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for a past academic year. Please see the current academic year for up to date information.
| Unit name |
Italian in Context: the Language of Comedy.
|
| Unit code |
ITAL30042 |
| Credit points |
10 |
| Level of study |
H/6
|
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
|
| Unit director |
Ms. Domenici |
| Open unit status |
Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None
|
| School/department |
Department of Italian |
| Faculty |
Faculty of Arts |
Description including Unit Aims
The course will examine a series of cultural texts all of which communicate through comedy. It will look at: popular comic films; political satire; the work of TV comedians; screenplays; contemporary comic literature. Examining each of these examples, students will look at the relationship between language and context; the set of assumptions that are needed for comedy to work; the interplay of standard Italian with dialect; the disparities between the language used by different generations; the use of jargon and a range of idiomatic constructions. Students will develop their knowledge of a wide of registers; their ability to relate language to context; their knowledge of the linguistic and cultural specificity of comedy.
Aims:
- To introduce students to a significant body of knowledge of a complexity appropriate to final year level. The content matter will normally include one or more of the following: literature; social, cultural or political history; linguistics; cultural studies; film, television or other media.
- To facilitate students engagement with a body of literature, including secondary literature, texts, including in non-print media, primary sources and ideas as a basis for their own analysis and development. Normally many or most of these sources will be in a language other than English and will enhance the development of their linguistic skills.
- To develop further skills of synthesis, analysis and independent research, building on the skills acquired in units at level I.
- To equip students with the skills to undertake postgraduate study in a relevant field.
Intended Learning Outcomes
Successful students will:
- be knowledgable about a significant cultural, historical or linguistic subject related to the language they are studying;
- will have advanced skills in the selection and synthesis of relevant material;
- be able to evaluate and analyse relevant material from a significant body of source materials, usually in a foreign language, at an advanced level;
- be able to respond to questions or problems by presenting their independent judgements in an appropriate style and at an advanced level of complexity;
- be able to transfer these skills to other working environments, including postgraduate study.
Teaching Information
Teaching will be by through one-hour weekly seminars.
Assessment Information
Each student will give a 15-minute presentation on an area of the course on which they will have done their own independent research. The presentation and the accompanying portfolio will account for 25% of the unit mark. Students will also sit a two-hour class test (75%) at the end of the course which will test their ability to understand, translate and comment on selected examples of complex language use.
Reading and References
- The Art of Persuasion: Political Communication in Italy from 1945 to the 1990s, eds. L. Cheles and L. Sponza, 2001.
- Non ci resta che ridere : una storia del cinema comico italiano, E. Giacovelli, 1999.
- Italian Cultural Studies: an Introduction, eds. D. Forgacs, R. Lumley, 1996.
Selected writings, Roman Jakobson. Vol.8, Major works 1976-1980, ed. Stephen Rudy, 1988.
