Corso di laurea magistrale in Letteratura, Filologia e Linguistica italiana

To analyze the relationship between French and Italian in the writing of a political essay in the middle of 19th century, in order to be capable of analyzing and describing, using appropriate terminology, the development of the Italian language in terms of morphology, syntax and lexis, and in relation to historical and cultural contexts.

By the end of the lectures, students must show:

1) an awareness of how, during the 19^thcentury, the French language influenced the evolution of Italian prose on political and historical subjects; the ability to recognize Gallicism in syntax and lexis;

2) the ability to transpose Gallicisms into the corresponding traditional Italian;

3) the ability to understand why, between competing forms of Gallicism and traditional Italian, one of the two finally prevailed once Italy became an independent nation;

4) the ability to describe the modernization of Italian prose on political subjects in the passage from the 18^thto the 19^thcentury.

5) In particular, students must be able to recognize some peculiarities of Cattaneo’s language in translating between French and Italian.

 

A total of 36 hours of classes (6 CFU), over the course of which students will read and paraphrase selected extracts which the instructor will analyze in linguistic terms.

 

 

Using appropriate technical terms, students will orally paraphrase and analyze a selection of their own choosing of the pages examined during lectures. Students should make reference to what they have learned from the readings suggested in the exam bibliography; if that the student is not able to employ concepts from those readings, the instructor will ask specific questions in order to ascertain the student’s familiarity (which will count for up to 10/30). The final grade will be expressed in marks out of 30.

 

 

The central text is Carlo Cattaneo’s Dell'insurrezione di Milano nel 1848 e della successiva guerra: a comparison between the French and Italian versions.Paying particular attention to syntactic and lexical choices adopted during the process of translation, the course will analyze the text from a linguistic point of view. The aim is to study the relationship between two European languages used in political essays, as it happens in the work of Cattaneo – initially written in French, in 1848, during a staying in Paris of about forty days, where it was published, with the aim of obtaining help from the French Republic in the war against Austria, then republished by Cattaneo in an Italian and wider version in 1849, in Lugano, during the first year of his exile.

 

In addition to the material covered in lectures, using the following edition:

 

- Carlo Cattaneo, Dell'insurrezione di Milano nel 1848 e della successiva guerra, in Id., Scritti dal 1848 al 1852, edited by Luigi Ambrosoli, Milano, Mondadori, 1967 («Tutte le opere di Carlo Cattaneo» 4);

 

students are expected to study the following texts:

 

- S. Morgana, L'influsso francese, in Storia della lingua italiana, edited by L. Serianni e P. Trifone, Torino, Einaudi, 1993-1994, vol. III, pp. 671-719;

 

- D. Proietti, Classicismo, in Enciclopedia dell'italiano, edited by R. Simone et alii, Roma, Treccani, 2010-2011, pp. 209-212;

 

- A. Cotugno, Rinascimento e Risorgimento (secc. XVIII-XIX), in «Lingua e Stile», XLVII, 2012, pp. 265-310.

 

In addition to the books listed above, students not attending lectures must add the entries:

 

- Indipendenza, Libertà, Monarchia/Repubblica, Municipalismo, Nobiltà/Borghesia, Opinione pubblica, Unità, in Atlante culturale del Risorgimento: lessico del linguaggio politico dal Settecento all'Unità, edited by A. M. Banti et alii, Bari, Laterza, 2011.

 

Additional bibliographical suggestions for interested students will be offered during lectures. It is recommended that students attend lectures.