31304 - Portuguese and Brazilian Linguistics and Language 3

Learning outcomes

At the end of this module, students should be able to reach Level C1 of the Portuguese language proficiency levels described in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

Course contents

The course of "Portuguese and Brazilian Linguistics and Language 3" has two parts:
1. - Formal lectures given by the professor (30 hours);
2. - A language learning course (90 hours) given by the tutor.

1. LINGUISTICS COURSE CONTENTS

This course, entitled “Introduction to the Study of the Lexicon and Semantics of Portuguese”, aims to provide the essential tools for studying the lexicon of contemporary Portuguese, starting with the organisational principles that govern its functioning. To this end, following a preliminary introduction to what we refer to, somewhat generically, as “words” and their classification, the focus will be not only on the various types of meaning they can assume (lexical, grammatical, denotative, connotative), but also on how their semantic properties (general and specific, inherent and contextual) are organised, as well as their argumental properties (distinguishing, for example, between the different valencies of verbs and describing, albeit limited to the main ones, their respective regencies in today’s standard usage). Particular emphasis will be placed on the structure of the Portuguese lexicon, examined from the perspective of semantic relationships between lexemes – both paradigmatic (synonymy, antonymy, hypernymy, holonymy, etc.) and syntagmatic (collocations, phrases and multi-word expressions) – which form an integral and significant part of lexical competence. Furthermore, alongside lectures on the specific topics under consideration, the course also includes practical activities to be carried out in class and at home, with the aim of concretely assessing the practical application of the knowledge acquired and using it in an increasingly informed manner within the context of the two varieties of contemporary Portuguese (European and Brazilian).

 

2. LANGUAGE CLASSES CONTENTS (Esercitazioni Linguistiche)

The grammatical contents that will be addressed during the course will, in summary, be as follows:

Aperfeiçoamento do Indicativo;- Revisão do Subjuntivo;- Contrastes entre Indicativos ou Subjuntivos;- Infinitivo pessoal;- Tópicos frasais;- Conectores;- Regências;- Crase;- Concordância Verbal;- Concordância Nominal;- Pronomes oblíquos;- Colocação pronominal;- Pronomes relativos;- Derivação;- Composição;- Acentuação;- Pontuação.

 

Readings/Bibliography

1. LINGUISTICS COURSE

Preparation for the exam involves studying the following text, which will be made available to the lecturer on the course’s online portal (Virtuale):

- D. C. de M. Pinto – F. A. C. Coelho – M. P. de L. Cabral – R. M.P. Ribeiro, Introdução à Semântica, Rio de Janeiro, Fundação Cecierj, 2016

Further readings will be recommended and provided during the lectures. 

The slides presented in class and the theses analysed will be made available on the ‘Virtuale’ platform (virtuale.unibo.it) of the professor teaching the course.

2. LANGUAGE CLASSES (Esercitazioni Linguistiche)

Reference texts will be communicated at the beginning of the course.

Teaching methods

1. LINGUISTICS COURSE

A series of lectures and seminars led by the lecturer. During the seminars, students are expected to participate actively and will be asked to complete the tasks assigned to them from time to time, both in class and at home, on topics relating to lexical competence.

2. LANGUAGE CLASSES (Esercitazioni Linguistiche)

Students are also expected to attend language practice classes given by a native-speaker tutor. Active participation from the students in the discussions and the other activities is an essential part of the learning process and exam preparation.

Assessment methods

The assessment will be divided into several stages.

As regards the linguistics section, the examination will consist of a discussion, in Portuguese, of a pragmatic text (mostly of a journalistic or essayistic nature) which the student will receive by email at least 24 hours before the official start time of the examination session. The student must then demonstrate not only that they have understood it well enough to be able to discuss it knowledgeably in front of the examiner, but also to be able to rework and, above all, rephrase it appropriately, that is, drawing on the various lexical phenomena analysed during the course and on which they will be asked by the examiner, both from a theoretical perspective (explanation of concepts) and in terms of their practical application (for example, by replacing the original words in the text with their synonyms, antonyms, etc., or perhaps by paraphrasing the argumentative discourse). In this regard, in order to demonstrate a command of the conceptual and methodological tools provided in class, the greater the student’s ability to rework the text – not only in terms of the number and depth of the revisions made, but also in terms of their lexical and semantic appropriateness in relation to the specific instructions given by the lecturer – the higher the mark will be (however, it cannot be separated from the more general level of communicative competence in Portuguese). In particular, a high level of theoretical and lexical competence, combined with fluency, enabling the student to handle the text under analysis with ease, will be awarded top marks; these will, however, be reduced to ‘pass’ grades in the face of lower levels of those same competences, provided that they are still sufficient to ensure a good overall grasp of the text and the assessment tools; Conversely, theoretical, lexical and linguistic skills that are inadequate for both the examination and the academic year will be assessed as either a pass or a fail, depending – needless to say – on the degree of their inadequacy.

The mark awarded for the linguistics examination must, however, as is customary, be supplemented by the equally provisional mark derived from the average of the two marks obtained in the written and oral examinations relating to the "Esercitazioni linguistiche" (see below)

As regards the language learning course (Esercitazioni linguistiche), to be carried out with the native speaker, these will consist, as usual, of a written and oral exam aimed at assessing the effective acquisition of the four skills (reading comprehension, listening comprehension, written expression, oral expression). In particular, the written exam, lasting 3 hours, will consist of interpretation and text production exercises (mostly related to Brazilian Portuguese), while the oral exam - to which students must qualify by obtaining a score of at least 18/30 in the written exam - will focus mainly on the student's oral expression skills, who will be asked to demonstrate their mastery of Portuguese by talking to the examiner about linguistic and cultural issues. The final mark resulting from these two tests, written and oral, will then be averaged with the single mark of the aforementioned linguistics exam.

There are no prerequisites requirements between the course exam and the language practice exam. The exams for the two courses can therefore be taken in different sessions and in any order.

For the practical language exame, however, prerequisites are strictly enforced, to the extent that the oral exam can only be taken after passing the written exam.

Finally, please note that each exam session includes at least two exam dates for the linguistics module, one for the written part of the practical exercises and two for the oral part.

 

However, the written part of the language practice exam can also be taken in the form of two ONGOING ASSESSMENTS, one at the end of the first semester and the other at the end of the second semester, in order to gradually assess learning progress.

Of course, only those who have passed the first test will be able to take the second test. By passing both tests, the written part of the exercises can be considered complete, and only the oral test will need to be taken in one of the regularly scheduled exam sessions starting from the 2025/2026 summer session.

Those who have not taken or passed the ongoing tests will have to take the written test, as described above.

Please Note: In order to take the Portuguese and Brazilian Language and Linguistics 3 exam, students must have already taken Portuguese and Brazilian Language and Linguistics 1 and 2 and Portuguese and Brazilian Literature 1 and 2.

 

 

Teaching tools

PowerPoint and Virtuale platform (virtuale.unibo.it).

Students with SLDs or temporary or permanent disabilities: we suggest that you contact the relevant university office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en) and your professor immediately to work together to find the most effective strategies for attending classes and/or preparing for exams.

Any requests for accommodations must be made at least 15 days before the date of the exam, by sending an email to the lecturer and copying (Cc) the email address [disabilita@unibo.it [mailto:disabilita@unibo.it] ](mailto:disabilita@unibo.it ) (in case of disability) or [dsa@unibo.it [mailto:dsa@unibo.it] ](mailto:dsa@unibo.it ) (for students with Specific Learning Difficulties).

Office hours

See the website of Roberto Mulinacci