The Programme welcomes Italian and international students. At the moment, our DiLLeS has 35 active PhD students, with 6 of them being tutored jointly with other European Universities.
LITERARY CURRICULUM
Lidiia Astapenko
The Theatre of Hugo Ball: Expressionistic and Dadaistic Influences
GERM-01/B
This research project undertakes an in-depth exploration of Hugo Ball’s theatrical work, examining the German writer’s contributions during the early 20th century. The study has two primary objectives: first, to clarify the relationship between Ball’s theatrical aesthetics and the Expressionist and Dadaist movements; second, to assess the impact of his dramatic writing and scenographic reflections on his literary evolution, emphasizing the performative nature that characterizes his body of work. The analysis will include a thorough examination of Ball’s texts, complemented by a study of his correspondence, which he maintained with family members and friends, including Hermann Hesse. This approach will be further enriched by a detailed analysis of Ball’s essays and theatrical works, aiming to illuminate his artistic vision and identify potential interpretative insights into his plays.
Supervisors: Prof. Serena Grazzini – Prof. Alessandro Fambrini
Elia Cavallini
Modern Representations of Political Power: Authoritarian Figures in Novels since the Second World War
COMP-01/A
This project’s main goal is to analyze the literary representation of authoritarian politicians – whether democratic or not – and explore what these depictions reveal about how such power is imagined and conceived within specific historical, social and cultural contexts. Beginning with a brief overview of the origins of this theme from the seventeenth century onward, the project will primarily focus on novels from the post-World War II period to the present. It will also engage with other literary genres or art forms, such as plays or films. The research will concentrate on works that portray political power from the inside, presenting powerful figures as protagonists rather than mere background characters. These texts will be examined through a comparative and thematic lens, with an emphasis on their interrelations. This approach is grounded in the belief that a global literary system exists and that themes of this nature transcend linguistic and cultural boundaries. The authors included in our corpus – such as Vargas Llosa, García Márquez, Kourouma, Vermes and Scurati – do not seek to propagandistically endorse the figures of power they portray. Instead, by adopting the perspective of these figures, these works invite readers to understand their nature and humanity, characterized by flaws, limitations, arrogance, and insecurities. This approach humanizes both the individuals in power and the authority they wield, offering insights into our cultural and human relationship with the concepts of authority and freedom.
Supervisors: Prof. Stefano Brugnolo – Prof. Serena Grazzini
Edoardo Giorgi
Animal Figures, Human Beasts and other Hybrid Representations in Romanian Literature from the Twentieth Century to the Present Day
FLMR-01/E
This PhD project aims to provide an overview of some of the most significant animalistic and pseudo-animalistic presences within Romanian literature, which constitute an interesting case study that can be collocated in a period ranging from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present day. The critical analysis will be set up according to an interdisciplinary perspective – through the study of figures and characters – and based on various methodologies, applied accordingly to the specificity of each text: methodologies that range from the field of ecocriticism and ethology, but above all of symbology, psychology, anthropology; the category of the fantastic will be also used, as well as the different procedures of intertextuality. Considering the breadth of the historical and socio-political period in which the various texts are placed, the importance of a complete vision of the animal or hybrid character’s development should not be underestimated: from the most exquisitely classical animalistic representations focused on the beast/man relationship in popular culture, to the multifaceted hybridism of the avant-gardes; from magical realism with folkloric grafts by authors such as Mircea Eliade to the socialist realism, finally arriving at postmodernism, extremely receptive to previous genres, but which has developed superior sensitivity and complexity, with a much greater awareness and attention to the feral point of view regarding the narration. In addition to animals and hybrid figures, it will also be essential to outline the concept of “human beasts”, through the analysis of the reduction of the human being to an animal, as a substantial part of the project intends to explore the facets of human bestiality within an approach aimed at the literature of memory.
