scritto e orale

superamento di inglese 1 e 2.

The course will tackle basic questions and key theoretical commitments on how meaning is constructed and negotiated. Stemming from observations upon the notions of arbitrariness and motivation, the course will introduce the students to the relationship between the linguistic structure and the cognitive motivation of meaning. This aim will be pursued through a set of semantically complex phenomena belonging to each level of the linguistic organization (phonology, morphology, syntax, lexis), which will be surveyed along with the theoretical frameworks and the analytical tools needed for their investigation. Major topics will include phonaesthemes, morphopragmatic complexity, main verb classes and constructions, lexicalization patterns, as well as illocutionary constructions, communicative cooperation, and textual rhetoric. English-Italian contrastive analysis will be carried out for each of the topics discussed.

Classes will comprise traditional lectures, discussion of readings, and in-class analyses of phenomena. Problem-solving activities of some linguistic and textual data will be addressed during the last class of each week, and homework assignments will be given for the first class of the following week to be discussed collectively. Doing homework on time and carefully, and participating to in-class discussions and analyses will be taken into consideration when marking the final exam.

During the final exam, students must show to have developed a good knowledge of basic concepts as well as the necessary descriptive and analytical skills to discuss in academically appropriate manners the phenomena presented during the course.

Attendance to classes is highly recommended (70% minimum). Students who won’t attend classes will have to study extra-readings (see Readings for non-attending students below).

Esercitazioni

The syllabus is divided into 4 modules:
1. Speaking and Grammar
2. Translation (from Italian into English)
3. Writing (expository and opinion essay)
4. Listening

The overall aim of the third-year syllabus is to develop writing, listening, speaking, translation and grammar skills at the B2+/C1 level (Common European Framework). The objectives of the esercitazioni are:
- to develop listening skills using authentic audio and video material to develop general and detailed listening skills.
- to develop writing skills necessary for an expository or opinion essay.
- to develop students’ practical skills for translating written texts from Italian into English. T
- to develop grammar skills by considering more complex grammar constructions.
- to develop speaking skills to a C1 level using various prompts

Assessments (prove parziali) and the unified preliminary language test (prova globale).
The prove parziali will be organized as follows:

Prova parziale 1 : speaking, grammar and listening.
Prova parziale 2 : writing and translation (from Italian into English).
Prova parziale 3 : cloze test.

Students who attend a minimum of 70% of the lessons will have the option of taking the assessments. Students who fail more than one part will be required to resit the entire exam.Students who fail only one of the five parts of the prova parziali will be allowed to resit the corresponding part of the test in the following manner: students who fail one of the three parts of the first prova parziale can re-sit the corresponding part in June (or, in any event, within the subsequent solar year); students who fail one of the two parts of the second prova parziale cannot resit that part any earlier than the first post-summer session (or, in any event, within the subsequent solar year).

Students who do not meet the 70% attendance requirement may take the unified test in June, August/September or January.

Readings for this course will include:

Beaugrande, Robert-Alain de & Dressler, Wolfgang Ulrich 1981. Introduction to Text Linguistics. London: Longman. Chapter 1: pp. 1-13.

Bertuccelli Papi, Marcella & Baicchi, Annalisa 2008. “Pragmatica e Semantica”. In G.Iamartino (ed). Linguistica Inglese: studi recenti e prospettive di ricerca. SILTA XXXVII. pp. 91-123.

Dirven René, & Verspoor, Marjolin 1998. Cognitive Exploration of Language and Linguistics. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Chapter 1, pp. 1-22; and Chapter 4, pp.79-91.

Fellbaum, Christiane 1990. “English verbs as a semantic net”. In International Journal of Lexicography, 3 (4). pp.278-301.

Grice, Herbert Paul 1989. “Logic and Conversation”. In H.P. Grice, Studies in the Way of Words. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 22-41.

Leech, Geoffrey 1983. Principles of Pragmatics. London: Longman. pp. 56- 70.

Merlini Barbaresi, Lavinia 1998. “Modification of Speech Acts: Aggravation and Mitigation”. In Proceedings of the 16th International Congress of Linguists. Oxford: Pergamon. Paper n° 0353.

Radden, Guenter & Dirven, René 2007. Cognitive English Grammar. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Chapter 11: pp. 269-299.

Further material will be handed out during the course.

To the Readings listed above, non-attending students must add the following chapters:

Chandler David 2002. Semiotics. The Basics. London: Routledge. Chapter 1: pp. 17-44.

Finegan Edward 2004. Language. Its Structure and Use. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers. Chapter 11: pp. 333-344.

Saeed John 1997 (2003). Semantics. Oxford: Blackwell. Chapter 8 (§§. 8.2; 8.3; 8.4): pp. 222-236, and Chapter 11 (§§ 11.2; 11.3; 11.4; 11.5): pp. 345-364.

All the Readings are available at the Biblioteca Fraccaro.

Students must read two novels and watch five films:

Novels:

P. Pullman, The Golden Compass

M.A. Shaffer & A. Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Society

Movies:

Match Point

X-Men

One Hour Photo

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Under the Tuscan Sun

Reference Material:

1. Dictionaries:

Collins Cobuild. English Dictionary for Advanced Learners 2003. London: Collins, plus CD-Rom

Oxford Collocations Dictionary 2002. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Jones David 2004, English Pronouncing Dictionary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, plus CD-Rom

2. Grammars:

Biber Douglas, Johansson Stig, Conrad Susan 1999. Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. London: Longman

Quirk Randolph et al. 1985. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. London, Longman