The course completes the theoretical training that the course of study intends to provide to students, in particular by deepening the students' knowledge and judgment skills on the study languages and their varieties.

The course aims to provide students with a precise knowledge of the consequences that the situation of multilingualism, a feature increasingly common in contemporary society, has on the so-called 'language market' and on the status that a specific modern standard language occupies in the international scenario.
In this perspective the different types of languages will be treated:
- from the internal point of view (mono-centric and pluricentric, characterized by endo- or exo-normativity), also with reference to the processes of linguistic standardization and to the final results of these processes;
- from an external and functional point of view (working languages, international languages, languages of communication, free languages);
- from a legal and regulatory point of view (official languages, co-official languages, national languages, minority languages).
Particular attention will be given to the so-called 'minority' languages in Europe and particularly in Italy, also in light of the fact that 20 years have passed since the promulgation of the Law of 15 December 1999, n. 482 "Rules on the protection of historical linguistic minorities".