Core Courses
Compulsory core courses per semester.
SEMESTER 1
Τhe course provides an introduction to the linguistic phenomenon, the basic principles and main branches of the scientific field of linguistics and applied linguistics. Every human being knows and uses at least one language, spoken or signed, and the Earth’s population to a large extent is bilingual or multilingual. Approximately 6,000 languages are spoken in the world today, and despite the seemingly great differences that place them in distinct language families, they all display common qualities that lead linguistics at present to speak of a “universal grammar”. The predisposition to a acquire a language and the creativity of language that can form infinite sentences, based on a small number of phonemes and a finite number of words, are key features of language activity Concepts and distinctions such as those between spoken and written speech, prescription, description and interpretation in Linguistics, linguistic competence and performance, are at the center of the course syllabus. Linguistics, especially in the last four decades, interacts with other sciences, resulting in the development of various interdisciplinary disciplines, besides the levels of linguistic analysis, pragmatics or text linguistics, such as historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, educational linguistics, anthropological linguistics, computational linguistics, neurolinguistics, law linguistics.
Tutors: Ioannis Galantomos – Anastasia Gkaintartzi
The course aims at raising students’ awareness around the concepts and the approaches that concern the study of language, society and culture. Students are expected to negotiate and understand the relations among language use, extralinguistic parameters and the social identities, as well as the dimensions of bilingualism, multilingualism and superdiversity in the modern, rapidly changing global sociolinguistic landscape. We discuss about the social factors that influence the use of language (gender, age, social class) and define language variety, but also the relation of language with the geographical (dialects) and technological environment (technologically mediated communication). We introduce the concept of sociolinguistic injustice in language variety use and the role of “standard language” or norm as a social language variety. There is an emphasis on issues of language contact and language policies in the context of sociolinguistics of globalization, as well as on the implications of the principles and the results of contemporary sociolinguistics for language teaching and the de-/re-/construction of language ideologies and policies with the overall aim to serve linguistic justice. The course included the following topics: language variety (geographical and social varieties -with a stress on youths’ sociolects), language change, multilingualism/superdiversity/translanguaging, identity and power, ideology and language attitudes, language policy and language programming, sociolinguistics of writing.
Tutors: Rula Kitsiou
The course introduces theories and skills that address critical questions at the intersection of communication and culture. As the world becomes more globalized because communication technology keeps us connected, it is more important than ever before for us to explore what it means to be a citizen of the global community. We discuss the challenges that we face in a diverse society and identify the components and characteristics of culture, and we explore the discursive construction of culture and identity. An in-depth analysis of the relationship between culture and communication is presented along with a critical examination of models of communication. Finally, we examine culture’s influence on people’s perceptions of themselves and others, and how perception influences communication
Tutors: Nikolas Gogonas
The course examines the fundamental theoretical debates (classical sociological theory, structuralism, British cultural studies, etc.) concerning the study of past and contemporary cultural phenomena. The analytical presentation of different theories and examples from different contexts and themes also examines how concepts of culture and popular culture incorporate positions and assumptions about power, gender, race and class.
Tutors: Irini Sifaki
Starting with the notion of “World Literature” and its various conceptualizations across time, we will survey the main artistic movements and currents that flourished in the modern world (17th – 20th cent.): baroque, classicism, romanticism, realism and naturalism, parnassianism and symbolism, modernism and the avant-garde, post-modernism. We will examine the theoretical grounds of each movement, the historical and socio-political context in which they developed, and at the same time we will study representative works from the world literary canon. Writers studied will include Shakespeare, Cervantes, Voltaire, Goethe, Wordsworth, Whitman, J. Austen, Dickens, Stendhal, Chekhov, Cavafy, Eliot, Woolf, Joyce and Borges.
Tutors: Emmanuela Canzia
The topics covered in the course include the introduction to Classical Philology, its theoretical background, its methodology, and the specific literary genres, based on the historical periods (epic, drama, lyric poetry, Hellenistic novel, etc.). It deals with the formation of a general picture of ancient Greek literature from the Homeric era to the Hellenistic era and includes the analysis of oral tradition and written language as well as the literary genres and their significance. In particular, the course highlights the following thematic areas: Archaeognostics and relevant sciences today, Classical Philology: methodology of Classical Philology, theory of literary interpretation, history of texts, critique of texts, history of Classical Philology: a) The Principles. Hellenistic times. Greco-Roman times. b) Middle Ages. Renaissance-Humanism: the “second life of antiquity” c) Modern times: the controversy of “ancient and modern” d) Bibliographic works.
In addition, the course aims to study representative authors and works of archaic, classical and Hellenistic literature. Through them, the aim is to familiarize the students with the language of the texts and the variety of genres of ancient Greek literature (epic, lyric poetry, drama, philosophy, rhetoric, epigram, Hellenistic novel), as well as with the central myths, themes and motifs that stamped world literature. Through the study of the ancient Greek literature the historical transitions from the archaic era to late antiquity are also highlighted.
Tutors: Panagiotis Kontonassios
SEMESTER 2
In the scientific approach of language, the study of units and levels of the linguistic analysis, as they have been determined in contemporary linguistics, plays a pivotal role. In this course, after a brief description of the evolution of the linguistic principles and ideas, some of the most important linguistic schools, theories, and methods are critically approached. The levels of linguistic analysis (phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics), their fundamental notions and units as well as the relations between them are being presented. The course combines the theoretical and practical dimension of the study of language, as it prepares the students for the comprehension of the linguistic phenomenon in general through the detection of areas and fields of linguistic interest, the delineation of linguistic elements and the analysis of linguistic data (sounds, words, sentences, texts). Application exercises aim at the familiarization of students with various groups of languages of the world, and include use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, identification of morphemes, depiction of the phrase structure of sentences, and text compilation, with data mainly from Modern Greek.
