31299 - French Linguistics and Language 3

Learning outcomes

Students are expected to possess a deep knowledge of the metalanguage as well as the mechanisms of a descriptive-analytical model of the French language. Moreover, they should be competent in all communicative skills at the C-1 level of the Common European Framework.

Course contents

Courses of French Language and Linguistics during the Laurea Triennale deal with all the main characteristics of French language in all its dimensions (phonetics, morphology, lexicology , syntax) and aim at giving students the necessary methodological tools to practise it correctly.

PROGRAMMES AND EXAMINATIONS ARE THE SAME FOR ATTENDING AND NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS.

ERASMUS STUDENTS ARE RECOMMENDED TO CONTACT THE TEACHERS.

Practical language classes (Th. Manconi; D. Caddoux; E. Pelletier)

[throughout the academic year]

 The practical language classes (which are annual) aim at perfecting the skills acquired during the 1st and 2nd year and giving students new skills through a program organized as below.

• 2 UNITS (2 + 2 hours per week) to prepare the written test [divided into two sections].

• 1 UNIT (2 hours per week) to prepare the oral test.

Preparation for the "épreuve unique"

ESERCITAZIONI A: Écriture composée-1st part - Th. Manconi

Learning objectives

The ability to produce, from the analysis of texts and documents relating to current events in the French-speaking world, an original critical analysis of documents, as well as the elaboration of an argued response to a specific question. The level of competence to be reached is level C1 of the CFR, assessable with a syntax and vocabulary conforming to the descriptors of this level.

 

ESERCITAZIONI B: THÈME- 2nd part- D. Caddoux :

General educational objectives : through the translation into French of literary texts from contemporary Italian literature (XX-XXI century.), using translation as a means for a contrastive analysis, the student will grasp and appreciate the specificity of the two languages. S/he will also expand his/her morphosyntactic knowledge of French (acquired during the 1st and 2nd year of degree) so that s/he is able to identify and avoid the difficulties of contrastive grammar arising from the original structures of the two languages.

  

ESERCITAZIONI C: Preparation for the oral test - Pelletier

These practical classes lead students to reflect on the concept of Otherness through a corpus of texts and audiovisual documents that address the following themes: les identités de genre, les inégalités de santé, le racisme, les Premières nations et Inuits au Canada, l’environnement. 

The objective of the language exercises (consistent with the C1 level defined by the CEFR for languages) is to lead the student to develop a personal critical thinking on the issues addressed from time to time and to present it orally in a detailed, clear, fluid, organized and interactive way.

OFFICIAL COURSE [Nannoni]

Lectures will be available only during the 1st semester.

This course aims to make students reflect on the morphosyntactic dimension of the French language, especially in relation to the contact points and the differences between the French and Italian. In particular, this course is designed to enable students to improve their knowledge of the French language, but at the same time to reflect on the phenomenon of syntactic equivalence or interference with respect to the Italian language.

To achieve these objectives, the course will start with an initial presentation of theoretical issues related to the analysis of complex sentence structure in French, in a contrastive and translation perspective; the second part will deal with practical exercises ("version", translation from French into Italian) on texts chosen from newspaper articles. Each text will be analyzed (to highlight narrative, descriptive and argumentative components) and translated. The student will be asked to reflect on how to transpose correctly the content and purpose of the French text in his/her native language, respecting the formal and stylistic aspects of the two languages and the pragmatic meanings and values of the source text.

 

Readings/Bibliography

Practical classes

[Manconi]

- Material published on the course teaching page on Virtuale

- A reference grammar: Grammaire progressive du français, niveau perfectionnement, B2 - C2, Clé International

[Caddoux]

Material published on the course teaching page on Virtuale

 

[Pelletier]

A dossier of texts and other materials to be studied for the exam will be made available at the beginning of the course on Virtuale

 

Official Course:

NANNONI Catia, Participe présent et gérondif dans la presse française contemporaine, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Peter Lang, 2019. [chap. 2 and 3]

NANNONI Catia, "Rôles et fonctions du participe présent dans la presse ou comment la traduction vient en aide à la didactique du Fle", «RIVISTA INTERNAZIONALE DI TECNICA DELLA TRADUZIONE», 16, 2014. [scaricabile al link https://www.openstarts.units.it/bitstream/10077/11207/1/Nannoni.pdf]
 
A. HERSCHBERG PIERROT, Stylistique de la prose, Paris, Belin, 1993.[only ch. 2, 3, 4, 5].


J. PODEUR, La pratica della traduzione, Napoli, Liguori, 1993(1).

Ch. BARONE, Vicerversa: la grammatica francese e il tradurre. Intorno al verbo /, vol. II, Firenze, Le lettere, 2005. [only to be consulted]

Other materials and suggestions will be indicated during the course.