Supervisors: Prof. Emilia David – Prof. Valeria Tocco
Giulia Pellegrinotti
giulia.pellegrinotti@phd.unipi.it
Otherness in fantasy worlds: a cultural and sociological analysis of the worldbuilding process in fantasy literature, from Tolkien to the present days
ANGL-01/A
This project aims to explore the potential of the worldbuilding process within the fantasy genre, taking into consideration the mutual influences between this process and the socio-cultural context in which it is used, with particular attention to those areas of our society where forms of discrimination are most common, such as racism, sexism, classism, and the exploitation of nature. This idea comes from the awareness that most fantasy fiction depicts forms of rebellion fighting against “evil forces” which represent a literary embodiment of the very same oppressive social, economic, and political structures that we find in our society. The first part of the project aims to collect the largest amount possible of fantasy works, not only those that are part of the canon but also, and especially, contemporary texts, in an attempt to fill a gap that is now too evident in academic criticism regarding the works published since the early 2000s. From the analysis of the worldbuilding used in the selected texts, the aim of this project is to propose a new model of categorization of fantasy fiction based on cultural and sociological criteria, in particular regarding the forms of oppression and discrimination highlighted within these works, the way this oppression is fought and the results that this entails. The second part of the project will instead focus on a more in-detail analysis of a smaller set of texts, reasonably not more than three, to analyse the mechanisms of worldbuilding based on the socio-cultural criteria aforementioned.
Supervisors: Prof. Roberta Ferrari – Prof. Laura Giovannelli
Attilio Russo (PNRR grant – DM 630/2024)
Narratological Perspectives on Russian Literature: A Digital Interface Between Tradition And Innovation
SLAV-01/A
The research project aims to establish an Open Access platform centered on Russian Narratology, serving two primary objectives: to foster the dissemination of lesser-known narratological theories and to provide an innovative digital resource that illuminates the evolution of narrative forms in early 20th-century Russian Literature. Within the realm of artistic studies—through international workshops, academic publications, and collaborative networks fostered by research institutions such as CRAL (Centre de recherches sur les arts et le langage) and ENN (European Narratology Network)—narratology has proven to be an effective analytical framework, merging structural, functional, and semiotic perspectives with the examination of archetypes, motifs, and narrative voices. This discipline has thus become essential in balancing the original truth of a text, as examined through historical-critical and philological analysis, with the interpretative act, inherently boundless in nature. Russian narratological studies hold a pivotal position within this framework. However, scholars such as Aleksandr Skaftymov, Tamara Sil’man, and Boris Korman—pioneers of fundamental concepts like historical poetics and subtext theory—remain relatively underrepresented in the contemporary academic arena, despite their relevance for modern European and American narratological studies. Addressing this substantial gap in Italian and European Slavic studies, the platform will feature translations of narratological articles, original theoretical contributions, comprehensive case studies, and a database on narrative techniques, themes, motifs, and common topoi. It will also provide educational resources to support both academic inquiry and broader public engagement.
Supervisor: Prof. Marco Sabbatini
LINGUISTIC CURRICULUM
Ilaria Manfredi (CECIL grant)
Multiword Expressions in Italian: building of a linguistic resource and evaluation of automatic annotation tools
GLOT-01/A
The project aims to research multiword expressions in Italian. The research focuses on setting up an approach that takes into account all the different manifestations of the phenomenon, as well as different varieties and domains of linguistic usage in Italian, including spoken language. The goal of the project is to evaluate various computational techniques and tools for the automatic annotation of multiword expressions, which can then be used to obtain an overview of the presence and characteristics of this phenomenon in the Italian language. To this end, I first intend to create a manually annotated linguistic resource, developing strategies to cover the widest possible range of multiword expressions across different varieties and domains of Italian. Various computational techniques and tools for automatic annotation will be evaluated making use of the created resource. The tool with the best performance can then be used on available Italian corpora to gather both quantitative and qualitative data on types, distribution, and possible differences in the use of multiword expressions across different varieties of Italian.
