00489 - Latin Grammar

Learning outcomes

Knowledge to be obtained by the end of the course: 1) the student knows the morphosyntax of the Latin language at an intermediate level
 2) he knows some basic elements of Latin metrics
 3) he knows some basic elements of the history of the Latin language aimed to provide a full understanding of the main syntactic structures. 

Skills to be obtained by the end of the course: 1) he can recognize and describe appropriately the main morphosyntatic structures
 2) he can read Latin metrics scanning the texts listed in the programme 3) he can produce simple sentences in Latin
 4) he can translate and analyze previously seen texts.

Course contents

SPECIAL FOCUS COURSE The Archaic and the Archaistic: anthological readings from Plautus (Menaechmi), Gellius (Noctes Atticae), Fronto (Epistulae) and Apuleius (Metamorphoses).

CORE COURSE Latin grammar (particularly syntax) will be examined at an advanced level; basic knowledge of historical grammar will be consolidated

AUTHORS
Plautus, Menaechmi

 
CRITICAL ESSAYES see bibliography

Students who can not attend the course are requested to contact the teacher

 

Readings/Bibliography

TEXTS
Students are required to read the whole text of Plautus'Menaechmi in original language. It is advisable to adopt an edition of the Latin text with an Italian translation: e.g. Tito Maccio Plauto, I Menecmi, introduzione di Cesare Questa, traduzione di Mario Scandola, Milano, BUR, 1984; oppure Tito Maccio Plauto, Anfitrione, Bacchidi, Menecmi, introduzione e note di Margherita Rubino Milano, Garzanti, 2007. A linguistic commentary to a large part of text is available among the teaching materials; for the rest of the text, students are advised to consult N. Moseley-M. Hammond, T. M. Plauti Menaechmi, Harvard 1968.
    
HANDBOOKS
Grammar and syntax: Dionigi – E. Riganti – L. Morisi, Il latino, Bari, Laterza 2011 (= Verba et res. Morfosintassi e lessico del latino, 2 voll., Bari, Laterza, 1999).

Students who knows Latin grammar at an upper-intermediate level will more profitably use Bologna, Cappelli 1985; or I. Dionigi – E. Riganti – L. Morisi, Il latino, Bari, Laterza 2011 (= Verba et res. Morfosintassi e lessico del latino, 2 voll., Bari, Laterza, 1999).
Historical grammar: A. Traina - G.B. Perini, Propedeutica al latino universitario, Bologna (Patron) 1995, capp. I-V.

SECONDARY LITERATURE
Students are required to read one of the following readings:
1) S. Swain, Bilingualism and Biculturalism in Antonine Rome. Apuleius, Fronto and Gullies, L. Holford-Strevens, A. Vardi, The worlds of Aulus Gellius, Oxford 2004, pp. 1-40.
2) L. Pasetti, Plauto in Apuleio, Bologna, Patron 2007: un capitolo a scelta.
3) R. May, Roman Comedy in the Second Sophistic, The Oxford handbook of Greek and Roman comedy, 753-766.

 

 

Teaching methods

Lectures; interactive lessons with exercises and readings of Latin texts in the original language, aimed to control the learning proces. A laboratory on grammar will be activated.

Assessment methods

The final examination consists of a conversation with the examiner; the student will demonstrate to meet the learning objectives, in particular:

1) to have acquired an adequate knowledge of Latin grammar (phonetic, morphology, syntax) at an intermediate level, both from a synchronic and a diachronic point of view: therefore, to pass the examination it is required a good basic knowledge of Latin Language.

2) to know the content of the thearocal essays included in this program.

3) to be able to apply theoretical knowledge in practical situations, by performing translations and analysis of the Latin texts listed in the course contents.

Assessment guidelines:

failing grades: lack of basic linguistic knowledge and inability to produce a correct translation and interpretation of the text
passing grades: basic linguistic knowledge, translation and interpretation of texts mostly correct, but inaccurate and lacking in 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 intermediate-hight level;  translation and interpretation of the texts non only correct, but autonomous and accurate.

Teaching tools

Materials to sopport teaching, whether in paper or electronic format, will be provided during classes or made available online

Office hours

See the website of Lucia Pasetti