In the very first part of the course, an introduction to Italian phonetics will be given, in order to let the students write and read following the IPA system (International Phonetic Alphabet), which is an essential tool for the study of the phonologic phenomena of the dialects of Italy. Then, the course will address a set of basic concepts, such as the notions of language, dialect, linguistic repertoire, heteronomy and official language, isogloss, dialectal boundaries, and continuum. Moreover, students will know the principal methods and tools used in dialectology, such as linguistic Atlas, and the main problems in the classification of the dialects of Italy.

In the second part of the course, students will explore the structure of the Italian dialects, and the linguistic repertoire of the alloglot communities in Italy. For this reason, on one hand, the course will offer a wide review of the phonetic, grammatical and syntactic characteristics of the principal dialects of Italy through authentic material, such as videos and sound recordings. On the other hand, the course will recall the dialectal fragmentation of Italy from the pre-Latin substratum, and will present the current alloglot communities of Italy (such as the Greek, Albanian, Germanic, Ladino, Catalan, Occitan, etc.).

Required Text: Loporcaro, Michele. (2013). Profilo linguistico dei dialetti italiani. Roma-Bari: Laterza. ISBN: 978-88-593-0006-9