Supervisors: Alessandro Lenci – Prof. Francesco Rovai
Giulia Milani
Inter- and Intralingual Translation Processes by using Artificial Intelligence in the Field of University Teaching of German as a Foreign Language
GERM-01/C
This research project aims to constantly observe the evolving state of the art of studies dedicated to the use of AI-based tools in the field of university teaching of German as a foreign language (DaF, Deutsch als Fremdsprache), thus establishing a dynamic dialogue with the considerations on translation teaching and reading and writing skills in a second language (L2). This project intends to examine the production of the machine translation DeepL in the interlingual (German-Italian / Italian- German) and intralingual (German-German) translation processes in order to investigate the choices made by DeepL Translator and DeepL Write at the various levels of the language system, with particular attention to syntax and lexis. The study will be carried out on a specially created corpus consisting of literary and everyday texts translated by the AI system, compared with the source texts and their translations edited in German and/or Italian. By comparing the translations produced by human translators with those generated by the Artificial Intelligence, it will be possible to evaluate the functioning of the machine translation and to identify any recurring errors and inaccuracies, so as to consider its applicability for translation teaching purposes. The same text selection will then be employed in a second empirical study concerning the intralingual translation process by means of DeepL Write, with the aim of observing reductions, syntactic simplifications and changes in content, style and register. This research project raises, alongside the practical question of the potential use of AI in the university teaching of German as a foreign language, the theoretical question of the possibility to identify and describe those grammatical phenomena characterising ‘AI German’, which could provide a material basis for classroom testing and for the development of learners’ metalinguistic reflection and linguistic-translational skills.
Supervisors: Prof. Marina Foschi – Prof. Patrizio Malloggi
LITERARY CURRICULUM
María Helena Fernández Serrano
mariahelena.fernandezserrano@phd.unipi.it
A hand fan of flames: Lucía Sánchez Saornil’s ultraist and libertarian poetry literary analysis
[L-LIN/05]
This research project aims to analyze Lucía Sánchez Saornil’s poetry. This Spanish poet, journalist and feminist anarcho-syndicalist was most active in the first three decades of the 20th century, publishing in many literary journals of different sorts -provincial, modernist, vanguardist, anarchic, feminist-. Her poetic compositions related to the Spanish vanguardist movement Ultraism, of which Saornil was the only female voice, and the poems which were inspired by the author’s political activism will be attentively considered. Aiming to highlight the esthetic-literary value of her work and not just the pioneer and her politically-committed characteristics, this study will focus on the analysis of the poetic text through a critical approach considering philological and stylistic aspects. Lastly, this study, which will be presented in Spanish, will also take into account social studies and gender studies in order to analyze the author’s poetry in the correct cultural and political framework and between the dynamics of the literary journals in that historical period.
Supervisors: Prof. E. Di Pastena – Prof. F. Cappelli
Maria Giardina
Time, language and worldview: a study of time and recurring composition scheme in the last poem of T. S. Eliot
[L-LIN/10]
The project is focused on producing a new critical Italian edition of T. S. Eliot’s Four Quartets, in line with international critical contributions. The research aims to investigate new lines of interpretation, which highlight the textual openness and the originality of Eliot’s last poem. The main focus of the research is to study the complex play of time in Eliot’s last poem, which operates on formal, thematic, and metatextual levels. The research will examine the connection between the plots of time and the dimensions of language, temporality, and worldview. The theoretical study of temporality will complement the study of the composition pattern of the poem, which is based on a recurring image scheme. The project will highlight the complex relationship between the use of poetic language and the philosophical and ethical conception of the world, which imply and complement each other. The concentric link between time, language, and worldview in the Four Quartets allows us to establish a parallelism between the written dimension of the text and its reading, composition of the work, and reception of the same. Finally, we aim to investigate the points of contact between Eliot’s temporal conception and that present in other literary works.
