The course has three main objectives: ● To provide an overall framework of Italian dialectology and its methodological tools; ● To introduce students to dialectal lexicology, with particular attention to specific semantic domains; ● To develop the ability to read and analyse dialect texts from a historical and linguistic perspective. By the end of the course, students will be familiar with the classification of Italian dialects and the key stages in the development of the discipline; they will be able to make appropriate use of the principal bibliographical and research tools in dialectology; and they will be capable of locating and contextualising dialect texts from different periods.
Course Prerequisites
Students are expected to have a basic knowledge of Italian and Romance linguistics.
Teaching Methods
Lectures and practical exercises in the localisation of manuscripts. Power Point presentations, made available to students on the KIRO platform, are used to conduct the lectures. Students who, for justified and documented reasons, cannot attend classes regularly (see link https://portale.unipv.it/it/didattica/servizi-lo-studente/modalita-didattiche-inclusive) are welcome to contact the lecturer in order to agree on appropriate teaching methods and materials for independent preparation of the final test.
Assessment Methods
● Oral examination, based on the content of the lectures and the prescribed readings. ● Individual project: an in-depth study of a topic (chosen from synchronic dialectology or dialect philology), to be agreed with the lecturer.
Texts
● C. Grassi – A.A. Sobrero – T. Telmon, Fondamenti di dialettologia italiana, Bari, Laterza, 1997, 12th reprint 2023 (except Chapter 4). For attending students, further bibliographical material will be made available on the KIRO platform, including the texts to be read and discussed in the second part of the course. Non-attending students will, instead, supplement the program with: ● G.L. Beccaria, I nomi del mondo. Santi, demoni, folletti e le parole perdute, New revised edition, Turin, Einaudi, 2000 (or another essay to be agreed upon with the instructor); ● L’italiano nelle regioni. Testi e documenti, edited by Francesco Bruni, Turin, UTET, 1994 (four chapters of their choice, to be agreed upon with the instructor).
Contents
The course is structured into two parts. ● The first part offers an introduction to the status and classification of Italian dialects, the history of the discipline, and the principal bibliographical tools for dialectological research (dialect dictionaries, linguistic atlases, grammars). It then addresses issues in dialectal lexicology, with particular emphasis in the current academic year on anatomical vocabulary and zoonymy. ● The second part of the course is devoted to the diachronic study of dialects through textual sources. This year, particular attention will be given to the Campanian area, from the earliest attestations to the cinema of Massimo Troisi.
Course Language
Italian
More information
Office hours are by appointment and may be arranged via email at: giovannibattista.boccardo@unipv.it