Oriental Languages and Cultures

ARTEMIJ KEIDAN

Upon completion of the course the student, already provided with basic knowledge of general and historical linguistics imparted during the undergraduate program, will acquire some more specific skills in the field of modern language analysis. The aspects of the language that the course will focus on range from syntax to semantics, from the grammatical typology to language related philosophical problems. Recent theories in Linguistics Philosophy of language will be presented with a critical approach and a historical contextualization, rather than dogmatically. The student will also acquire various practical skills inherent to each type of linguistic analysis in question (going from constructing syntactic trees to solving simple problems in propositional logic), also through special practical exercises during the classes. The final aim of the course is to provide the student with the ability to read modern literature in the field of linguistics and to construct a logically coherent scientific discourse, also as a preparation for drafting the graduation thesis.

The student will acquire advanced knowledge regarding the theoretical and philosophical foundations of grammatical analysis from the perspective of model theory. Additionally, s/he will be able to independently read and analyze texts in different languages, constructing a multi-stratal representation of them.

The main requirement is a good knowledge of the basic concepts in the field of General and Historical Linguistics. Furthermore, an interest in formal analysis of language and the field of grammatical typology is desirable.

The course is devoted to the comparative analysis of the grammars of some typologically distant languages, from Swahili to Lithuanian, from Votic to Korean.
The general part will consist in the definition of the basic concepts of modern multi-stratal grammar, with a special attention to the various levels of presentation, from segmental levels (phonology, spelling) to some higher levels (lexical, inflectional, syntactic, etc.).
In the practical part the student will be guided in a read-and-comment approach to some short texts in different languages and to their grammatical analysis.

All teaching materials will be distributed during the course. The adopted texts are as follows:

– A selection of problems from the Linguistics Olympiad (https://ioling.org)
– Handout 1: "Toward an Axiomatic Linguistics" (by A. Keidan)
– Handout 2: "Paradigmatics" (by A. Keidan)
– Handout 3: "Axiomatization vs. empiricism in phonology: a case study from Modern Standard Chinese" (by A. Keidan & L. Tardino)
– Handout 4: "Swahili: Grammatical Notes" (by A. Polivanova; Italian translation by A. Keidan)
– Handout 5: "Votic: Grammatical Notes" (by A. Polivanova; Italian translation by A. Keidan)
– Handout 6: "Lithuanian: Grammatical Notes" (by A. Polivanova; Italian translation by A. Keidan)
– Handout 7: "Korean: Grammatical Notes" (by A. Polivanova; Italian translation by A. Keidan)

Students who wish to explore the concepts learned during the course in greater depth are invited to consult the following bibliography.
– On the concept of axiomatizing linguistics: A. K. Polivanova, Old Church Slavic. Grammar. Dictionaries. Florence: FUP, 2023.
– On the languages analysed during the course, reference is made to the relevant standard or academic grammars.

The course consists of lectures given by the teacher, plus some practical exercises carried autonomously out by the students.

Attendance, though not compulsory, is strongly recommended. The course deals with complex and technical topics, and in-class exercises are held regularly.

The exam consists of answering questions that involve grammatical commentary and translation of short passages in the languages analyzed during the course, as well as answering simple theoretical questions.

Analyse the following Swahili verbal forms.
Define the notion of model.
Which mappings must not change the length of the string?

• Course introduction
  • Books: Handout 1: Prologue


• The problem of correctness verification in linguistics
  • Books: Handout 1: Sec. I.1–I.2


• Axiomatization. Model theory
  • Books: Handout 1: Sec. I.3–I.4


• Hierarchy of linear ranks
  • Books: Dispensa 1: Sec. II.1–II.2


• The system of representation levels
  • Books: Dispensa 1: Sec. II.3


• Segmental inventories. Criteria for correctness in phonetic classification
  • Books: Dispensa 1: Sec. III.1–III.2


• Segmental syntagmatics. Segmental mappings
  • Books: Dispensa 1: Sec. III.3–III.4


• Construction of Italian segmental grammar
  • Books: Dispensa 1: Sez. III.5


• Construction of Chinese segmental grammar
  • Books: Handout 3


• Swahili: Grammar overview
  • Books: Handout 4


• Swahili: Text reading
  • Books: Handout 4


• Notes on paradigmatic morphology. The concept of grammaticality
  • Books: Handout 2


• Votic: Nominal morphology
  • Books: Handout 5


• Votic: Verbal morphology
  • Books: Handout 5


• Votic: Text reading
  • Books: Handout 5


• Lithuanian: Segmental grammar
  • Books: Handout 6


• Lithuanian: Morphology
  • Books: Handout 6


• Lithuanian: Text reading
  • Books: Handout 6


• Korean: Grammar
  • Books: Handout 7


• Korean: Text reading
  • Books: Handout 7


• General review and exam simulation
  • Books: All handouts