2020/2021

2020/2021

DM270

L-LIN/01 (GLOTTOLOGY AND LINGUISTICS)

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

COMMUNICATION, INNOVATION, MULTIMEDIA

PERCORSO COMUNE

1°

1st semester (28/09/2020 - 11/12/2020)

9

54 lesson hours

Italian

WRITTEN TEST

JEZEK ELISABETTA (titolare) - 6 ECTS
CAPONETTO LAURA - 3 ECTS

Basic notions of grammar acquired in previous education that will be reviewed at the beginning of the course.

Students will gain knowledge of the main topics of the semantics and pragmatics of verbal communication. They will acquire skills to use linguistic tools to critically analyse the language of media.

The first module of the course introduces the students to the basic notions needed to approach the study of language from the perspective of the meaning conveyed through it in communication, and will provide them with the theoretical tools to conduct linguistic semantic analysis. The focus will be on the following aspects: lexical information, the contextual variability of word meaning, ambiguity, polysemy and vagueness: word types and word classes; metaphor and metonymy; neologisms and linguistic creativity; the lexicon of social networks.

The course’s second module provides an introduction to pragmatics, i.e. the study of language use in context. Our focus will be on the notions of deixis, implicature, presupposition, and speech act. We will also explore the contemporary debate by looking at the fine line between lying and misleading, at uses (and abuses) of implicitness in the press, and at the dynamics of discursive injustice – a peculiar form of injustice occurring when a speaker’s capacity to communicate is unfairly hindered due to negative prejudicial stereotypes attached to their social identity (e.g. their gender, race, sexual orientation, and so on).

The third module of the course (lab) covers the analysis of language from a multimodal perspective, by taking into account not only the speech dimension but also by introducing the analysis of gestures. In particular, we will analyse gestures and multimodal communication in television, with examples from political discourse, interviews, talent shows and advertising.

Face-to-face-interactive lectures.
Slides.
Lab.

Readings:

- Bianchi Claudia, 2003, Pragmatica del Linguaggio, Roma-Bari: Laterza.
- Jezek Elisabetta, 2011 (2a ed.), Lessico. Classi di parole, strutture, combinazioni. Bologna: Il Mulino.
- Nobili Claudio, 2019 I gesti dell’italiano, Roma: Carocci.

Optional Readings:

- Austin John, “Come agire con le parole”, in Gli atti linguistici, a cura di M. Sbisà, Feltrinelli, Milano 1978, pp. 61-80.
- Bianchi Claudia, “Ingiustizia discorsiva”, in La donna non esiste. E l’uomo? Sesso, genere e identità, a cura di N. Vassallo, Codice Edizioni, Torino 2017, pp. 47-52.
- Capussotti G. and C. Meluzzi, “The Egg and Jerry”: narration and gesture in L1 and LS by Italian schoolchildren, Journal of Speech Sciences – special issue on multimodality. 2020.
- Cassell J., McNeill D. and K.E. McCullough, Speech-gesture mismatches: evidence for one underlying representation of linguistic and nonlinguistic information, Pragmatics & Cognition 7:1, 1-34, 1999.
- Gheno Vera, Social-linguistica. Italiano e italiani dei social network, Firenze, Franco Cesati, 2017.
- Grice Paul, “Logica e conversazione”, in Id., Logica e conversazione. Saggi su intenzione, significato e comunicazione, tr. it. di G. Moro, Bologna, Il Mulino 1993, pp. 55-76.
- Martocchi Andrea e Elisabetta Jezek, Ellissi interpuntiva nell’italiano giovanile di Facebook. Punteggiatura, sintassi, testualità nella varietà dei testi italiani contemporanei, a cura di A. Ferrari, L. Lala, F. Pecorari, R. Stojmenova Weber, Firenze, Franco Cesati Editore, 2019, pp. 135-147.

The final assignment consists in a written examination with questions about the notions introduced during the course.

The exam consists of three modules:

Module 1: References and slides Lexicon and Semantics (3 questions out of 5 available)

Module 2: References and slides Pragmatics (3 questions out of 5 available)

Module 3: References and slides Lab on Multimedial Communication (3 questions out of 5 available)

Questions require short and precise answers. Conciseness will contribute to a positive evaluation. The examples provided must be original and cannot match the examples present in textbooks or in the material presented in class.

Material for the course together with the program and the schedule of the classes is available on the KIRO platform (access with personal username and password).