30082 - French Language (LM)

Learning outcomes

The student has in-depth knowledge of the linguistic and discursive aspects of the French language, in both a synchronic and diachronic perspective, also in its applications to textual analysis and translation. Through practical exercises, his communicative skills in all abilities, active and passive, progress towards the C2 level of the Common European Framework of reference, which makes him able to effectively interpret the socio-linguistic and cultural codes of the subjects involved in a relationship communicative

Course contents

1) MONOGRAPHIC COURSE (Myriam Vien)

The course aims to present linguistic and cultural issues of Québec French in its relationship with hexagonal French. The course will be structured in three parts :

a) theoretical presentation of the specific characteristics of Québec French (phonetics, morphology, syntax, lexicon) and its place in francophonie; elements of French language history in Canada; language policies and the contemporary public debate on the language.

b) "Le Québec vu de la France": representations and visions of Québec French in the political, media and French journalistic discourse: discourse on the language, clichés and cultural stereotypes related to the language.

c) "Du français au français": contacts with French from France, especially in literary texts: interlinguistic translation, self-translation, adaptation, parody, quotation and rewriting.

Always consult the notices of the teacher or readers for any changes in class times etc.

2) LMCP exercises (Daniel Caddoux)

General objectives

¨ beyond the objectives already achieved in the framework of the Bachelor’s degree (that is to understand and appreciate the specificities of the Italian language with respect to the French language, and vice versa ; strengthen the morpho-French syntax so that the student is able to identify and avoid the difficulties of contrasting grammar that arise from the original structures of the two languages ; make them aware of the syntactic and lexical needs of the two languages ; develop the acquisition of reflexes that will advance the student in his or her path as a translator and scholar of the language at a university level ; for more information on specific training objectives, see work plan Esercitazioni linguistiche - Thème 3o anno, -through an accurate interlinguistic analysis of contemporary literary texts (XX-XXI p.)-, develop an intercultural competence in the student.

¨ strengthen the lexicon: meaning; use and translation problems of specific terms; polysemy and frequency; polymorphy (e.g.: tear/tear; sacrifice/sacrifice); synonyms and geosynonyms (e.g.: toy/toy; tap/cinnamon; watermelon/watermelon; plumber/tinsmith; pasta/soup); antonimi; semantic load (e.g.: scare / épouvante, peur ?); connotations and subjective, affective or expressive evaluation of leximes (e.g.: mamma /maman, mère?); antiphrases (e.g.: a nice cheek /a sacré culot); deonomastics (e.g.: dance of San Vito/danse de saint Guy); marchionimi (e.g.: Scottex/Sopalin); "images culturelles" (e.g.: forty-eight happened; le mot de Cambronne); false friends.

- identify the characteristics of the recipients and de-build/re-build the text, if necessary, so that the translation can respond to the needs and expectations: reflect on the context of use and formulate appropriate translation hypotheses.

- stimulate the continuous re-construction of meaning and meaning in a process of adaptation to the target culture/language : reflect on the communication between French and Italian culture, discover commonalities and differences (what shared cultural references?) to make the experience of other cultures (realia) accessible, to foster a positive mutual contamination in order to avoid ethnocentrism.

- to raise awareness of the mutual specificities of the two languages, to develop a reasoned translation strategy (problems of phraseology, idiomatism, adaptation, transparency, translation-calculus, cyber-list translation/target-oriented translation, translation sourcière/source-oriented translation, linguistic repertoire, lexical contraintes/constraints and/or morphosyntactic, idiomatisms, étoffement/amplification, explicitation, compensation, loss, expansion, omission, ajout/unjustified addition, surtraduction/hypertranslation, sous-translation/hypotranslation, interference...) and return/negotiate, in the French translation, the literary genre, the tone, the style and the language register, the social groups that use it, the time, the place, the intentions, the context.

Readings/Bibliography

1) MONOGRAPHIC COURSE (Myriam Vien)

All the following texts are in the LILEC library and are available for purchase online in pdf or ebook format (websites of Italian publishers or large distributors).