Teaching methods

For Practical language classes:

A: Écriture composée

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

- identification of stylistic, pragmatic, syntactic markers present in the texts of the corpus elaborated by the teacher (available on Virtuale, right from the first lessons) for use appropriate to the context and textual purposes

- integration, in the writing phase, of the practice of consulting various resources (also electronic) useful for writing in French.

 B: Thème

See the description available on the teachers' personal web page.

 

Oral:

This course format is based on short lectures, followed by group discussions, argumentative debates and workshops around the material under study.

Official course:

After the methodological lessons of the first part, students will be required to do practical exercises of "version" for individual work at home and discussion in class, which will outline more and more clearly the main issues that students may encounter and the most appropriate strategies to adopt for each case.

Information on the use of  Italian and French monolingual dictionaries and other lexicographical and documentary resources will strengthen the students' skills in learning to use these tools in a translation perspective.

 

Assessment methods

IMPORTANT:  Before taking any part of the exam of French Language and Linguistics 3 the student must have passed and registered the marks of exams of French Language and Linguistics 1 and 2.

The exam of "Epreuve unique" is divided into two parts:

1st part   (écriture composée)

Based on the analysis of texts and documents, write an original paper on the critical analysis of the subject matter of the proposed documents.

It is planned to organize continuous assessment (2 partial tests) during the academic year (one partial test at the end of each semester), according to procedures that will be explained at the beginning of the course.

The use of a monolingual French dictionary is permitted. Its use during the course is recommended.

The following parameters will be considered equally:

1.Organisation and structure of the text: knowing how to extrapolate the theme, the articulation of each document, the argumentative strategies present; knowing how to synthesize the various positions; reformulating the main ideas, avoiding paraphrasing; knowing how to organize the text according to a cohesive, coherent and effective structure (which will be illustrated during the course)

2. Syntax and Lexicon: syntax and lexicon must comply with the requirements for the level to be reached ( C1) of the CFR.

The other assessment criteria are those already laid down for the DALF (C1) certificates, 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.

 

2nd part (Thème)

One written/oral test (for further details, see Caddoux's webpge)

 

 IMPORTANT : Students must gain at least 18/30 in the "esercitazioni" test as a whole (EPREUVE UNIQUE) to allow access to the oral assessment part of the exam. In the final exam, students must obtain at least 16/30 in each part.

  

3) oral test

For the academic year 2025/2026, learning assessment will be organized as a continuous assessment by means of two tests (the dates of which will be communicated at the beginning of the academic year), which will be considered as passed with a mark of at least 18/30 for each test. The final mark will be calculated on the basis of an average of the two marks obtained in both tests. This method of examination replaces - on a voluntary basis - the final examination. Any further details will be provided by the lecturers during the first lesson.

A dossier of texts and documents to be studied for the exam will be available on the Virtual platform from the beginning of the course.

The assessments of learning consist of an oral production test in French during which the student will present one of the topics addressed during the exercises, arguing their point of view.

N.B. The oral exam may be accessed once the written exam has been passed.

4) Official course - (Catia Nannoni)

The final exam will consist of a written test with a "version" and a set of questions about linguistic and methodological awareness. There will be 2 dates for each of the three sessions of May/June - September - January/February.

 

I. Evaluation will consider the following parameters (Version) :

1.     Understanding of the original text in French in its main aspects: pragmatic (function), semantic (content), but also syntactic (linguistic structures, elements of cohesion and coherence between the parties) and lexical (taking into account the tools available to the student during the test )

2.     Writing a text in Italian that respects:

a.          understanding of the elements referred to in paragraph 1

b.       the appropriate formulation (Register and style) and the correctness (language) of the elements referred to in paragraph 1

II.  Evaluation will consider the following parameters (questionnaire) :

1.     Ability to explain their own choices, referring to the nature of the text and to translation strategies.

2.     Knowledge of the theoretical and methodological aspects presented during the course

Only monolingual dictionaries allowed.

N.B. Students can pass the exam of the Official course before or after completing the written and oral exam of practical Language classes.

N.B. Each part of the exam (épreuve unique, oral, official course) is valid for 4 exam sessions (included the first one).

Teaching tools

Printed material, PPT, on line resources.

Office hours

See the website of Catia Nannoni