78671 - French Linguistics 1 (LM)

Learning outcomes

The global aim of this course – which includes lectures and language classes - is to provide students with an expert knowledge of a number of aspects of French linguistics, enabling them not only to communicate effectively in French, but also to think critically about and describe the metalinguistic factors at play in language use. This aim will be achieved by providing students with theoretical knowledge related to one or more of the following areas of French linguistics: phonology, morphology, syntax, lexicology, semantics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, stylistics and corpus linguistics. The focus of the course will be on real language use, with authentic texts (written and/ or spoken, belonging to different registers) and electronic language corpora used as examples. At the end of the two years course, the student is able to apply such knowledge by means of the use of suitable tools ; he/she knows how to plan a linguistic search in a correct way. Language classes aim to improve students’ linguistic competence; over the two year period students’ knowledge of French should reach level C2 according to the European framework in all four abilities, which allows students to effectively interpret the partner-linguistic and cultural codes in any subject within a communicative relationship. These classes will work in connection with the lectures to improve students’ writing skills in particular.

Course contents

PRACTICAL LANGUAGE CLASSES (T. Manconi, 1st semester)

The exercises focus on the skills inherent in understanding texts of different types. See the CEFR descriptors for languages (C1/C2).

The teaching activity will consist of two phases

- a preliminary check and an enhancement of the students' linguistic knowledge and skills in the syntactic, lexical, pragmatic and textual fields (C1/C2 level of the CFR for languages). This reinforcement will be carried out through practical reading activities (also collaborative) and feedback to acquire greater autonomy in learning and expression. The use and consultation of various electronic tools useful for achieving this first objective of the exercises will also be integrated;

- an individual reconnaissance phase on different text types (which will be illustrated during the course) relating to topics requiring specialised treatment.

- Classroom activities will consist of identifying and analysing semantic fields, syntactic structures and discursive strategies favoured in the texts examined.

OFFICIAL COURSE (V. Zotti, 1st semester)

The course aims to provide the conceptual, methodological, theoretical and practical tools to refine and enhance one's metalinguistic skills with the help of new technologies. Underlying this applied approach to the study of French linguistics is a focus on training the "new" skills required in the professions of multilingual and multimedia communication (editor, translator, lexicographer, terminologist, computational linguist, data scientist, etc.), as well as of the tourism and arts industries.

Specifically, the official course aims to raise awareness of the potential and limitations of various resources in electronic format (dictionaries, terminology databases, comparable and parallel text corpora, machine translation software) that increasingly interact during the work of the linguist-translator, constituting complementary and indispensable reference tools in both academic and professional fields and careers.

The methods of corpus linguistics will also be used in the course to analyze French-language cultural heritage and tourism vocabulary and terminology within a corpus composed of text types that exhibit varying degrees of specialization. One of the main linguistic software for textual and terminological analysis  will be used: SketchEngine.

Readings/Bibliography

PRACTICAL LANGUAGE CLASSES (T. Manconi)

Handout on the online teaching platform, provided by the lecturer.

OFFICIAL COURSE (V. Zotti)

Mandatory book

R. Loock, Traductologie de corpus, Lille, Presses Universitaires du Septentrion, 2016.

Recommended texts for reference:

A. Farina, V. Zotti, A. Pano (éds.), Industries des langues France-Italie, SYNERGIES Italie. Revue du GERFLINT, Numéro 17 - Année 2021, Italie 17 (gerflint.fr) [https://gerflint.fr/Base/Italie17/italie17.html] .

F. Landragin, Comment parle un robot ? Les machines à langage dans la science-fiction, Le Bélial' Editions, 2020.

G. Williams (éd.), La linguistique de corpus, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2005.

V. Zotti, A. Pano (éds.), Informatica umanistica: risorse e strumenti per lo studio del lessico dei beni culturali, Firenze University Press, 2017.

Pubblicazioni della collana Lessico multilingue dei beni culturali - Firenze University Press (fupress.com) 

Teaching materials will be made available online on the Virtual platform.

Teaching methods

PRACTICAL LANGUAGE CLASSES

The teaching activity will focus on the acquisition of the following skills

- identification, for appropriate use in the context and textual purposes, of the stylistic, pragmatic, syntactic markers of the textual typology in question, also through reconnaissance, feedback and collaborative text comprehension activities

- analysis of discursive strategies present in the texts examined, with particular attention to diachronic variation;

- integration, for the acquisition of comprehension skills, of the practice of consulting various electronic resources useful for writing in French.

The teaching will be delivered in blended mode with a focus on BYOD (Bring Your Own Device): students are therefore invited to attend the exercises with their own electronic device.

 

OFFICIAL COURSE (V. Zotti)

The official course, taught by the titular lecturer, will be assisted by a computer technician in the practical laboratory part (one lesson per week) focusing on the use of the software SketchEngine. The model of innovative digital teaching (DDI) will be experimented with, once a week, conducting a hands-on lesson remotely. A repository of resources will be used, in the Virtual environment, in an open and articulated format, to support all students, including non-attending students, in their learning activities and in preparation for exams. Students will be invited to work individually or in small groups to accomplish some guided activities  under the supervision of the lecturer. Regular attendance of the course is highly desired, given the course's conspicuous practical and applied component.

Assessment methods

PRACTICAL LANGUAGE CLASSES

The final test of learning consists of an annotated and reasoned analysis of a text, taken from the corpus but not analysed during the exercises, that presents the traits of specialised writing, on one of the topics already dealt with.

The final examination will be conducted exclusively in electronic format.

The use of electronic dictionaries and databases will be permitted during the tests (list recommended by the lecturer).

The same applies to non-attending students who are invited to inform the lecturer by sending a communication to the following address: teresa.manconi@unibo.it

Evaluation criteria for the exercises

The assessment criteria will be those already envisaged for DALF certificates (C1 / C2), particularly in terms of a) compliance with the delivery; b) cohesion and coherence of the text; c) richness of the syntactic and lexical repertoire, including the ability to reformulate easily; d) correctness and coherence of the lexical and grammatical spelling; e) relevance of the text from a morpho-syntactic point of view; f) relevance of the text in relation to the communication situation. In addition to these, g) relevant use of electronic tools to supplement writing skills.

The validity of the partial tests of the language exercises is 4 sessions (including the first, the one in which the test was taken).

OFFICIAL COURSE (V. Zotti)

Students will be evaluated during lessons through an interactive on-line test about the course contents.

They will also take an oral exam on the course contents and about the corpus created during the the course.

Details of required texts and documents will be made available at the beginning of the course and on the institutional platform Virtuale.

Office hours

See the website of Valeria Zotti