LINGUISTICS ADVANCED COURSE

Course objectives

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.

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ARTEMIJ KEIDAN Lecturers' profile

Program - Frequency - Exams

Course program
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.
Prerequisites
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.
Books
All teaching materials will be distributed by the instructor during the course. The adopted texts are as follows: – A selection of problems from the Linguistics Olympiad (https://ioling.org). – Chapter 8 from: A. K. Polivanova, Old Church Slavonic. Grammar. Dictionaries, Florence: FUP, 2022 (OpenAccess). – Theoretical handouts prepared by the instructor. During the lessons, brief grammars of the following languages will be distributed: – Swahili – Votic – Lithuanian – Korean
Teaching mode
The course consists of lectures given by the teacher, plus some practical exercises carried out by the teacher, as well as a series of in-depth lectures delivered by invited lecturers.
Frequency
Attendance, though not compulsory, is strongly recommended. The course deals with complex and technical topics, and in-class exercises are held regularly.
Exam mode
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.
Bibliography
Whatever teaching grammars of the languages under analysis
Lesson mode
The course consists of lectures given by the teacher, plus some practical exercises carried autonomously out by the students.
  • Lesson code1025563
  • Academic year2025/2026
  • CourseOriental Languages and Cultures
  • CurriculumLingua persiana
  • Year1st year
  • Duration12 months
  • SSDL-LIN/01
  • CFU6