Theoretical Linguistics

The course is an introduction to the scientific study of human verbal language in its many aspects and articulations. The course provides a systematic treatment of the various levels of articulation of language (phonology, morphology, syntax, lexicon) with a constant focus on the semantic and pragmatic dimensions and the study of linguistic variation in typological perspective.
The aim of the course is to develop students' awareness of the complexity of the architecture of language and to make them acquire a series of basic theoretical and methodological skills which will enable them to better understand the nature of linguistic facts. Students will be able to spend this knowledge in all the work areas connected with the Degree Course in Humanities.

At the end of the course, the student will know the specific characteristics of human verbal language and the methods for its scientific study, its levels of articulation and the main phenomena related to each of them; the student will also have basic knowledge of linguistic typology and will have a good command of the technical vocabulary of linguistics.
The student must also be able to recognise remarkable linguistic facts and phenomena and to give a critical interpretation of them with reference to the categories elaborated by modern linguistic reflection. The student will be able to describe linguistic facts and phenomena using the specific technical terminology of the discipline in the most precise way possible.
With reference to the more technical and methodological aspects, the student must be able to correctly interpret and carry out the phonetic transcriptions according to the conventions of the International Phonetic Association (IPA), to correctly break down words and phrases into their constituent elements and to analyse them properly.