HISTORIC LINGUISTICS (ADVANCED)

Academic year
2026/2027 Syllabus of previous years
Official course title
LINGUISTICA STORICA
Course code
FM0127 (AF:720086 AR:438918)
Teaching language
Italian
Modality
On campus classes
ECTS credits
6
Degree level
Master's Degree Programme (DM270)
Academic Discipline
GLOT-01/A
Period
2nd Semester
Where
VENEZIA
The course is part of the core educational activities of the master’s degree programs in Ancient Civilisations: Archaeology, Literature, and History (Philology and Literature) and in Italian Philology, Linguistics, and Literature (for all curricula). It aims to provide the knowledge required for reflecting and operating on language and languages as historical phenomena revealed by texts, with particular attention to the topics of variation, change, and reconstruction.
Students are expected to acquire the awareness of variation across time, space, society, and according communicative settings as a constitutive dimension of language, to be able to recognise and describe phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, and lexical changes as well as to analyse them in light of the current theoretical frameworks, to achieve a knowledge of the principles and methods of etymology and linguistic reconstruction as well as of the relationship between linguistic reconstruction and cultural reconstruction, to be able to frame theoretical and methodological issues and problems relevant to Historical Linguistics. Students are also expected to learn to use appropriate terminology.
The course requires basic knowledge of general linguistics obtained through the Principle of Linguistics course or other basic linguistics courses. The course also requires a good knowledge of the Italian language for foreign students.
The first part of the course will cover open theoretical and methodological issues concerning the genesis and theoretical grounds of Historical Linguistics, linguistic variation, historical and typological results of linguistic comparison, linguistic reconstruction, cultural reconstruction based on language data, and etymology. The second part of the course will focus on morphological change, taking into account different perspectives on the nature and functioning of language and languages. Examples from both ancient and modern languages will be considered.
1. Reference manuals
M. Mancini (ed.), Il cambiamento linguistico, Roma, 2003.

2. Further readings
2.1. Open theoretical and methodological issues
A. L. Prosdocimi, Diacronia: ricostruzione. Genera proxima e differentia specifica, in «Lingua e stile» 13/III, 1978, pp. 335-371.
A. L. Prosdocimi, I fondamenti teorici della linguistica storica ovvero alla ricerca dell’odorosa pantera ovvero à la recherche…, in A. L. Prosdocimi, Scritti inediti e sparsi, Padova, 2004, II, pp. 583-627.
A. L. Prosdocimi, Comparazione, tipologia e ricostruzione, in A. L. Prosdocimi, Scritti inediti e sparsi, Padova, 2004, II, pp. 657-855.
A. L. Prosdocimi, Dialetto/dialetti, koinè/koinai. Ambito del significare e orizzonti del comunicare, in G. Marcato (ed.), Le mille vite del dialetto, Padova, 2014, pp. 441-472.
M. P. Marchese, A. L. Prosdocimi, Post hoc ergo propter hoc? Coseriu e Saussure, in V. Orioles, R. Bombi (eds.), Oltre Saussure. L’eredità scientifica di Eugenio Coseriu, 2015, pp. 233-247.

2.2. Morphological change
A. Meillet, L’évolution des formes grammaticales, in «Scientia» 12, 1912, pp. 384-400.
W. U. Dressler, W. Mayerthaler, O. Panagl, W. U. Wurzel, Leitmotifs in Natural Morphology, Amsterdam, 1987, pp. 3-22.
M. Halle, A. Marantz, Distributed Morphology and the Pieces of Inflection, in K. Hale, S. J. Keyser (eds.), The View from Building 20, Cambridge, 1993, pp. 111-176.
M. Aronoff, Morphology by Itself. Stems and inflectional classes, Cambridge, 1994, pp. 5-29.
W. U. Dressler, Naturalness and Morphological Change, in J. D. Brian, J. D. Richard (eds.), The Handbook of Historical Linguistics, Blackwell, Oxford, 2003, pp. 461-471.
D. Embick, R. Noyer, Distributed Morphology and the Syntax/Morphology Interface, in The Oxford Handbook of Linguistic Interfaces, Oxford, 2007, pp. 289-234.
L. Gaeta, Analogical change, in S. Luraghi, V. Bubenik (eds.), The Continuum Companion to Historical Linguistics, London-New York, 2010, pp. 147-160.
M. Maiden, The Romance Verb. Morphomic Structure & Diachrony, Oxford, 2018, pp. 9-24.
M. Maiden, Folk etymology and contamination in the Romance languages, in M. Aronoff (a cura di), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics, Oxford, 2020.
Learning will be assessed through an interview. The interview will focus on three general topics, which will be selected by the teacher: one from the reference manuals, one from the further readings concerning Open theoretical and methodological issues (2.1), one from the further readings concerning Morphological change (2.2). It should be noted that the further readings will be framed and discussed during the lessons. The lecture slides, which will be regularly uploaded to the course's Moodle space, will serve as a guide to the key aspects of each text that require particular focus.
In particular, mastery of the topics, ability in presentation, terminological adequacy, and the ability for independent reflection on linguistically phenomena will be taken into account for evaluation.
oral

The lecturer has a duty to ensure that the rules regarding the authenticity and originality of exam tests and papers are respected. Therefore, if there is suspicion of irregular conduct, an additional assessment may be conducted, which could differ from the original exam description.

30–30 with distinction: Demonstrates an excellent mastery of the topics covered in lectures and reference texts; employs the discipline’s technical terminology with precision; exhibits an exceptional ability for independent reflection on linguistic phenomena.

28–29: Displays a very good understanding of the topics covered in lectures and reference texts; makes largely appropriate use of the discipline’s technical terminology; demonstrates a strong ability for independent reflection on linguistic phenomena.

26–27: Shows a good knowledge of the topics covered in lectures and reference texts; occasional inaccuracies in the use of the discipline’s technical terminology; moderate ability for independent reflection on linguistic phenomena.

22–25: Demonstrates a partial and/or somewhat superficial understanding of the topics covered in lectures and reference texts; presentation is not always clear and may show deficiencies in the use of the discipline’s technical terminology; exhibits a sufficient ability for independent reflection on linguistic phenomena.

18–21: Shows an incomplete but sufficient understanding of the topics covered in lectures and reference texts; presentation is unclear and/or lacks appropriate use of the discipline’s technical terminology; exhibits a limited but still adequate ability for independent reflection on linguistic phenomena.
Classroom-taught classes and in-depth analysis of specific topics carried out also through seminars.
Definitive programme.
Last update of the programme: 07/04/2026