30371 - History of the Latin Language (1) (LM)

Course contents

This is an advanced level course; the basic skills in Latin must have already been acquired in other university courses.

I. Classes

• Elements of History of Latin Language (from P.I.E. to late and vulgar Latin); elements of historical phonetics, morphology and syntax (this section of the course will take approximately 15 hours)
  
• Catullus and the expression of gender identity (we will read a short selection of Catullan poems; this section of the course will take approximately 15 hours)
  

II. Individual work

• Cicero, Pro Caelio 1-19; 30-55
  
• Elements of History of the Latin language

Please remind that:

Students of Master Degree "Filologia, Letteratura e Tradizione Classica" are supposed to prepare the following chapters of Palmer's handbook: I, IV, V, VIII, IX e X

Students of Master Degree "Archeologia e Culture del Mondo Antico" are supposed to prepare the following chapters of Palmer's handbook:I, II, III; VIII, IX e X

Students of Master Degree "Italianistica, Culture Letterarie Europee e Scienze Linguistiche" are supposed to prepare the following chapters of Palmer's handbook: I, VI, VIII, IX e X

Students not joining classes are supposed to prepare a different Latin text that must be chosen by an agreement with the teacher

Readings/Bibliography

• Section I
• Notes from classes
• The slides with the contents of the classes, as well as the texts read during the course will be uploaded to the online platform Virtuale
  

 

• Section II
  

• The study of L.R. Palmer, The Latin language, London, Faber and Faber, 1961 is compulsory . The reading of J. Clackson-G. Horrocks, The Blackwell History of the Latin Language, Malden (MA) 2007 is just recommended (but will not be dealt with during the final examination).

 

• for the study of Cicero's text, any edition will be accepted, as for instance:  Cicerone, In difesa di Marco Celio, a c. di A. Cavarzere, Venezia, Marsilio, 1984

Teaching methods

Lectures in class (if there are no relevant changes related to the Covid-19 emergency).

Please notice that the first part of the programm will be done during class, while students will be charged to the second one (i.e. translating a text from Latin into Italian; studying the handbook of History of the Latin Language); Erasmus students are allowed to translate into English or French or German or Spanish as well.

 

Assessment methods

Viva voce examination (30 min.), which , through reading and translating from the Latin texts dealt with in class and listed in the program, will test the ability of understanding and translating the studied texts and the main aspects (phonetics, morphology and syntax) of the history of Latin language.

In particular, in addition to two questions related to the reference manual of History of Language, there will be two questions on the texts in the program (ie: reading, translation and linguistic analysis of the text of the monographic course and the text to be prepared for institutional; metric reading is required), through which it will be verified the knowledge of Latin language and grammar (phonetics, morphology and syntax) in a perspective both historical and normative, according to the following evaluation framework:

failing grades: lack of basic linguistic knowledge and inability to produce a correct translation and interpretation of th text.

passing grades: language proficiency at an intermediate level; translation and interpretation of the texts mostly correct, but inaccurate and lacking autonomy

positive grades: language proficiency at an intermediate level; translation and interpretation of the texts fully correct, but not always accurate and autonomous.

excellent grades: language proficiency at an upper-mid level; translation and interpretation of the texts not only correct, but performed with autonomy and precision

Erasmus students are allowed to attend the exam - as far as translation from Latin is concerned - in English, French, German or Spanish.

Teaching tools

 

• The slides with the contents of the classes will be uploaded to the online platform Virtuale
  
• Augustine's texts will also be uploaded on IOL platform

Office hours

See the website of Bruna Pieri