD and exercises for reinforcement in groups.
- Additional teaching materials used in class available on IOL at the end of each lesson.

The teacher will indicate in class additional web sites and videos to reinforce language learning, which the students will be required to carry out independently.

These are also available in the "Useful Content" section of the teacher's website.

Office hours

See the website of Sabrina Ardizzoni