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The focus of this course is on the teaching of a language as an FL/L2. In particular, students will get familiarized with FL/L2 learning theories, individual differences that are expected to influence FL/L2 learning and instruction, FL/L2 teaching methods, the concept of communicative competence, CEFR proficiency levels, error analysis and the design of learning/teaching material.
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The objective of the course is to get students acquainted with the interests as well as important milestones in cultural history, emphasizing its more recent aspects and the dimension of globality. Mainly we will examine the encounter of cultural history with anthropology, cultural studies, and post-colonial theory. Besides presenting and discussing theory we will attempt to familiarize students with selected texts of this intercultural field and encourage them to enter into dialogue with them.
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The course focuses on examining and understanding the concept and practical dimension of contemporary international cultural relations and the identity, activity and contribution of European institutions and other international cultural organisations in this field. Beyond the theoretical discussion of issues and concepts of international cultural relations, the action and programs of international organisations, the tools used for their development, and their results at a social, economic and political level are presented and analysed.
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The course focuses on examining and understanding the concept and practical dimension of contemporary international cultural relations and the identity, activity and contribution of European institutions and other international cultural organisations in this field. Beyond the theoretical discussion of issues and concepts of international cultural relations, the action and programs of international organisations, the tools used for their development, and their results at a social, economic and political level are presented and analysed.
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Since its emergence in the 19th century the discipline of Comparative Literary Studies has never ceased to redefine itself, following the developments both in the study of literature and in the broader field of the humanities and the social sciences, with which it remains constantly in an interdisciplinary dialogue. his course aims to introduce students to the field of comparative literary studies, its methods and its tools of analysis. The course examines issues of theory, history, and methodology through both theoretical and literary texts. It focuses on critical reading and textual analysis and the students have the opportunity to combine theory and praxis.
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The course is a historical survey of Modern Greek Literature. We will study the main periods and turning points in the course of its development: writers, works, intellectual/aesthetic movements that contributed to the formation of the Modern Greek literary tradition. Special emphasis will be given on the parallel development of literary and non-literary genres, the study of literary trends in the context of Modern Greek / world history (including the history of ideas). We will examine representative writers and works from the Modern Greek literary canon and beyond, with an emphasis on writers of special interest to intercultural literary studies: Vincenzo Cornaro, Dionysios Solomos, Andreas Kalvos, Alexandros Papadiamantis, Georgios Vizyinos, Emmanouil Roidis, C. P. Cavafy, George Seferis, Dido Sotiriou, Melpo Axioti, Aris Alexandrou and others.
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SEMESTER 3
This course addresses the notions of bilingualism and multilingualism. In particular, the topics include the concepts of bilingualism, multilingualism and diglossia, the definition of a bilingual-multilingual speaker, bilingual-multilingual speech, child bilingualism-multilingualism, bilingual-multilingual brain, mental lexicon and education and the bilingual-multilingual aspects of the Greek society.
Tutors: Ioannis Galantomos
The course introduces students to the theory and practice of translation. It presents the basic concepts in the study of translation, the milestones in the history of translation studies, and contemporary theoretical approaches to translation. Teaching combines theory with the study of examples and practice. The aim is to make students aware of the mechanisms and pitfalls involved in the passage from one language or culture to another (automatisms, interactions, cultural codes, etc.)
Tutors: George Damaskinides
In this course we start by analysing cultural value orientations and the fundamental universal problems they address. Subsequently we explore identities and subgroups, including how group membership influences communication and how identities can be shaped through communication. Furthermore, we focus on the application of verbal and non-verbal communication skills and we discuss how culture permeates performing and interpreting communication.
Tutors: Nikolaos Gogonas
The course is organized around theoretical paradigms placed in a broader historical, socio-cultural and philosophical context, to which they are inextricably linked, in order to highlight literary theory as a complex cultural phenomenon, historically determined. In particular, the aim of the course is to familiarize the student with hermeneutic and reading theories, with formalism, structuralism and semiotics, classical and post-classical narratology, Marxism, psychoanalytic theory, deconstruction, feminist literary theory, queer and postcolonial theory, as well as recent trends in literary theory and cultural criticism. In each theoretical paradigm, an application of the interpretive approach to specific texts will be attempted.
Tutors: Spyridon Kiosses
This course addresses teaching Modern Greek to foreigners. The topics include the teaching of Modern Greek as an FL/L2 at the various levels of language analysis (e.g. phonology, morphology, syntax, vocabulary), issues related to the diglossic past of the Greek language and which are expected to influence its teaching to foreigners, Greek language as an FL/L2 proficiency levels, common errors made by foreigners, state examination for the certification of knowledge of the Greek language and learning material (print & online) for teaching Modern Greek to foreigners at various proficiency levels.
Tutors: Ioannis Galantomos
Language
Chinese Language Level I aims to develop basic Chinese reading and writing skills, to build vocabulary and grammar knowledge skills, and develop simple everyday dialogues that serve in every day communication.
Tutors: Georgia Milbani
Level I of the Arabic Language aims to develop basic reading and writing skills in Arabic language, to build vocabulary and grammar knowledge bases, and to develop simple everyday dialogues that serve in everyday communication.
Tutors: Fotis Katsigiannis
Spanish Language Level I aims to develop basic reading and writing skills in Spanish, build a base of vocabulary and grammar knowledge, and develop simple everyday dialogues that serve in everyday communication.
Tutors: Ilias Economopoulos
Level I Japanese Language aims to develop writing and reading skills in Japanese, strengthen pronunciation of new phonemes, build a base of lexical and grammatical knowledge, and develop simple everyday dialogues that serve in everyday communication.
Tutors: Dimitrios Karoutis