28862 - Italian Language and Culture (LM)

Academic Year 2018/2019

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Italian Studies, European Literary Cultures, Linguistics (cod. 9220)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student will be aware of conversion and stabilization processes of the Italian language through the words that compose it. The knowledge of the fundamental steps of the history of Italian lexicography and the ability to use modern lexicographic methods will be consolidated trough the use of paper and digital dictionaries concerning the philological and linguistic studies.

Course contents

Lexicon and Italian Lexicography

In the first stage of the course the Italian of yesterday and today will be analyzed in its lexical parts, focusing on the diatopica and on the sectoral varieties. Taking into account the history of words and the conversion and stabilization processes of the Italian vocabulary, the tools of Italian lexicography will be consolidated in the second part of the course, examining the vocabularies from a structural and historical point of view (from the first dictionaries to the contemporary ones); in addition new methodologies relating to the realization of modern dictionaries from computerized corpora will be studied. Starting from the analysis of lexicographical tools, it will also be highlighted how the research paths can lead to significant results in other fields of study, such as philology and linguistics.

Readings/Bibliography

1. Topics of the lessons and teaching materials available on the e-learning platform of the course.

2. Claudio Marazzini, L’ordine delle parole. Storia di vocabolari italiani, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2009.

3. Giovanni Adamo e Valeria Della Valle, Le parole del lessico italiano, Roma, Carocci, edition 2018.

4. Vittorio Coletti, L'italiano scomparso, Bologna, il Mulino, 2018, only the Introduzione, chap. I Lessico, chap. II Concorrenza tra parole simili [pp. 11-107].

5. Mirko Tavoni, Dante e la lingua italiana, to be published (free download: https://www.academia.edu/36719967/M._Tavoni._2018._Dante_e_la_lingua_italiana.pdf).


Non-attending students shall use the following texts instead of those specified at point 1:

1. Francesco Sabatini, Un ponte tra l'età di Dante e l'Unità nazionale, in VV. AA., Una lingua e il suo Vocabolario, Firenze, Accademia dela Crusca, 2014, pp. 9-16 (free download: http://www.edizionidicrusca.it/download2/PDF/564_453.pdf)

2. Tullio De Mauro, La Fabbrica delle Parole. Il lessico e problemi di lessicologia, Torino, Utet, 2005.

Teaching methods

Lecturers and seminars.

Assessment methods

The exam will consist of a written test containing five open-ended questions: structured answers will be required in response to the first two questions (maximum score: 10 points each), three questions will require a short and targeted response (maximum score: 4 points each). All the questions will have the objective of verifying the comprehension and the knowledge of the course contents, they will require the critical elaboration of the main topics covered by the course and will refer to the bibliography.

The final grade will be given in thirtieths as the result of the sum of the scoring obtained from each answer (scores 31 and 32 correspond to the high distinction, cum laude) and will be based on the verification of the course contents and of the knowledge of the assigned bibliography; the ability to elaborate the contents in a critical way, the correct use of a specific lexicon, the good exposition, the application of learned topics to real cases will be part of the global evaluation.

Teaching tools

Students who will regularly attend the course could use the materials made available online by the teacher

Office hours

See the website of Chiara Coluccia