Teaching code

4S02217

Teacher

Paola Maria Caleffi

Credits

6

Language

Italian

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

L-LIN/12 - LANGUAGE AND TRANSLATION - ENGLISH

Period

Sem 2A dal Feb 17, 2020 al Mar 28, 2020.

Lessons timetable Moodle Seminars

To show the organization of the course that includes this module, follow this link:  Course organization

Learning outcomes

The module is aimed at providing an introduction to English linguistics, both in diachronic and in synchronic terms, in order to consolidate the students’ linguistic skills that are mostly relevant to the professional prospects related to a degree in Communication Studies. Diachronically, the module will outline the key stages of the history of the English language, with a focus on the evolution of the role of English as the language of global communication. From a synchronic perspective, the module will focus on aspects of the language at the phonological/phonetic and morphological levels. The peculiarities of the phonological/phonetic and morphological features related to the use of English as a lingua franca will be highlighted through a comparative analysis with major native varieties of English. At the end of the Module students will be able to identify and comment on peculiar phonetic/phonological and morphological features of English, and to understand their evolution from the origins to the present.

Program

1. From Old English to Contemporary English:
- Main phases of the history of the English language
- Present-Day English:
- ENL, ESL, EFL
- ELF
- English as the language of global communication
2. Phonetics/Phonology
- Speech vs writing
- The relationship between spelling and pronunciation in English
- The notion of 'accent'
- Accent models: RP and its evolution; General American
- The International Phonetic Alphabet and phonological transcription
- The phonological system of General British: vowel sounds; consonant sounds; the notion of “minimal pair”
- Syllables and word accent
- Main differences between General British and General American
- The Lingua Franca Core
3. Morphology
- The morpheme: bound and free morphemes
- Monomorphemic words and complex words
- Function and content words
- Word classes
- Inflectional morphology
- Derivation with and without affixation

Detalis concerning specific chapers from the volumes listed in the bibliography to prepare for the exam will be provided during the course and published on Moodle.

Examination Methods

Students must have obtained a B2-level certificate of proficiency in English to be allowed to sit the exam.

The exam will be in English, it will be written, and will refer to BOTH modules. The exam paper will include open-ended and multiple choice questions, as well as practical exercises. It will be divided into two parts, one for the first module, and the other for the second. Before the end of the course, a mock exam will be uploaded on Moodle. The mock exam will also be carried out and corrected during the last class. The exam is designed to assess the knowledge and understanding of the theoretical contents of both modules, and the ability to apply the theoretical knowledge acquired to concrete situations of language in use.

The mark will be in thirtieths and will be calculated as the sum of the scores obtained for each of the questions/excercises in the exam paper.

The final exam is the same for both attendees and non-attendees.