Università Roma Tre

The main objective of this course (Parts A+B) is to introduce students into the study of the theory and methods of General Linguistics – a subject having a crucial importance in the relevant “Corso di Laurea Triennale”. To this purpose, the basic notions of linguistics are illustrated – though at an elementary level, integrating theory with the discussion of examples and class exercises.
In particular, this B Part will deal with the following topics:
- Linguistic universals. Principles and Parameters.
- Categories and Functions; the notion of “word”.
- Syntactic analysis: constituency tests, phrase structure, phrasal “heads”, the head-complement parameter.
- Interfaces: interaction between syntax and the other levels of the grammar (lexicon, semantics, morphology and pragmatics)
- Verb valency. Arguments vs. adjuncts; argumental roles.
- Sentential structure; clausal types; null and expletive subject.
- Basic notions of pragmatics, Speech acts; Information structure.
- Major language families, genealogic classification of languages and their origin.
- Typological classification of languages; morphologic and syntactic typology. Comparative analysis. Ergativity.

• Frascarelli, M., F. Ramaglia e B. Corpina (2012) Elementi di sintassi. Caissa Italia – Roma/Cesena. Chapters: Introduction, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, Appendix (always excluding the paragraphs indicated with a grey background in the Table of Contents)
• Crystal, D. (1993) Enciclopedia Cambridge delle scienze del linguaggio, P.M. Bertinetto (ed.), Zanichelli, Bologna (Part IX: pp. 283-327).

The main aim of this course (Parts A+B) is to introduce students into the study of the theory and methods of general linguistics. To this purpose, the basic notions of linguistics are illustrated, at an elementary level, integrating theory with the discussion of examples and class exercises.

In particular, the A Part will deal with the following topics:
- Linguistics: language science, mind science.
- Elements of semiotics: verbal language properties.
- Verbal language: languages, language, and communication.
- Phonetics and phonetic transcription. Exercises on Italian and other languages.
- Phonology. Phonemes and allophones. Phonological oppositions. Phonological rules. The syllable. Suprasegmental features. Tone and intonation.
- Morphology. Morphemes and allomorphs. Classification of morphemes; morphological typology. Word formation: derivation and compounds. Word classes and grammatical categories.
- Semantics:The meaning. Kinds of sense relations between lexemes. Compositional semantics. Prototype semantics. Elements of sentence semantics. Paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations among lexemes.
- Pragmatics: Information structure and text linguistics.

• Simone, R. (2013), Fondamenti di linguistica, Milano, McGraw-Hill.