116-076 The Story of Italian

Note

Credit Points

HECS Band

Coordinator

Prerequisites

Completion of all Second Year Italian subjects; 37.5 points at either post-beginners or post-VCE sequence for Third Year, admission to Honours in Italian for Fourth Year.

Semester

Subject Description

This subject begins with a study of the history of the language, which describes: the development of the Italian language since its Indo-European origins; the linguistic situation in Roman Italy; the fragmentation of Latin; and the genesis of present day Italian dialects. The subject will also focus on the 'questione della lingua' and the ascendancy of Tuscan/Roman. The 'dialectology' section of the subject involves an introduction to the study of one regional dialect. On completion of this subject, students should have acquired a basic knowledge of the structures of Latin to the extent that they are reflected in present day Italian; a knowledge of the development of Italian from postclassical Latin to the language spoken in contemporary Italy, and the reasons for that development; and a basic knowledge of the structures of one major Italian dialect.