Students will be expected to understand principles of diachronic change, language classification and reconstruction and typology.
Course Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of linguistics, as acquired in courses in General linguistics or "Glottologia".
Teaching Methods
Lectures, seminar and case study (for details see under examinations). The preparation of papers will be tutored individually (tutorato). Further course materials will be made available online on the platform Kiro.
Assessment Methods
Oral exam, seminar presentation and written essay. During courses students will be asked to give short presentations concerning parts of the reading materials made available for the course. Students are also required to submit a course paper of 5-6 pages (tesina), concerning one of the topics discussed during the course. The precise topic should be decided with the instructor. The paper must be submitted five days prior to the oral exam; it can be written in Italian or in another language, with the teacher's consent. Grading: presentation up to 5 points; paper up to 10 points; oral exam up to 15 points; active participation at classes: honors. Students who cannot attend the course should prepare two short essays 5-6 pages (tesina) concerning one topic discussed in the handbook, according to the same rules as above. The essays must be sent to the teacher at least 7 day prior to the oral exam.
Texts
Course handbook: Luraghi, S. Introduzione alla linguistica storica. Roma, Carocci 2nd edn. 2016. (latest reprint 2021). (Students who cannot read Italian are kindly asked to choose another handbook consulting the instructor). An exhaustive reading list will be provided at the beginning of the course.
Contents
Language classification and the reconstruction of the Indo-European language family.
