GERMANIC PHILOLOGY
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2022/2023
- Teacher
- MARIALUISA CAPARRINI
- Credits
- 12
- Curriculum
- LETTERATURA, LINGUA, STORIA E SPETTACOLO
- Didactic period
- Primo Semestre
- SSD
- L-FIL-LET/15
Training objectives
- The course is an introduction to Germanic Philology and it aims at providing students with a basic knowledge to approach:
1) the study of Medieval Germanic cultures and literatures;
2) the study of old Germanic Languages;
3) the study of texts written in medieval Germanic languages.
By the end of the course students will be able to read, translate and analyse autonomously medieval Germanic texts.
The acquisition of this knowledge, together with the contents described below, represents the main learning aims and objectives of the course. Prerequisites
- None.
Course programme
- The course is structured as follows:
A) Introduction to Germanic Philology: contents, aims, methodology and overview of the history and culture of Germanic peoples.
B) Introduction to Germanic historical and comparative linguistics: analysis of the main phonological and morphological structures of the medieval Germanic languages.
C) Germanic Cosmogonic Poetry: full reading, translation and linguistic analysis of Caedmon's Hymn (Old English), of the Wessobrunn Prayer (Old High German), of some sections of the Voluspa (3-5) (Old Norse) and of lines 90b-98 of Beowulf (Old English). Didactic methods
- Lectures. Students will be invited to read short sections of the texts which are analysed during the course in order to learn how to correctly pronounce Old German languages.
Learning assessment procedures
- Oral exam.
During the course students can take an OPTIONAL written test concerning A) introduction to Germanic Philology and B) introduction to Germanic historical and comparative linguistics. The written test consists of 10 open questions (2 hours). This type of assessment is provided ONLY for attending students. Students who have passed the written text and who have accepted the proposed mark are allowed to take the oral exam only on part C). Otherwise, if they do not pass it or do not accept the mark, they will be tested orally on the three parts.
During the oral exam the methodological skills acquired by students will be evaluated. Students are required to be able to move within information acquired during classes and bibliographical material and to analyse autonomously medieval Germanic texts.
Students will be invited to answer questions concerning A) the discipline and its methodological approaches; the history and culture of the Germanic peoples; B) the historical and comparative Germanic linguistics (prosody; vowel and consonant system; morphology; analysis of a lemma); C) the text explained during the lectures. Students are also invited to read, to translate and to perform a linguistic and philological analysis of sections of the text. Students who have passed the written test will be invited to answer questions only concerning the text.
The achievement of an organic vision of information acquired during classes and a critical use of the bibliographical material will be assessed with very positive marks. An almost mnemonic knowledge and a basic critical use of the sources will lead to a passing grade. Training gaps and a total lack of a critical use of the material will lead to a failure. Reference texts
- Bibliography:
A) Introduction to Germanic Philology and B) Germanic historical and comparative linguistics
Alessandro Zironi, Filologia germanica. Lingua, storia, cultura, testi, Mondadori Education, Milano 2022
ONLY the following pages:
1-3 (par. 1.1, 1.2),
6-9 (par. 1.4),
56-78 (par. 2.4, 2.4.1, 2.4.2, 2.4.3, 2.4.3.1, 2.4.3.2, 2.4.3.3., 2.4.3.4, 2.4.3.5, 2.5),
82-88 (par. 2.5.2),
124-133 (par. 3.3, Leaving out from Mobilità di gruppi),
134-144 (par. 3.4.1, 3.4.2, 3.5., 3.5.1, 3.5.2 Leaving out from Convivenza linguistica),
147-155 (par. 3.5.3 Il termine “vichingo”),
164 (ONLY Ruolo centrale dell’assemblea),
167-168 (par. 4.2 Leaving out from Matrimonio contrattuale e libero),
178-179 (par. 4.4 Leaving out from I comitatus di Beowulf),
187-195 (par. 4.6.1),
210-215 (par. 5.1),
218-228 (par. 5.3),
236-242 (par. 5.5.2, 5.5.3),
245-265 (par. 5.6.1, 5.6.2, 5.6.3, 5.6.4),
274-277 (par. 5.7.3 Leaving out from Confini labili tra sottogeneri),
280-281 (par. 5.7.4 L’Edda di Snorri Sturluson)
C) Germanic Cosmogonic Poetry
- S.B. Greenfield / D.G. Calder, A New Critical History of the Old English Literature, New York / London: New York University Press 1986, p. 229.
- Wilhelm Braune / Ernst A. Ebbinghaus, Althochdeutsches Lesebuch, 17. Aufl., Tübingen: Niemeyer 1994, pp. 85-86.
- Marcello Meli, Voluspá. Un’apocalisse norrena, Roma: Carocci 2008, pp. 60-71.
- Giuseppe Brunetti (a c. di), Beowulf, Roma: Carocci 2003, vv. 90b-98 pp. 102-103.
Non-attending students will be also required to study the following text:
Marco Battaglia, Medioevo volgare germanico, Pisa: Pisa University Press, 2014, cap. 2 (La tradizione letteraria alto tedesca antica) pp. 25-48, cap. 3 (La letteratura anglosassone) pp. 49-89, cap. 5 (La tradizione letteraria della Scandinavia medioevale) pp. 105-139.
Further suggested readings:
Giulia Mazzuoli Porru, Manuale di inglese antico, Pisa: Giardini, 1992.
Augusto Scaffidi Abbate, Introduzione allo studio dell’antico tedesco e dei suoi documenti letterari, Roma: Istituto Italiano di Studi Germanici, 1989.
Yvonne S. Bonnetain, Breve grammatica dell’islandese antico, Trieste: Edizioni Parnaso 2001.
