Modern humanities

ANNA TERESA PAOLA RADAELLI

The course aims to give a basic information about the romance languages and the romance literatures in the Middle Ages and their legacy. Specific objectives that are meant to be reached are basic skills for critical comparison between different romance languages and for a correct analysis of the most ancient documents preserved, moreover literary texts, in the textual (types, formal frames, metric patterns, etc.) and historical-literary aspects (topics, themes, relationships, distribution, etc).

The class presents the domain of Romance languages in comparative form, following the genesis and formation of Romance languages and related literatures in the medieval phase. The expected learning outcomes include the attainment of an initial ability to critically compare the different languages of the Romance group and to orient in the earliest preserved documentation, including literary documentation.

No prior knowledge is required.

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.

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.

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Conventional frontal lectures

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.

Students will preliminarily be given a short-written test to assess their ability to apply the fundamentals of Romance linguistics in practical analysis. Then, overall preparation on the program will be evaluated. In particular: specific knowledge, accuracy in terminology, ability to identify nodal points and to expound appropriately on problematic aspects, while correctly assessing peculiar issues without losing sight of the overall picture.