Nome dell'autore: Anglistica

Workshop proposal Title: “The concept of lightness: new perspectives and applications”. Venue: 52nd Meeting of the SLE (Societas Linguistica Europaea) – Leipzig (21-24 August 2019) Convenors: Roberta Mastrofini, Jodi L. Sandford, Marco Bagli (University of Perugia, Italy) The term lightness was first coined by Jespersen in relation to English verbal constructions formed by “an insignificant verb, to which the marks of person and tense are attached, before the really important idea” (Jespersen, 1954: 117-118). In other words, lightness was first detected as a property of general English predicates (i.e. to make, to have, to give, to take) when found in combination with a nomen actionis (Nickel, 1968) or, following a more recent definition, an eventive deverbal noun (Kiefer & Gross, 1995; Kiefer, 1998), as in the case of to make a call, to give a talk, to take a walk, to have a row. These examples represent a verbal construction in which the predicate is devoid of its literal meaning through a process of “predicate bleaching” (Szabolsci, 1986). As a consequence, the verb turns into a mere syntactic device (sometimes serving as an aspectual element too), while the noun undertakes the main semantic content of the construction (i.e. to make a call means “to call”; to give a talk means “to talk”, and so forth). Since then, the so-called Light Verb Constructions (LVCs) have been a highly debated topic in literature, and have been the object of research in a number of different languages. Nevertheless, many aspects seem to be unsolved. The first question concerns the methodology: using a single level of analysis (morphological vs. syntactic vs. semantic) has shed some light on the properties of the verb or of the noun, but failed in considering the phenomena of interface underlying the construction as a whole. Secondly, the criteria used to determine what is a LVC from what is not are not universally recognized by scholars, or not applicable to all instances of LVCs detected in literature. Moreover, several studies (Gross G., 1981; Cicalese, 1999; Jezek, 2011; Mastrofini, in press) detected lightness in full lexical predicates when found in specific syntagmatic environments. This construction has been named Light Verb Extension (LVE), since it shares semantic and syntactic similarities with traditional LVCs. Like LVCs, LVEs contain a bleached predicate, and the noun carries the semantic content of the pattern. Unlike LVCs, the verb functions as an aspectual device (i.e. to nourish resentment; to launch a project; to run a risk; to break a relationship). Lastly, Simone & Masini (2014) proposes a scale of “nouniness” including designative nouns (i.e. spoon), classifiers (i.e. spoonful), quantifiers (i.e. plenty), qualifiers (i.e. type), approximators (i.e. sort), and light nouns (i.e. act of courtesy, fit of crying, burst of laughter), suggesting the idea that lightness is not only a verbal feature. Our workshop proposal wants to bring together scholars working on lightness from any type of perspective ranging from syntax to semantics, in English, or even better in a cross-linguistic perspective. Diachronic, typological, and corpus-based approaches are welcome. The aim is to find an answer to the following unsolved questions: What is a LVC and what is not? Should we consider “light” only the prototypical instances retrieved by Jespersen or postulate different degrees of lightness in verbal constructions? And, if so, how, and by which parameters is lightness assessed? Would it be plausible to say that any lexical predicate may turn “light” under specific syntagmatic conditions? If so, which ones? Is lightness only a verbal property? Can lightness in LVEs be the result of a metaphorical shift? If so, could a semantic cognitive approach be relevant? How can lightness be considered from a Cognitive Linguistics approach? Is it a matter of conceptual metaphor extension (Lakoff, 1990; Lakoff & Johnson, 1999, 2003)? When did lightness emerge, in a diachronic perspective? Can we apply Prototype Theory to distinguish LVCs from LVEs? If you are interested in this topic, you are encouraged to send us an abstract of max. 300 words by October, 31st, 2018. We will select the most relevant contributions and submit them to SLE convenors by November, 20th. Please do not hesitate to spread the proposal to anybody who might be interested in this research. If you have any questions, or would like to submit a proposal, you can reach us at: Roberta Mastrofini: roberta.mastrofini@unipg.it Jodi L. Sandford: jodi.sandford@unipg.it Marco Bagli: marco.bagli@unipg.it

The International Association for the Study of Scottish Literatures (IASSL) are pleased to announce the launch of the annual Jack Prize, to be awarded annually for the best article on a subject related to Reception or Diaspora in Scottish Literatures (including Scots, English, Gaelic and Latin). The prize is named in honour of Professor Ronald Dyce Sadler Jack D.Litt. FRSE (1941-2016), Professor of Scottish and Mediaeval Literature at the University of Edinburgh from 1987-2004 and director of the Bibliography of Scottish Literature in Translation. Professor Jack’s work on Scottish literature’s Continental and Italian dimensions was groundbreaking. From his The Italian Influence in Scottish Literature (1972) on, he championed a concept of Scottish literature open to the world and engaged in dialogue with it. This prize of £100 or equivalent is named in his memory and awarded in his honour annually. Submissions should be sent to Professor Caroline McCracken-Flesher (University of Wyoming: CMF@uwyo.edu), Convenor of IASSL, by St Andrew’s Day, 30 November 2018. https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/critical/research/researchcentresandnetworks/iassl/thejackprize/

Approaches to Multimodal Digital Environments: from theories to practices (A-MODE) Multimodal digital communication is the main theme of this conference meant to attract multidisciplinary research on a wide range of issues from teaching and learning to analysing multimodal digital data appearing in multiple communication arenas. Drawing on the work related to the European project EU-MADE4LL, European Multimodal and Digital Education for Language Learning, the conference intends to bring together international scholars belonging to various fields of research sharing an interest in exploring recent developments in multimodal digital communication. We wish to tackle the complex arenas of digitality by reflecting on a broad range of multimodal texts, social practices and communities: content management systems, corporate web pages, institutional web pages, blogs, corporate videos, mash up, fanvids, etc … We are keen to address this ever-increasing complexity of digital communication by adopting a broad range of multimodal, semiotic and educational perspectives. Keynote speakers: Marina Bondi, University of Modena, Italy Carey Jewitt, UCL – Institute of Education, London, UK Rodney Jones, University of Reading, UK Gunther Kress and Jeff Bezemer, UCL – Institute of Education, London, UK David Machin, Örebro University, Sweden Theo van Leeuwen, University of Technology, Sidney Detailed information about the conference can be found at http://a-mode.eumade4ll.eu. TITOLO DEL CONVEGNO Approaches to Multimodal Digital Environments: from theories to practices (A-MODE) ORGANIZZATORI Elisabetta Adami (University of Leeds) Ilaria Moschini (Università di Firenze) Sandra Petroni (UNiversità di Roma ‘Tor Vergata) Maria Grazia Sindoni (Università di Messina) DATA 20-22 June 2019 SEDE Rome, University of “Tor Vergata” LINK http://a-mode.eumade4ll.eu.