Coordinator
Prof. Alessandro Lenci
email: alessandro.lenci@unipi.it
Administrative seat
Department of Philology, Literature and Linguistics
Project description
The research activities conducted by the lecturers of the Academic Board covers the scientific-disciplinary areas represented in three curricula of the programme: “General, Historical, Applied, Computational, Educational Linguistics and Modern Languages” (French, English, Portuguese, Spanish, German, Baltic and Slavic languages); “Modern and Comparative Foreign Literatures” (French, English, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Slavic studies, German); and “Italian Studies” (literary, philological, linguistic).
In the literary field, research ranges from the origins of European literatures to the present day, with attention to different forms and genres, research methodologies, history of the disciplines, and the techniques used for the transmission of knowledge. In the field of linguistics, studies focus on ancient and modern (Indo-)European languages, including the Italian language and its dialects, considering phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactic and lexical structures from both synchronic and diachronic perspectives.
In philology, the PhD programme investigates the formal, material and historical-literary aspects of texts written in the cultural languages of Western Europe (including Latin and Greek, as well as the vernaculars), and texts produced in Italy or related to Italian culture. Studies in literary criticism and comparative literature address, on a theoretical and hermeneutic level—also through a contrastive approach—the general issues of literature, literary genres, textual production, dissemination, and evaluation.
Course objectives
The PhD in Linguistics, Foreign Literatures and Italian Studies aims to provide advanced specialised training in linguistic, philological (medieval, humanistic, and modern), and literary studies. By the end of the programme, each candidate will have acquired the specific expertise outlined in their chosen curriculum.
In particular, the “General, Historical, Applied, Computational, Educational Linguistics and Modern Languages” curriculum develops knowledge of theoretical models of linguistic analysis and their applications, covering both ancient and modern languages in synchronic and diachronic perspectives. The “Modern and Comparative Foreign Literatures” curriculum is designed to provide in-depth knowledge in the history and dynamics of the major European literatures, as well as the theories and methods of text analysis across continental traditions.
For the “Italian Studies” curriculum (literary, philological, linguistic), the training is aimed at preparing students to undertake high-level research activities—within universities, public bodies, or private institutions—on topics related to Italian studies (literary, philological, historical-linguistic, and medieval/humanistic), and to train students in the field of Digital Humanities (e.g. digital editions, corpus creation and management).
Curricula
- Modern and Comparative Foreign Literatures (French, English, Spanish, Slavic Studies, German, Portuguese, Romanian)
- General, Historical, Applied, Computational, Educational Linguistics and Modern Languages (French, English, Portuguese, Spanish, German, Baltic and Slavic Languages)
- Italian Studies (Literary, Philological, Linguistic)
Scientific-disciplinary areas
Comparative Literature and Literary Criticism
Teaching of Modern Languages
Glottology and Linguistics
French Literature
English Literature
Spanish Literature
German Literature
Romanian Language and Literature
Hispanic-American Language and Literatures
Language and Translation – French
Language and Translation – English
Language and Translation – Spanish
Language and Translation – German
Language and Translation – Portuguese and Brazilian
Slavic Studies
Philology of Italian Literature
Italian Literature
Contemporary Italian Literature
Medieval and Humanistic Latin Literature
Italian Linguistics
Websites
https://dilles.fileli.unipi.it/
https://www.fileli.unipi.it/studi-italianistici/
