Examination of Medieval Texts : from Latin to Old French

Teacher(s)

Cavagna Mattia;

Language

French

Prerequisites

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Main themes

The course will focus on a series of texts and extracts from the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries representing a number of literary genres, notably, hagiography, the novel, the epic, lyric poetry, the short narrative. Each of the chosen extracts will be analysed in detail both from the linguistic standpoint ' vocabulary, morphology, syntax, phonetics ' and from the literary and stylistic standpoint. Special attention will be paid to features of the literary technique specific to each of the genres covered, notably the formulaic style of the Chansons de Geste, the technique of 'conjoining' or 'interleaving' used in fiction, and the aesthetic of brevity in tales and fables.

Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	By the end of the course, students will have acquired linguistic and literary skills that will allow them to:   - understand the main morphological characteristics of Late Latin (simplification of the declination of nouns, multiplication of analogical forms, emergence of the prepositional system ¿)  - analyse the phonetic development of a series of forms from Late Latin to French  - understand and recognise the main linguistic features that characterised 11th, 12th and 13th century French (vocabulary, morphology, syntax) - translate into modern French all the excerpts from different texts analysed in the course - perform literary analysis of the texts in the programme, especially using the excerpts that will have been analysed in the course - situate the programme¿s texts and authors in the context of their production

The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.

Content

After a general introduction focussing on the linguistic characteristics of Old French, the lecture course will mainly concentrate on the critical and literary analysis of the selected excerpts, while the practical exercise sessions will mainly be devoted to linguistic analysis.

Teaching methods

Formal lectures with a variety of teaching support: reading of extracts, Key-Note, multimedia support + practical work sessions

Evaluation methods

Oral examination regarding the texts and authors encountered in the course. Students must be able to translate and analyse an excerpt from a text that will have been read and commented on during the lecture course, and must be able to situate it in its literary context.

Other information

The exercise sessions are led by Mme Florence Ninitte.

Online resources

An anthology of texts, supplied in the form of course notes, supported by a manual of the grammar of medieval French and a history of medieval French literature. Other written, visual and sound documents (in PDF, JPEG and Mp3 formats) will be posted on the MOODLE platform as the course progresses.

Bibliography

La bibliographie sera présente à l'intérieur du syllabus et sur Moodle

Faculty or entity

ROM