Particular attention will be given to non-standard varieties or to linguistic varieties caught in a phase prior to that of standardisation. This is for two main reasons: firstly, because they are generally less well known, and secondly, because they represent a fuller and more nuanced phenomenology of language contact, which has not been affected (or is less affected) by the language policies of the established state-communities.

This edition will also focus particular attention on the textual dimension, i.e. interpreting texts from both a philological point of view as well as from the point of view of their social phenomenology within specific communities of practice.

On this occasion, the focus will be on the Latin-Romance linguistic tradition. In particular, the series of courses dedicated to historical sociolinguistics is in line with the research being carried out as part of the PRIN research project entitled “Writing expertise as a dynamic sociolinguistic force: the emergence and development of Italian communities of discourse in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages and their impact on languages and societies”.

Furthermore, in a comparative perspective, sociolinguistic realities will be considered with ‘other’ writing norms, such as the Greek and the Arabic scripts, with regard to the medieval phase in particular.