13 Febbraio 2019

Seminar: Back to the future: English from past to present FACOLTÀ DI SCIENZE LINGUISTICHE E LETTERATURE STRANIERE, CENTRO DI LINGUISTICA UNIVERSITÀ CATTOLICA (C.L.U.C.) Monday 4th March 2019 Aula Magna “Tovini”, 9.30am Via Trieste 17 – Brescia Programme 9.30 Opening remarks Sara CIGADA, Direttore Centro di Linguistica Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (C.L.U.C) Chair: Maria Luisa MAGGIONI 9.45 La storia della lingua come storia della società e della cultura Giovanni GOBBER, Preside Facoltà di Scienze Linguistiche e Letterature Straniere, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore 10.15 The English language: a living creature. Crosscurrents of change in the morphology and syntax of English Paola TORNAGHI, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca 10.45 Coffee break Chair: Sonia PIOTTI 11:30 The importance of Italian in the making of English Laura PINNAVAIA, Università degli Studi di Milano 11.45 Legal English: comparing the language of British laws and European Union laws from a diachronic perspective Francesca SERACINI, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore 12.15-14.30 Pause Chair: Amanda MURPHY 14.30 “We the People of the United States” and our Linguistic Heritage Pierfranca FORCHINI, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore 15.00 English Lingua Franca and the rise of the lyric video Olivia MAIR CACCIARI, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore 15.30 Coffee break Chair: Costanza CUCCHI 16.00 Surfing the net for the History of English Maria Luisa MAGGIONI, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore 16.30 Thr-ough the Ages: a diachronic approach to English spelling-to-sound correspondences Sonia PIOTTI, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore 17.00 Conclusion Scientific Committee: Maria Luisa Maggioni; Amanda Murphy; Sonia Piotti The event is free of charge. Participants are invited to register by 25th February 2019 at the following link: https://goo.gl/ezTeru Note per i docenti – Il seminario rientra nelle iniziative di formazione e aggiornamento dei docenti realizzato dalle Università automaticamente riconosciute dall’Amministrazione scolastica, secondo la normativa vigente, e dà luogo – per gli insegnanti di ordine e grado – agli effetti giuridici ed economici della partecipazione alle iniziative di formazione. Note per gli studenti – Il convegno rientra nelle tipologie di esperienze che danno luogo ai crediti formativi riconoscibili per l’esame di Stato (conclusivo del II ciclo di studi) come recita il D.M. 49 del 25.02.2000, nonché ad eventuali crediti formativi universitari.

Call For Papers: Humour and Satire in British Romanticism Durham University, 13-14 September 2019 ‘Humour, in its sense of “a natural or accidental disposition of the temperament of the mind”, or whatever way in which Lexicographers care to define it, is a word as changeable and iridescent as the thing it signifies.’ With this line Mario Praz opens the Introduction to his 1924 Italian translation of the Essays of Elia, capturing the difficulty of attempting to pin down a word and a feeling so mercurial and ambivalent. Samuel Johnson gives eleven definitions in total for the term, and a further three for ‘humorous’ (which range from ‘pleasant; jocular’ to ‘full of grotesque or odd images’). This conference will explore how Romantic writers navigated these various and often contradictory understandings, focusing both on their perceptions, and their uses, of humour. A reappraisal of satire, ‘a mode with which we do not as a rule associate the Romantic period’ (as Marilyn Butler has put it), runs parallel to this aim. The conference intends not only to consider comparatively neglected satirists like the ‘obscene beastly Peter Pindar’ (as Lamb called him), but also to contemplate satirical strands in better-known Romantic writers. In this regard we are particularly, but not solely, interested in satirical pieces relating to the 1819-2019 bicentennial. Papers on everything from P. B. Shelley’s The Mask of Anarchy to William Hone’s The Political House that Jack Built are very much encouraged. We welcome the submission of 250-word abstracts for 20-minute papers from academics at all levels, as well as Romanticists and humour specialists outside academia, which explore a wide interpretation of the theme. Topics may include (but are by no means limited to) the following: • Humour in translation and across cultures • The politics of humour: seditious jokes and political satire • Gender and humour/satire • Romantic readings of classical satire • Romantic readings of Augustan satire • Puns and linguistic ambiguity: Romantic conceptions of language • Notions of formality and sociability: the appropriacy of humour • Scientific understandings of laughter and humour • Humour, comedy, and the theatre • Topical humour/satire relating to the bicentennial of 1819 Please email proposals to romantichumourandsatire@gmail.com. The deadline for submissions is Monday, 20 May 2019.