ITAL10130 Beginning Italian Linguistics

Academic Year 2024/2025

This module aims at giving beginning Italian students an awareness of the system behind the facts of the language, and an understanding of its use in society today as a result of its history. It is articulated into two parts, which run in parallel. One of them takes the perspective of language in use, today and in history. Students will be guided to realize how Italian is just one of the many languages that arose in what we call Italy. A historical overview will show how Italian, originally a vernacular only spoken in Tuscany, became the expression of a whole civilization, even though today it is still used alongside a great number of local languages, which are restricted to private use and so invisible to the casual observer. The other part lays out the logic behind the main aspects of the language system: its sounds and the way they are expressed in spelling, the system of word forms and their fundamental classes, the ways in which Italian sentence structure differs from English, and important meanings that are conveyed grammatically (like the choice of tenses reflecting aspect, or the choice of pronouns for old or new information). The two perspectives will merge in considering the choices available to users of this language, in everyday use and in carefully constructed styles, in order to show how language structures are manipulated to achieve distinct effects.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

Not yet recorded

Indicative Module Content:

The section on history and language in use covers topics including:
- varieties within language, norms, standards
- diglossia, 'standard' vs. lesser-prestige varieties
- history of the languages of Italy from the fragmentation of Latin to today
- sociolinguistic overview of today's Italy
The section on systematic description includes:
- the Italian sound system
- classes of words and their form
- elements of Italian sentence structure
- grammatical forms and meaning
A final section will consider how the choices amde available by the language system are used for different communicative effects.

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Specified Learning Activities

8
Autonomous Student Learning

80
Lectures

24
Total

112
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Not yet recorded 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations
Learning Recommendations:

This module is open to all students. A previous acquaintance with basic linguistic notions, or with the Italian language, is helpful but not necessary.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Quizzes/Short Exercises: Four short class tests Week 3, Week 6, Week 9, Week 12 Alternative linear conversion grade scale 40% No

50

 No
Exam (In-person): two-hour end-of-trimester written exam paper End of trimester
Duration:
2 hr(s)
 Alternative linear conversion grade scale 40% No

50

 No

Carry forward of passed components
No
 

Not yet recorded
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Group/class feedback, post-assessment
• Online automated feedback

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

automated feedback serves the purposes of summative assessment, and assessess performance only; in-person feedback after class tests complement this with discussion of patterns emerging and revision suggestions