Università Roma Tre

On the basis of documents and contemporary testimonies to the different linguistic phenomena, the course will illustrate some aspects of linguistic communication in Latin, considered in its diachronic development (from protohistory to the Romance) and in its various registers (standard and informal). The reading and analysis of various texts regarding Latin technical-scientific and didactic literature is aimed at providing the tools to grasp the specificities of the historical evolution of the Latin language and to identify its morphosyntactic and stylistic peculiarities. For this purpose the course consists of:
(1) A number of lessons minded in particular to offer an overview of the history of the Latin language from its origins up to the 6th century A.D., through the reconstruction of its evolution in the dimension of language of everyday use and literary language;
(2) Setting, reading, italian translation and commentary of texts included in Latin technical-scientific (by Cato, Varro, Celsus, Apicius, Vitruvius, Mela, Seneca, Plinius senior, Frontinis, Vegetius) and didactic literature (by Virgilius, Anonymous of Aetna, Columella, Grattius, Nemesianus).

Point 1:
- (a) I. Mazzini, Storia della lingua latina e del suo contesto. Linguistica e lingua letteraria, Vol. 1, Roma, Salerno Editrice, 2007.
- (b) Further bibliography and tools about the texts in the syllabus will be given during the course, and made available on line at the url of the course.

Point 2:
- (a) P. Parroni, La poesia del mondo naturale, in A. Fusi-A. Luceri-P. Parroni-G. Piras (a cura di), Lo Spazio Letterario di Roma antica, vol. VI (I Testi. 1 – Poesia), Roma, Salerno Editrice, 2009, pp. 214-269.
- (b) A. Luceri-P. Parroni-G. Piras, La letteratura tecnico-scientifica ed erudita, in A. Fusi-A. Luceri-P. Parroni-G. Piras (a cura di), Lo Spazio Letterario di Roma antica, vol. VII (I Testi. 2 – Prosa), Roma, Salerno Editrice, 2012, pp. 597-798.


Non-attending students will integrate the program with the individual study of the following text:

- Elena Malaspina, La comunicazione linguistica in latino. Testimonianze e documenti, Seconda edizione riveduta e ampliata con la collaborazione di Ermanno Malaspina, Alessandria, Ediz. dell’Orso, 2014.