Spring 2008

ITL 396K • Introduction to Italian Sociolinguistics

Course Description

The objective of this course is to explore in detail the fundamental aspects of the linguistic variation that characterizes contemporary Italian, both spoken and written, in order to critically assess the following issues:

• The reality and relevance of the varieties of Italian proposed in Berruto (1987), as well as the degree of interrelationship among them.
• Whether (and to what extent) the architecture of Italian elaborated by Berruto (1987) fits the Italian taught abroad.

Grading Policy

• Active class discussion (and critique) of reading assignments (15%)
• Two oral presentations (30%)
• Research paper proposal with annotated bibliography (15%)
• Final research paper (40%)

Texts

Berruto, Gaetano. 2004[1987]. Sociolinguistica dell'italiano contemporaneo. Roma: Carocci.

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