04336 - Semiotics (O-Z)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student has acquired a good command of the basic concepts of the discipline and the ability to make basic semiotic analysis of verbal texts, especially short narratives.

Course contents

The first part of the course examines and explains basic concepts in linguistics and semiotics, together with practical exercises of lexical semantic analysis; the second part provides the tools for the discursive and semio-narrative analysis of texts.

The lessons will focus mainly on the following themes:

1. Signs, signification and communication.

2. Basics of linguistics (phonetics/phonology, morphology, syntax).

3. Languages: language system / process; expression / content; commutability / noncoformity; regency / combination).

4. Lexical semantics: paradigmatic relations (with practical exercises).

5. Lexical semantics: syntagmatic relations (with practical exercises). Arbitrariness.

6. Towards a semiotic redefinition of "text": textual structures; the interpretative cooperation.

7. Semantic analysis of a text: lexemes and isotopies.

8. The semio-narrative structures: narrative and storytelling; fabula / plot; ideological structures (values) and actantial structures; modalities and narrative programs.

9. Case studies and practical exercises of analysis of short narrative texts.

10. The discursive structures: the enunciation; author and reader.

Readings/Bibliography

1. G. Graffi - S. Scalise, Le lingue e il linguaggio, Bologna: Il Mulino, 2013, chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7.
2. C. Marmo, Segni, linguaggi e testi: semiotica per la comunicazione, Bologna: BUP, 2015 (2nd ed.).
3. La semantica dei frame di Ch. J. Fillmore. Un'antologia di testi, ed. by C. Marmo, Bologna: Pàtron, 2017, chapters 4, 7, 8, and 9.
4. U. Eco, Lector in fabula. La cooperazione interpretativa nei testi narrativi, Milano, Bompiani, 2001, chapters 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.
   

Teaching methods

The course is divided into two parts. In the first part, moving from concrete cases, the basic concepts of linguistic and semiotic theories will be presented, together with lexical semantic analysis through practical exercises. The method will be mainly that of lecturing, so organized as to require the frequent intervention of students. Practical exercises of lexical semantic analysis will be carried out with a self-correction method, or collective discussion of the results of an analysis-model.

The second part is devoted to an introduction to the analysis of narrative texts, combining lectures and practical exercises. Class attendance, given the practical nature of the educational goals of the second part, is highly recommended.

Assessment methods

Examination is composed of 3 parts:

1. Quiz
2. Paper of lexical analysis
3. Oral exam

1. The multiple choice Quiz is on the first part of the course and intended to ascertain the command of the theoretical foundations and of the analytic tools developed by linguistics, frame semantics and semiotics, and the ability to analyze different semiotic and communication phenomena by means of those tools.

2. A paper of lexical analysis is made on a word chosen by the student within a shirtlist given by the teacher. The paper is intended to ascertain the ability to conduct, with the aid of one or more dictionaries, a semantic analysis of a word of the Italian language.

3. The oral exam is on the second part of the course; it is intended to ascertain the command of frame semantics, encyclopedic semantics, as well as narrative and discursive structures

The specifics of examination will be defined at the beginning of the course in February 2023.

Evaluation will take account of the propriety and the adequacy of written and oral linguistic expression.

Exam registration is online.

The vote will be assigned by calculating the average of the votes assigned to each answer to individual questions, taking into account the following evaluation levels:

30 cum laude: excellent performance showing soundness of knowledge, rich discursive articulation, appropriate expression, interest of critical contribution;

30: Excellent performance, complete, and appropriate knowledge, well-articulated and appropriately expressed, with interesting critical contributions;

29-27: Good performance, more than satisfactory knowledge, correct expression.

26-24: Standard performance, essential knowledge, but not comprehensive and/or not always correctly expressed;

23-21: Sufficient performance, general but superficial knowledge; often inappropriate expression and/or confused articulation of speech;

20-18: Poor performance, sufficient expression and articulation of speech with significant gaps;

<18: Insufficient performance, knowledge absent or very incomplete, lack of orientation in the discipline, poor and seriously flawed expression.

Teaching tools

Additional materials used in class will be made available to students (follow the link: Teaching materials).

Office hours

See the website of Francesco Bellucci