Learning objectives
The course aims at the acquisition of high competence in understanding and analysing the linguistic and textual structure of journalistic texts in German as well as their contrastive analysis with reference to Italian.
Prerequisites
B2
Course unit content
Diachronic and synchronic description of the German-speaking press, theory and practice of media linguistics with special reference to the press, text analysis, selected tools of linguistic discourse analysis
Full programme
The course includes a general introductory part and a part on the theory and practice of the linguistic analysis of journalistic texts. The general part will include a brief introduction to the German journalistic landscape from a diachronic and synchronic perspective, a discussion of the characteristics of the main journalistic textual genres, mixed forms and genres 2.0 (e.g. direct textual / Liveticker), and a discussion of the concept of the language of the press and its possible place in the architecture of language. We will then proceed to the linguistic analysis of journalistic texts with a focus on lexical aspects (neologisms, borrowings, technicisms, occasionalisms and so-called ‘Augenblickkomposita’ including their morphological analysis) and syntactic aspects (nominalisations, period structure, dialogue representation and polyphony, etc.) from a contrastive perspective. Particular attention will also be paid to the study of metaphors and metonymy in contemporary journalistic discourse and to some specific aspects such as the syntax of newspaper headlines and the text-image relationship in linguistic perspective. The entire second part of the course will be supported by practical exercises on authentic journalistic texts and the presentation of short exemplary analyses by the participating students.
Bibliography
Reference texts for the general part: Bürger, Harald / Luginbühl, Martin (2014): Mediensprache. Berlin: de Gruyter (selected chapters communicated during the lectures).
Lüger, Heinz-Helmut (21995): Pressesprache. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
Theobald, Tina (2011): Presse und Sprache im 19. Jahrhundert. Eine Rekonstruktion des zeitgenössischen Diskurses. Heidelberg: Akademie Verlag (in particolare cap. III/4 “Die Zeitung – Entstehung eines Massenmediums”, pp. 62-98).
Reference texts for the theoretical-practical part:
slides from the lectures and individual thematic essays that will be distributed and discussed during the lectures.
The slides used to support the lectures will be uploaded to the Elly platform at the end of the course. Registration for the online course is required to download the slides. The slides are considered an integral part of the teaching material indicated in the bibliography. Non-attending students are reminded to check the available teaching material and the indications provided by the lecturer via the Elly platform.
Teaching methods
Lessons will be held in presence. For the first part of the course (introductory and theoretical part) there will be frontal dialogued lectures. The second part of the course, on the other hand, will combine the frontal dialogue part with an interactive part in which students will be required to present an oral report (approx. 20-30 minutes) on a topic (related to the course) previously agreed upon with the lecturer. The remaining class time will be devoted to in-depth study, content discussion and empirical exercises (linguistic analysis of journalistic text, discourse analysis, lexicographic research). In this way, active participation in the course and individual, targeted investigation of individual subtopics will be ensured, as well as the ability to present linguistic content in the foreign language (German).
Assessment methods and criteria
The summative assessment of learning involves two stages:
1) a written test that is compulsory and preparatory to the oral test (test of the "lettori"). This test will be divided into three parts
(oral comprehension, written comprehension, written production).
The duration of the written test is 3 hours.
The written test is graded on a scale of 0-30 and
forms the basis for the final grade.
2) a paper in German on a topic dealt with during the course and agreed in advance with the lecturer, and an oral interview devoted to discussing the paper handed in and testing the theoretical knowledge acquired and the ability to apply it. The oral examination will take place in German. Three weeks before the oral examination, students are required to submit the previously agreed paper by e-mail to the lecturer.
The final grade, the result of the examination parts 1) and 2)
is communicated immediately at the end of the oral examination. Please note that
online registration for the roll call is MANDATORY for all examinations.
.A failing grade is determined by a lack of
knowledge of the minimum course content, including terminology. A
sufficient assessment (18-23/30) is determined by the student's demonstration of having learnt the minimum and fundamental content of the course. Average marks (24-27/30) are awarded to the student who demonstrates a more than sufficient (24-25/30) or good (26-27/30) of the assessment indicators listed above. Scores
higher marks (from 28/30 to 30/30 cum laude) are awarded on the basis of the
demonstration of a very good to excellent level of the assessment indicators listed above.
Other information
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2030 agenda goals for sustainable development
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