• Sophie BIENVENU, Et au pire on se mariera, Montréal, Éditions La Mèche, 2015 [2011].
• Sophie BIENVENU, Et au pire on se mariera, Lausanne/ Paris, Éditions Noir sur Blanc, 2014.
• Kevin LAMBERT, Querelle de Roberval, Montréal, Éditions Héliotrope, 2018
• Kevin LAMBERT, Querelle, Paris, Éditions Le Nouvel Attila, 2019.
• Fred VARGAS, Sous les vents de Neptune, Paris, Magnard, 2019 [2004].

A dossier of critical-theoretical and literary texts that will be analyzed in class and that will be the subject of the final exam are available on www.iol.unibo.it starting from the beginning of the course.

2) LMCP exercises (Daniel Caddoux)
https://www.unibo.it/it/didattica/insegnamenti/insegnamento/2021/465732

Teaching methods

1) MONOGRAPHIC COURSE (Myriam Vien)

Lectures, debate, oral exposé.

2) LMCP exercises (Daniel Caddoux)

Written production:
- translation into French of contemporary Italian classical authors (e.g.: Luigi Pirandello, Grazia Deledda, Federigo Tozzi, Michele Prisco, Primo Levi, Goffredo Parise, Vasco Pratolini, Elsa Morante, Mario Rigoni Stern, Enzo Striano, Erri De Luca...)
- monitoring compliance with the rules of the language, the use of an appropriate lexicon and the provisions of point 1 (General training objectives)

Teaching strategies and methodology:
a) following a path of progressive difficulty, administration to students of a text, to be translated for the next lesson;
b) during the following lesson:
- sentence after sentence, socialization of possible translations;
- identification of the difficulties and the consequent specific needs of the text;
- correction, debate, deepening

Assessment methods

1) MONOGRAPHIC COURSE (Myriam Vien)

Here are the exam procedures for the three parts of the course. The final grade will be obtained from an average of the results in thirtieth part of «Tutorial» (1/3 of the grade) and the monographic part (2/3 of the grade).

Attention: validity of the partial tests of the exams: 4 sessions including the first, the one in which the test was taken.

To access the oral of the Monographic Course you must have passed the tests of the readers and the writing of the Monographic Course. You can not refuse a partial vote, but only the average of the final votes.

MONOGRAPHIC COURSE (Myriam Vien)

WRITTEN PART (for attending and not attending students).

The script will take place on www.eol.unibo.it and will last one hour. The test, closed-ended (choix multiples) will cover all theoretical aspects treated during the course, analysis and understanding of the text (starting from the extracts of the literary works studied during the course) and critical knowledge (starting from the critical readings provided during the course).

ORAL PART (for attending and not attending students). Students will prepare an exposé in French from the topics covered and on at least two literary works of the program.

The exposé will offer an original reading of the texts and demonstrate a deep knowledge of the theoretical tools, through a clear exposition of the objectives and the methodology used.
The text (in word format) will be sent to the teacher at least two weeks before the exam session.

- Attention: the cited sources will always be indicated by quotation marks and bibliographic references in the footnote. Any kind of plagiarism will invalidate the outcome of the exam: the student must present a new thesis at the next session.

- The oral exam will consist of an interview in French starting from the topic covered in the thesis: the student will be asked to explain his work in 15 minutes, then to answer questions on theoretical or linguistic topics related to the texts.

2) LMCP exercises (Daniel Caddoux)

- No. 1/1 final written test (translation into French of an Italian text of about 200 words/ time available 2 hours): January session, or May/September following;

- In the 30/30 assessment, as indicated in point 1 (General training objectives), the French rendering of the specificities related to morpho-syntax/phraseology (morpho-syntactic error/phraseology: - 0,5 point) and to the lexicon (lexical error: - 0,5 point) as well as an effective translation strategy that respects the typology of the text, -tone, style, language register, intentions, reality, context of use- (whose mathematical evaluation is however impossible).

- During the final written test, students can use monolingual and bilingual dictionaries, glossaries, manuals, notes and personal notes.

Teaching tools

ppt presentations, platforms for sharing learning materials

Office hours

See the website of Myriam Vien