HISTORY OF THE ITALIAN LANGUAGE - II

The Questione della lingua (XIVth-XVIth centuries).

This course is part of the Bachelor Degree in Humanities (Lettere), curriculum of Science of the literary text and communication. The course aims to enahance the students’ knowledge of the history of the Italian linguistics. This year the module examines the development of the Italian language, from the Middle Ages to modern Italy, by studying key discussions on the form that a common Italian language should take (the so called 'Questione della lingua'): in commemoration of the seven-hundredth anniversary of Dante's death in 2021, we will pay special attention to the De vulgari eloquentia and to its role in the Renaissance linguistic debates.

By the end of the course students are expected to be able to:
- know the basic bibliographical instruments of the discipline;
- be familiar with the most relevant events of the external linguistic history of Italian, from the Origins until the present, with special regard to the Renaissance phase of the ‘Questione della lingua’;
- be able to analyse a passage from the De vulgari eloquentia and to contextualise this work within the Renaissance debate on the Italian language.

Students should have already attended the first module of History of the Italian language: they will not be allowed to enroll for the exam if they have not passed History of the Italian language I. The final result of History of the Italian language (12 credits) is the average of the evaluation of the two exams.

The course is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the main events in the history of the Italian language and pays special attention to the 'Questione della lingua'. The second part will explore in depth Dante's De vulgari eloquentia and its influence on the Renaissance linguistic debate.

Claudio Marazzini, Breve storia della questione della lingua, Roma, Carocci, 2018.

Dante AlighierI, De vulgari eloquentia, ed. by Mirko Tavoni, Milano, Mondadori ("Oscar Classici"), 2017 (selection).

Francesco Bruni, Nota su la geografia di Dante nel 'De vulgari eloquentia': mappe e carte geografiche, in Dante Alighieri, De vulgari eloquentia, ed. by Enrico Fenzi, in collaboration withLuciano Formisano and Francesco Montuori, Roma Salerno Editrice, 2012 ("Nuova edizione commentata delle opere di Dante"), pp. 241-253 (maps included).

Materials (handouts etc.) provided by the teacher.

Instead of Marazzini's Breve storia della questione della lingua, NON-ATTENDINGS STUDENTS will use its 'editio maior': Claudio Marazzini, Da Dante alle lingue del web. Otto secoli di dibattiti sull’italiano, Roma, Carocci, 2013.

Students will have to pass an oral exam of 20-30 minutes. During the exam, students should demonstrate their knowledge of the topics discussed in class and illustrated in the reference texts. Students are expected to demonstrate their knowledge of Dante's De vulgari eloquentia and of the Renaissance 'Questione della lingua'. Students should also be able to analyse a passage from the 'De vulgari eloquentia' or from the handouts provided by the teacher and to contextualise it within the contemporary debate.

Frontal teaching. All materials will be available in the e-learning platform moodle.unive.it. Although the course is not conceived as a seminar, feedback from students will be constantly solicited, according to an interactive and dynamic idea of teaching.

Italian

oral