Supervisors: Prof. F. Ciompi – Prof. L. Giovannelli
Teresa Lombardi
The Cultural Relations Between the Italian Peninsula and the Grand Principality of Moscow in the 15th and the 16th Centuries: Itineraries, Protagonists and Records
[L-LIN/21]
This research project aims to help recompose an overview of the relations between the States of the Italian peninsula and Muscovy in the period between the 15th and 16th centuries, in their political-diplomatic, but also and above all cultural expression – literary, artistic and architectural. This will also aim to highlight the proximity of the Muscovite cultural environment of the time to the Italian Humanism and Renaissance, which is currently being dealt with in Slavic studies by an important part of the scientific community. The influence of the Italian Humanism and Renaissance on the Grand Principality of Moscow, in fact, is evident in the literary field – there were massive translations of Latin and Greek texts of ecclesiastical matters – and in the architectural field – it was Italian architects who built the Moscow Kremlin. At the same time, in Italian literary works – ethno-geographical treatises – and artistic works – la Dama con l’ermellino – interest towards the still little-known Russian land emerges. Therefore, starting from the current scientific literature, through a census of published and unpublished contemporary sources, two inventories will be compiled, one of the actors of these relations, and the other of their records, with the aim of taking a first step in the creation of an overall vision that we are currently lacking. Through these inventories it will also be possible to highlight the most relevant historical moments of contact, the very nature of the exchanges, their unilaterality or reciprocity in certain areas. Finally, a series of representative documents will be selected and studied in depth, in order to provide a glimpse of the historical and cultural framework as it was perceived by contemporaries.
Supervisors: Prof. F. Romoli – Prof. M. Sabbatini
Camilla Predieri
Albert Camus’ theatrical adaptations: an intersemiotic and interlinguistic translation
[L-LIN/03]
The research aims to provide an analysis of the theatrical adaptations made by Albert Camus. More specifically, it deals with an in-depth and detailed explanation of each transposition for the stage. The study will focus on the literary value of the original works, and afterwards it will concentrate on the variant proposed by the French-Algerian author. The project also includes the dramas published posthumously and plays that – although not explicitly adaptations – seem inspired by previously written texts. Particular attention will be given to the content variations of the plots, the process of intersemiotic translation in the transition from one literary genre to another, and the interlinguistic translation: Albert Camus adapted works from different authors, eras, and languages. In our research, the selected corpus for assessing interlingual translation will be the adaptations Un cas intéressant, Requiem pour une nonne and Caligula: the plots come respectively from texts by Dino Buzzati, William Faulkner and Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus and would therefore refer to a translation from Italian, American English, and Latin. At the same time, an attempt will be made to outline common aspects and point out divergences within the adaptation activity of Albert Camus, to attempt a unity and a general and exhaustive investigation of the phenomenon. Finally, the reception of the works – original and adapted – in the cultural landscape of the time will be investigated.
Supervisors: Prof. B. Sommovigo – Prof. A. Sanna
Olivia-Carmen Țîrlea
The Lexicultural Approach in the Acquisition of Romanian as a Foreign Language (RFL)
[FLMR-01/E]The main objective of the research project entitled The Lexicultural Approach in the Acquisition of Romanian as a Foreign Language (RFL) is to highlight the significant role that the lexicultural approach can play in the acquisition of Romanian as a foreign language. Specifically, starting from the vision of the French linguist Robert Galisson, according to which some words contain cultural information (lexiculturemes), we propose to theorize the lexicultural approach (what it consists of and what strategies it implies), investigating different directions: from linguistics (where the idea formulated by Wilhelm von Humboldt remains essential, namely that language constitutes a fundamental identifying trait of a people/ethnic group) and from anthropology (where the theory of language on mental representations supported by Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf prevails) to lexicography and a series of principles of translation studies. Therefore, we will integrate the theoretical approach with a practical one, placing emphasis on the semantic aspect of words. Thus, by analyzing the content offered in textbooks for foreign students learning basic Romanian, we intend to create a small dictionary of words that convey the Romanian cultural specificity, including a concise explanation in both Romanian and Italian, which will further be useful especially to italian students and teachers interested in the study of Romanian Studies.
