Admission requirements
BA in Italian or Linguistics. Good comprehension of written Italian.
Description
The course aims at stimulating students’ research interests by providing them with the skills necessary to carry out comparative surveys on Italian varieties of different geographical features and registers.
The course will introduce to some structural and pragmatic features of contemporary Italian and will propose a typological and comparative study of the properties of other Romance languages. The focus will be on the use of language in various contexts, by paying attention to the different levels of synchronic variation, without forgetting the diachronic changes.
Course objectives
The student will acquire specific knowledge not only about the salient properties of Italian grammar but also about its features as a living language subject to change. The student will master the theoretical tools that allow comparative and typological surveys to be conducted broadly.
Timetable
The timetable is available on the MA Linguistics website
Mode of instruction
2 hours/week lecture/seminar
### Course Load
The course load of this course is 280 hours.
hours spent on attending lectures and seminars: 28
time for studying the compulsory literature: 185
time to prepare for writing a paper (including reading / research): 67
Assessment method
Study of material presented in class (course slides), and of the compulsory literature will be assessed with in-class discussion. Assigned homework will be corrected in class. Active participation in class and study/work at home will be part of the final evaluation (10%).
Each student will chose a topic of investigation, which will be presented in class at the end of the semester. Evaluation of the presentation will contribute to the final grade (15%). The student will then write a paper on the chosen topic where s/he will provide an analysis (or discuss various working hypotheses) for the investigated linguistic phenomena. The paper may be in English or in Italian (Italian is mandatory for students of the Italian track). The paper grade will contribute to the final evaluation (75%)
Weighing
10% homework and participation in class
15% oral presentation
75% final paper
Resit
If a student fails, it will be possible to resit the final paper. A deduction on the grade will be applied though.
Blackboard
Blackboard will be used to provide students with an overview of current affairs, as well as specific information about (components of) the course.
Reading list
Sobrero A. (a cura di), Introduzione all’italiano contemporaneo, Le strutture (vol. 1); Le variazioni e gli usi (vol. 2). Roma-Bari: Edizioni Laterza, 2011.
Further references will be provided at the beginning of the course.
Registration
Enrolment through uSis is mandatory.
General information about uSis is available in English and Dutch
Students other than MA Linguistics need permission from the coordinator of studies before enrolling.
Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs
Not applicable
Contact
Please contact Student administration van Eyckhof for questions.
Remarks
The course will be given in English unless all enrolled the students are proficient in Italian.