Specialized rehabilitation

Module GLOTTOLOGIA E LINGUISTICA

The course aims to provide students:

1) the theoretical basis for a "scientific study" of languages and language, through reflection on the characteristics and properties of all historical-natural languages, linguistic variation and the main sociolinguistic themes;

2) reflection tools for the analysis of the Italian of medicine (from morphological, syntactic, textual and pragmatic points of view) and indications of the main characteristics of the textual types of medical communication (scientific article, university lecture, report, medical record, etc.), with reference to the theme of simplification of medical communication;

3) basic elements of pragmatics, with a particular focus on its main areas of research, e.g. speech acts and the classifications of Austin and Searle, the Grice model, politeness, and textuality, through reflection on the speaker's textual competence.

Lectures and active learning, with the support of multimedia presentations.

Workshop about textual competence. 

• Some basic concepts: natural and human language; natural-historical languages. The sociolinguistic perspective, varieties of Italian: specialistic languages and medical language.
• The Italian of medicine: morphological, syntactic and textual peculiarities. 
• From meaning to use: pragmatics. Speech acts, the Gricean model, implicatures and presuppositions. Textual linguistics.
  
• Toward professional writing: textual types of specialized medical communication (scientific article, medical record, report, etc.).

1. Gloria Gagliardi, Linguistica per le professioni sanitarie, Pàtron editore, 2019: cap. I. Il linguaggio e le lingue storico-naturali (pp. 17-56).
   
2. Claudia Caffi, Pragmatica. Sei lezioni, Carocci, 2017 (pp. 162).
   
3. R. Piro, L'italiano della medicina, Carocci, 2022 (pp. 126). 

Possible in-course tests or laboratory exercises on textual analysis will be agreed upon and, if necessary, the students' writing of a textual analysis paper (as agreed upon in class).

• What are the specific characteristics of human language that distinguish it from other types of "language."
  
• Language varieties (diatopia, diaphasia, diamesia, diastratia).
  
• Medical Italian: between common language and specialized variety.
  
• The main morphological characteristics of medical Italian.
  
• What are the specific syntactic aspects of medical Italian?
  
• From what perspective does pragmatics observe language and what elements does it highlight?
  
• What is deixis?
  
• Direct and indirect speech acts.
  
• What are anaphoric encapsulators?
  
• Textual types of medical communication.