Prof. Emilia David (supervisor); Prof. Elena Platon (co-supervisor)
LINGUISTIC CURRICULUM
Bianca Abbà
Internal and external vocalic encounters: divergences and continuity
[L-LIN/01]
This Ph.D. project stems from the gap in the literature of detailed studies, both qualitative and quantitative, on the differences between hiatus and dialephe and diphthong and synalephe. The study builds on previous works investigating the differences between rising and falling diphthongs and between diphthongs and hiatuses; building on the results obtained, it also takes up the methods. The phenomenon analysis will be based on a corpus consisting of recordings of three different speech styles, differentiated for the diaphasic axis: formal read speech, informal read speech, and spontaneous speech, obtained through the free reworking of the informal text. The acquired data will be used to study internal and external vocalic encounters: to identify possible predictors of different realisations in the case of external vocalic encounters and to study the differences between internal and external realisations of the different outcome: internal and external tautosyllabic and heterosyllabic outcomes of vowel encounters. The project thus aims to enrich the knowledge landscape dealing with vocalic encounters to enable us to achieve symmetry in the information we have about their behaviour both in a more normed context, such as the internal context, and in a context closely related to other speech characteristics, such as the external one.
Supervisors: Prof. G. Marotta – Prof. S. Calamai
Alessio Agolino
A comparison between dialects of Scicli and Modica
[L-LIN/01]
This research aims to investigate the phonetic differences between the dialects of Scicli and Modica. Despite the close geographical proximity between the two towns, their respective dialects seem to show some divergences concerning the outcome of certain Latin consonantal clusters. In particular, the Scicli dialect presents certain phonetic features that differentiate it from the other dialects of south-eastern Sicily and distinguish Scicli as a linguistic enclave. Among the Latin clusters examined are those that in Sicilian are usually subject to palatalisation (-BL-, -PL-, -GL-, -CL-, -TL-, -LJ-, -BJ-, -VJ-, -DJ-, -TJ-, C, G + E, I). For some of these clusters, the two dialects show diametrically opposite phonetic outputs: while in Modica -CL-, -PL-, -TL- provide an affricate outcome [t(ː)ʃ], e.g. PLUMBUM > [ʧ]ummu ‘lead’, MACULA > ma[tːʃ]a ‘tree’, in Scicli the outcome is [kj]ummu or [c]ummu and ma[kːj]a or ma[cː]a, i.e., an articulation that oscillates between a coarticulated velar and a palatal plosive. Similarly, if for C + yod clusters in Modica the outcome is a voiced palatal plosive [ɟː], e.g., CAVEA > ca[ɟː]a ‘cage’, the Scicli dialect responds with an affricate [dːʒ], so we have ca[dːʒ]a. Another goal of this research is to analyze the sibilant outcomes of -STR- and /rː/, as in STRATA > [ʂː]ata, FERRUM > fie[ʂː]u, and the process of retraction of the preconsonantal sibilant /s/ → [ʃ] /_C, e.g. [ʃ]tiḍḍa ‘star’, [ʃ]cupa ‘broom’, [ʃ]pertu ‘cunning’, affecting the entire south-eastern Sicily. For the purposes of this project, a dialectal fieldwork is proposed with the aim of recording audio material and a sufficiently large amount of data to be able to conduct an accurate acoustic and statistical analysis. Particular attention will be paid to sociolinguistic aspects, such as age and gender, to document possible changes not only diastratically and synchronically, but also diachronically (apparent time hypothesis). Finally, the phenomena examined will be framed within the most recent phonological theories, in particular CVCV theory. The syllabic status of the implicated sibilant will be studied to figure out to what extent the retraction process of the preconsonantal sibilant may prove its extrasyllabicity. The processes of palatalisation will also be examined from a phonological perspective. The analysis will be focused on the incidence of positional and/or melodic factors based on phonetic evidence and the heterosyllabic computation of the C + yod clusters. The heterosyllabicity of /j/ in these clusters has been used in literature to explain the Coda Mirror phenomenon and palatalisation processes through yod fortition in the evolution from Latin to Romance languages. This project aims to provide further evidence supporting this phenomenon.
