Modern humanities

The romance languages and their contemporary presence in the world. Official languages and their birth; dialects and other levels of language in past and present. Evolution from Latin : phonology, morphology, some aspects of syntax. Evolution from Latin and mutual differences among the groups and languages. Oral and written traditions: the implications of literacy. The most ancient romance texts. The beginning of romance literatures: genres, forms, texts, with lecture and explanation of some exemplary extracts. Original characters and legacy up to the Modern Age and beyond.

Basic knowledge of general linguistics, Italian linguistics, Latin language; school-level knowledge of the history of Europe and the history of Italian literature (overall periodization, genres, formal types).

Attending students L. Minervini, Filologia romanza. 2 Linguistica, Le Monnier Università, 2021; S. Asperti, Origini romanze (new version, it will be accessible on line in pdf format); two handouts by the teacher: S. Centili – S. Asperti, Testi romanzi commentati; S. Asperti, Testi letterari romanzi del XII secolo (the booklets will be accessible online through the Sapienza ELearning2 website). Non attending students A. Varvaro, Linguistica romanza. Corso introduttivo, Liguori, Napoli, 2020 (e ristampe); S. Asperti, Origini romanze (una versione aggiornata sarà disponibile on line in formato pdf); due fascicoli di dispense a cura del docente: S. Centili – S. Asperti, Testi romanzi commentati; S. Asperti, Testi letterari romanzi del XII secolo (i fascicoli di dispense saranno scaricabili dalla pagina dell’insegnamento entro il sito Elearning2 della Sapienza).

Attendance is not mandatory but is strongly recommended. Students who can not follow the lessons are asked to contact the teacher in any case for explanations and suggestions.

Written practice test; Written or oral exam. Attending students will be subjected to a written test in the form of exemption during the course (or later, with non-attendants), which is essential for oral admission. The test is aimed at assessing the ability to apply at a level of practical analysis the fundamental bases of romance linguistics. Non-attending students will also have to submit a preliminary written test, equivalent to the exemption of the attending studentes, which will be organized during the course (together with the attendants) and before each exam session (orientation: end of May - Beginning of June, early September, late January). The overall preparation of the program will be evaluated during oral or written examination. Specific importance will be given to: knowledge of the matters, precision in terminology, control of the general perspective, ability to identify nodal points, to expose the problematic aspects appropriately, to evaluate punctual issues and details preserving the connection with the overall picture, keeping always clear the distinction between facts and their interpretation, to appropriately introduce into the presentation general questions such as those between languages of communication and languages of culture, between orality and writing, between forms and thematic nuclei within literary expression.

The course is scheduled in the first semester and is addressed to the students of the "Lettere moderne" program of the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy of ordering 270 and is a prerequisite for the other more advanced teaching units of Filol. and Ling. Romance. There is no other program distinction between attending and non-attending students other than the basic reference manual, the methods of examination are identical. Informations and useful materials related to the course will be found on the page dedicated to it on the website: http://elearning2.uniroma1.it.

The romance languages and their contemporary presence in the world. Official languages and their birth. Evolution from Latin: phonology, morphology, some aspects of syntax. Evolution from Latin and mutual differences among the groups and languages. Oral and written traditions: the implications of literacy. The most ancient romance texts. The beginning of romance literatures: genres, forms, texts.

No prior knowledge is required.

Attending students A. Varvaro, Linguistica romanza, corso introduttivo, Napoli 2001. S. Asperti, Origini romanze, Roma 2006 (e successive edizioni). Additions and insights provided in class. Non-attending students The texts provided for the attending students will be integrated with: Pietro G. Beltrami, La filologia romanza, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2017. Laura Minervini, Filologia romanza. Vol. 2: Linguistica, Le Monnier università, 2021 Marcello Barbato, Le lingue romanze. Profilo storico-comparativo, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2017.

Attendance not mandatory but recommended.

The exam is considered passed if the candidate demonstrates in-depth acquisition of skills around Origins, both on a literary and linguistic level, to show how much the Western tradition has its roots in medieval Romance culture.

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Conventional frontal lectures

The programme, aimed at students of the degree courses in Historical-Artistic Studies and History, Anthropology and Religions, offers the acquisition of philological skills in relation to three specific areas: a) the concepts of “author”, “text”, “true”, “false”, “authentic”, “apocryphal”; b) Marc Bloch's “Apologia of History”, excerpts of which will be read in class and studied as a philological problem; c) the relationship between text and image, with reference to examples taken from medieval narrative cycles and their artistic representations. in order to pass the exam, students must have studied: 1) Alberto Varvaro, Prima lezione di filologia, Laterza, Rome-Bari 2012 (2023); 2) Marc Bloch, Apologia della storia, Italian translation, Einaudi, Turin, 2009 (including the Preface and Introduction, which are useful for an introduction to the philological problem represented by the text); 3) M. Mastrogregori, Introduzione a Bloch, Editori Laterza, Bari-Rome 2001; 4) chapters III and IV of M. L. Meneghetti, Storie al muro. Temi e personaggi della letteratura profana nell'arte occidentale, Einaudi, Turin 2015 (the chapters will be made available on the platform).

No curricular prerequisites.

The study texts are already listed under Programme.

Recommended frequency.

Oral examination with questions on the programme.

Lectures and seminar classes.