GENERAL LINGUISTICS
- Overview
- Assessment methods
- Learning objectives
- Contents
- Bibliography
- Teaching methods
- Contacts/Info
None.
Exam
The exam is in written form. It contains up to 16 exercises and questions dealing with the course main topics. It typically contains one or more IPA transcription exercises, as well as exercises in morphological and syntactic analysis. The analysis of materials from unknown languages is also possible.
Goals
The module will deal with the structure and functioning of natural languages at different levels of analysis (sounds, words, clauses, sentences, meanings). Particular attention will be paid to language change and variation, to language typology and to the genealogical classifications of languages.
The module will enable students to apply these descriptive notions to the analysis of real language materials and situations, a necessary prerequisite to the study of foreign languages.
Contents
What is linguistics? A short history of the discipline. Saussure. Synchrony and diachrony. Jakobson. Martinet. Chomsky. Competence and performance.
Articulatory phonetics. The International Phonetic Alphabet. Phonology. Suprasegmental phenomena.
Morphology. The notion of word. Inflection, derivation, composition. Morphological typology.
Syntax. Dependency and constituency. Coordination and subordination. Valency, semantic roles and syntactic functions. Syntactic typology. Greenberg and language universals. Ergative vs. nominative alignment.
Semantics (both lexical and non-lexical).
Pragmatics. Speech acts. Grice’s conversational maxims.
Basic notions of historical linguistics (the comparative method), dialectology (dialects in Italy) and sociolinguistics (the social variability of language).
Teaching materials and syllabus
- Slides;
- N. Grandi, F. Masini (a c. di), Tutto ciò che hai sempre voluto sapere sul linguaggio e sulle lingue. Cesena: Caissa Italia, 2017;
- G. Berruto-M.Cerruti, 2011. La Linguistica. Un corso introduttivo. Torino: Utet.
Teaching methods
Lectures (50 hours).
Though not obligatory, attendance on a regular basis is strongly recommended.
Laboratory (approx. 20 hours).
In laboratory classes, the students will learn how to apply descriptive notions to the analysis of real language materials.
None.