Supervisors: Prof. G. Marotta – Prof. S. Calamai
Valeria De Rose
The aorist in -ην in Postclassical Greek between middle and passive: from the Septuagint to the New Testament.
[L-LIN/01]
The aim of this project is to examine the functional organization of the aorist in -ην in the Septuagint and in the New Testament to shed light on the Postclassical Greek merger of passive and middle voice (cf. Swete 1914, Browning 1983, Conybeare & Stock 1988, Horrocks 2010, Voitila 2016). It has been shown that the aorist in -ην finds its original function in the expression of unaccusative and, more specifically, anticausative values (Romagno 2014): passive, reflexive, and temporal values are epiphenomena of specific components of the verb meaning that are incompatible with the anticausative representation of the event (cf. Romagno 2010, 2021). From the Hellenistc period onwards, the Greek language shows an increasing tendency to the morphological and functional merger of passive and middle voice with an extensive use of the aorist in -ην. Therefore, this project intends to offer a detailed account of the evolution of the functional values of this aorist in Biblical Greek to explain all its instances in a coherent scenario and, hence, to understand the principles underlying the diachronic patterns of change of this morphological category (cf. Lazzeroni 2005). The research will be carried out on several fronts. Firstly, our purpose is to analyze all the occurrences of the aorist in -ην in the Septuagint in comparison to the Biblical Hebrew niphal, to see whether and to what extent this correspondence is respected and, consequently, to understand the functional principles underlying the use of both categories. Our analysis will allow us to also evaluate the influence of Hebrew and Aramaic on the Greek version of the Bible. Secondly, the occurrences of the aorist in -ην in the New Testament will be analyzed to further investigate the Hebrew-Greek interference (Blass, Debrunner & Funk 1961, Janse 1998, 2002, 2007, 2014, Mancini 2013). Thence, this project intends to contribute to the understanding, on one hand, of the merge of passive and middle voice in Postclassical Greek and, on the other hand, of the principles underlying this process, according to a homogeneous theoretical framework.
Supervisors: Prof. D. Romagno – Prof. P.G. Borbone
Mattia Proietti
Artificial Intelligence Models for the automatic semantic analysis of PA and legal texts
[L-LIN/01]
The study aims at the experimentation of the most recent computational techniques at our disposal to analyse the linguistic competence of comprehension (Natural Language Understanding) and production (Natural Language Generation) shown by the so-called Large Language Models (LLMs) to evaluate their abilities on bureaucratic and legal texts specifically. More precisely, the proficiency of LLMs in yielding coherent linguistic representation and extracting consistent information from such vertical domains will be addressed. On the other hand, methodologies to enhance those capabilities throughout the integration of knowledge-specific information and linguistic adaptation will be explored. The project will follow two main directions: on one side, it will address the finding and/or creation of domain-specific linguistic resources; on the other side, it will be focused on the choice, evaluation and enhancement of LLMs to apply them to specific use cases and linguistic tasks of different nature and complexity among the PA and legal domains.
Supervisors: Prof. A. Lenci – Prof. L. Passaro
Olga Kobzeva
Legal Language in Translation: “Foreignisation” or “Domestication”? Linguistic, contrastive and translation analysis of legal texts between Italian and Russian
[L-LIN/21]
This project aims to investigate the complex nature of the legal text. In particular, the study intends to examine linguistic and textual features, such as transparency, mono-/polysemy, the (non)universality of the legal concept, and the performative character of a legal unit. It also analyses linguistic economy (as well as redundancy) and the speaker’s strategies, used in lexicalizing a legal concept, in order to give it a prescriptive character. The project proposes a new research method that will contribute to re-evaluating the communicative macro function of the legal message, where its pragmatic element will be favoured. Thus, the study will focus on the (neuro)perception of the message, from the point of view of the common recipient, that is on the neuroperception of the surface and deep structures of the legal unit: the study from this perspective has not yet been the object of the research. Through a contrastive linguistic analysis of the normative texts between Italian, French and Russian, some convergences and divergences in the legal-conceptual coding will be illustrated. From this point of view, the role of the translator will be examined, in his or her approach to foreign or domesticate, that is in adopting the two strategies offered by Translation Studies. It will be also discussed which strategy should be favored, as well as the reasons for that choice. Finally, translation errors, i.e. mistakes and errors, and their causes will be argued. This research is based on empirical data, and aims to find out new causes of translation errors, determined by cognitive and folk linguistic factors.
