31199 - Arab Language and Linguistics 2

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student has good morphosyntactic and communicative skills. He understands and produces simple texts related to familiar topics, communicates in activities that require exchange of information on different common topics and is able to express opinions, feelings, hopes and projects. He is competent in the four language skills described in the parameters set by the Council of Europe. His acquired skills are located between levels A2 and B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference. He also knows the main cultural characteristics of classical Arab civilization and is able to analyze short authentic texts of the time belonging to different genres, recognizing their morphosyntactic structures and specific terminology.

Course contents

The course aims at acquiring intermediate-level morphosyntactic aspects of the Arabic language.and consists of two parts: the practical language class and the semester course taught by the lead instructor, Prof. Ines Peta.

Practical language class

The course consists of three weekly classes and is designed to help students further develop their communicative skills, with particular attention to the ability to exchange information and express opinions, emotions, and feelings. Newly introduced grammatical structures will also be practiced, with a focus on the various verb tenses and moods (both of the basic and derived forms), indefinite expressions, relative clauses, kāna, inna and their respective “sisters,” as well as the diptote declension. The course also aims to consolidate students’ translation skills from Arabic into Italian acquired during the first year, and to introduce translation from Italian into Arabic of short phrases and simple sentences.

Semester course programme (30 hours) – Second semester (Prof. Ines Peta)

This course intends to deepen the linguistic reflection on the fundamental structures of the Arabic language, with particular attention to the completion of the verbal system through the study of the imperative, the mansūb and majzūm verb moods, and the system of derived verb forms, analyzing their semantic relations as well as their morphological and syntactic characteristics. Moreover, the main modifiers of the nominal sentence will be examined, in particular kāna and its sisters, and inna and its sisters, in order to understand their function in case determination and the structure of the nominal sentence.

The goal is to make students increasingly aware of the internal logic that underpins Arabic grammar and its specificities compared to other languages. To this end, the analysis will be based both on the categories developed by the Arabic grammatical tradition and on the tools and perspectives of contemporary theoretical and descriptive linguistics. Explanations will be supported by authentic examples drawn from real language use to illustrate grammatical structures and phenomena in context.

Readings/Bibliography

Bibliography of the practical language class (prof. Darghmouni)

- S. Darghmouni, Kalima / parola. Lezioni di scrittura e grammatica araba con esercizi, vol. 2, Mondadori, Milano 2019.

- E. Baldissera, Dizionario Italiano-Arabo e Arabo-Italiano (Seconda Edizione), Zanichelli, Bologna 2014.

- Texts provided by the teacher and available on Virtuale platform.

Bibliography of the Semester course

- M. Diez, Introduzione alla lingua araba, Vita e Pensiero, Milano 2018.

- G. Mion, L. D'Anna, Grammatica di arabo standard moderno, Hoepli, Milano 2021.

- P. Larcher, Le système verbal de l'arabe classique, 2e éd. revue et augmentée, Presses Universitaires de Provence, Aix-en-Provence 2012.

- In-depth material provided by the teacher available on IOL platform.

Teaching methods

1) Frontal lessons

2) Interactive lessons

3) Activities in pairs and / or in groups

Assessment methods

The exam consists of:

a) a written test covering the program of the language exercises;

b) an oral test covering both the program of the language exercises and that of the semester course.

a) The written test is structured as follows: a reading comprehension task with exercises to assess lexical competence (50% of the final grade), and a morphosyntax test with exercises to assess grammatical competence (50% of the final grade).

This written test may be administered either as a single exam lasting 3 hours at the end of the course, on a date to be scheduled within the exam calendar, or as a mid-course exam divided into two sessions held during the teaching period, distributed as follows:

• First session: reading comprehension task with exercises to assess lexical competence. Duration: 1 hour and 30 minutes.

• Second session: exercises to assess morphosyntactic competence. Duration: 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Please note that access to this written test is only permitted if the exam “Arabic Language and Linguistics 1” has been passed in all its parts.

b) The oral test consists of: b.1) for the language exercises part, reading a vocalized text and answering simple questions in Arabic about the text and/or one of the topics covered during the course; b.2) for the semester course part, answering questions based on the studied texts aimed at verifying the morphosyntactic competences acquired by the students.

Please note that access to the oral test is only allowed after successfully passing the written exam of the same academic year.

Students with Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) or temporary or permanent disabilities:
It is recommended that you contact the University office in charge (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en) and the instructor as soon as possible, in order to identify together the most effective strategies for attending classes and/or preparing for the exam.Any requests for accommodations must be submitted no later than 15 days before the exam date by sending an email to the instructor and copying (Cc) disabilita@unibo.it [mailto:disabilita@unibo.it] (in case of disability) or dsa@unibo.it [mailto:dsa@unibo.it] (for students with SLD).

Teaching tools

Audio / video texts, power-points and other materials provided by the teachers.

Office hours

See the website of Ines Peta