HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS MOD.1

The module offers an in-depth view of language change from a historical, diachronic perspective. Students will acquire knowledge and understanding of the factors underlying language change, and will learn to decipher texts from earlier stages of the languages they study. Studying the past means being more aware of the present. Moreover, it is as "historical linguistics" that linguistics reaches the status of a scientific discipline: the innovative methods developed in this field have contributed to interdisciplinary research on the history of human populations and cultures. Last but not least, some recurrent phenomena in language change (analogy, grammaticalization, cyclical change) represent important arguments in favour of a cognitive approach to the study of language.

Student Learning Objectives (SLO):

1. Knowledge and understanding.
1a. Students will know and understand the linguistic terminology used in this field of studies.
1b. Students will know and understand, in a comparative perspective, the major mechanisms of linguistic change, and will apply to them up-to-date methods of analysis.

2. Applying knowledge and understanding.
2a. Students will be able to master the appropriate terminology in the processes of application, as well as communication of the acquired skills.
2b. Students will be able to recognize the major triggers of linguistic change, manipulate linguistic forms, derive forms from protolanguages, and account for their development.

3. Making judgements.
3a. Students will become familiar with the most up-to-date critical debate, and will be able to evaluate different hypotheses posed by the scholars, as well as to pose alternative hypotheses.
3b. Students will be able do develop a critical reasoning.

4. Communication skills.
4a. Students will be able to communicate their conclusions - and the knowledge and rationale underpinning these - clearly and unambiguously.
4b. They will also be able to use the correct register to provide information, enucleate problems and find possible solutions.

5. Learning skills.
5a. By studying the recommended books under the guidance of the teacher, students will develop those learning skills that are necessary for them to continue to undertake further study with a high degree of autonomy.

For the sake of completeness, here is a brief definition of the aforenentioned five Dublin Descriptors:
The Dublin Descriptors are general statements about the ordinary outcomes that are achieved by students after completing a curriculum of studies and obtaining a qualification. They are neither meant to be prescriptive rules, nor they represent benchmarks or minimal requirements, since they are not comprehensive. The descriptors are conceived to describe the overall nature of the qualification.
Why are these descriptors labelled as "Dublin Descriptors"?
After the Ministerial Conference in Prague (2001), a group of experts from different countries drafted a series of descriptors for the three Bologna Process cycles, which will later become known as the Dublin Descriptors, after the name of the city where the last meeting was held.

Basic linguistic notions and terminology acquired in one or more modules such as: general linguistics, language teaching, Germanic/Romance/Slavic philology.

An introduction to language change: possible triggers, types of change and major mechanisms.
In the module many topic of both theoretical and applicative nature will be dealt with. The applicative part consists in exercises of manipulation of specific linguistic forms and analysis of a selection of texts.
1) Definition of the field and types of language classification (genealogical, typological, geographical classification);
2) Language variation and language change. The language instinct. FOXP2 and the development of the faculty of language in the human species;
3) Major factors of language change;
4) Phonological change: triggers, types and mechanisms;
5) Morpho-syntactic change: triggers, types and mechanisms;
6) Semantic change: triggers, types and mechanisms;
7) Lexical change: triggers, types and mechanisms.
Contact/interference phenomena will be also taken into account. These phenomena will be illustrated through the following samples:
8) Germanic vocabulary in Italian;
9) German-speaking islands in Italy (Cimbri, Walser, Mocheni, Carinziani).
A brief overview of some quantitative methods used in historical linguistics will also be provided.

Attenders:
- notes taken in class and materials uploaded onto Moodle;
- Shukla, Shaligram / Connor-Linton, Jeff (2008). Il mutamento linguistico. Bologna: il Mulino.
- Campbell. Lyle (2013). Historical Linguistics. An Introduction. 3rd edition. Edinburh: Edinburgh University Press. Chapters: 2 (Sound Change), 9 (Semantic Change and Lexical Change), 10 (Morphological Change), 11 (Syntactic Change).

Non-attenders:
- materials uploaded onto Moodle;
- Shukla, Shaligram / Connor-Linton, Jeff (2008). Il mutamento linguistico. Bologna: il Mulino.
- Campbell. Lyle (2013). Historical Linguistics. An Introduction. 3rd edition. Edinburh: Edinburgh University Press.

Either four (4) or five (5) open questions, to which a specific mark will be assigned, making a total of 30/30 (cum laude). The exam lasts 90 minutes.
- Open questions allow to test the acquisition of knowledge, critical thought, as well as specific skills.
More specifically:
- Knowledge and understanding: checked through content questions;
- Applying knowledge and understanding: checked through practical exercises, such as the encoding in XML-TEI of a short text;
- Making judgements: checked through methodological questions;
- Communication skills: checked through open questions (whether students ommunicate their conclusions clearly and unambiguously, as well as the knowledge and rationale underpinning these);
- Learning skills: evaluation of the students' autonomy of judgement.

Either in-presence or remote teaching depending on the regulations in force during the first semester 2021-22.

Italian

written

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development