Sociolinguistics of contemporary Italian

Teacher(s)

De Pascale Stefano;

Language

Italian

Main themes

The objective of the course is to present a profile of the sociolinguistic situation in today's Italy. The main theoretical notions relevant to linguistics and sociolinguistics (language, norms, standard and neostandard, language use and users, dialects, the different types of linguistic variations,  and so on) will be discussed.
The main aim is to illustrate the characteristics of standard Italian, its regional variations and today's dialects by considering their use by speakers in different communicative situations.
 

Content

During the 2026/2027 academic year, this course on the sociolinguistics of contemporary Italian will focus on the spread, status, and patterns of use of the Italian language abroad. A historical overview of the international spread of Italian and Italian emigration will be presented. The remainder of the course will focus on an analysis of the linguistic repertoire of Italian speakers living in Belgium today.

Teaching methods

Interactive lectures, followed by practical sessions devoted to data collection and analysis.

Evaluation methods

Students will compile a portfolio documenting the activities carried out as part of a small-scale research project on the Italian-speaking community in Belgium. This portfolio will be presented during the examination period.
Distribution of marks:

• 70%: linguistic portfolio
• 30%: discussion of the materials and activities presented in the portfolio

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Bibliography

La liste bibliographique est disponible sur le site Moodle du cours.
A bibliographical list is available on the course website.

Teaching materials

• Les supports de cours se trouvent sur le site Moodle du cours.
• The course materials can be found on the course's Moodle site.

Faculty or entity

> ELAL