1) Theoretical and methodological aspects
• Illustration of the general principles of natural languages, such as the arbitrariness of the linguistic sign and the twofold articulation of language;
• exemplification of the different points of view according to which it is possible to examine a natural language (synchrony / diachrony, diastratic variability, diaphasic and diamesic variability);
• finally, the perspective of language as a communication system will be framed.
2) The sounds of language and languages
• We will deal with the treatment of a more strictly technical aspect, represented by the linguistic articulation plan related to the organization of sounds;
• particular attention will be paid to articulatory phonetics, including the international phonetic alphabet conventions and to the classical phonology of Prague School as a descriptive model of the functioning of sounds within a given linguistic system.
• elements of contrastive phonology between Italian and the main European languages.
3) Principles of morphology and syntax, especially in relation to the typological classification of languages and the pragmatic organization of information.