Supervisors: Prof. Viktoria Lazareva – Prof. Luisa Ruvoletto
CURRICULUM LETTERARIO
Elena Bastianoni
elena.bastianoni@phd.unipi.it
[L-LIN/10]
This research intends to explore some of the most significant representations of pandemics in Anglophone literature, ranging from the Nineteenth Century to the present time. By considering Assmann’s concept of cultural memory and the importance of digital humanities in the process of coping with the crisis caused by the pandemic, the project aims at investigating how the literatures of the Anglophone world have represented historical and imaginary epidemics, playing a vital role in preserving the cultural heritage. In this sense, the project will contribute to memory studies by creating an interactive and digitalized Atlas of the Pandemic. By carrying out an accurate analysis of some works by Margaret Atwood, Meg Mundell and Emma Donoghue, namely The Year of the Flood, The Trespassers and The Pull of the Stars, we will try to use Anglophone pandemic literature as a privileged point of view from which to study the long-debated connection between damaged ecology and epidemics, with a special attention to Ecocriticism and the genre of dystopian fiction. Finally, by drawing on the notions of trauma and psychophysical healing, the project will investigate the role of Anglophone pandemic literature as a powerful means of providing awareness of the trauma inflicted by the pandemic experience and offering practical solutions in moments of crisis, promoting the importance of solidarity and an attitude of respect towards the environment and choosing a peaceful coexistence between the living beings who inhabit the earth.
Supervisors: prof. Biancamaria Rizzardi, prof. Fausto Ciompi
Angel Antonio De Oliveira Amata
a.deoliveiraamata@studenti.unipi.it
Reimagining Literature: A Comparative Analysis of Novels and Graphic Novels.
[L-LIN/10]
The aim of this project is to analyse a selection of texts from 19th-century English literature through the graphic novel medium. This project, located at the crossroads of narratology, adaptation studies, and comics studies, intends to draw attention on the strong connection between the literary world and its graphic counterpart, from early 20th-century Modernist influences to contemporary transmedia storytelling. This study will focus on different aspects of literary criticism and textual analysis: firstly, it will tackle theoretical — semiotic and narratological — issues connected with the passage from the linguistic medium to such a hybrid product as the graphic novel, in which different semiotic systems are blended; on the other hand, it will take into account the broader cultural implications inherent in the appropriation of literary classics — canonical texts belonging to traditional highbrow culture — by a genre typically associated with popular culture, a field that has gained more and more attention in the contemporary critical debate, from Umberto Eco’s pronouncements to the achievements of cultural studies.
Supervisors: Prof. Roberta Ferrari, Prof. Sara Soncini.
Alessia Guidi
alessia.guidi@phd.unipi.it
[L-LIN/10]
The aim of this research is to carry out an analysis of the literary strategies and symbolical and archetypal elements of science fiction and dystopian narrative in contemporary Anglo-American literature. My study will start by highlighting the levels of construction of fictional worlds and how humans relate to these alternative versions of reality. It will subsequently focus on a number of novels which have not yet been fully investigated from this specific perspective. Light will be shed on the ways characters’ attitudes and points of view encourage the reader to reflect on the epistemological and ontological structures of different universes, including the one he/she lives in. By adopting a Junghian approach and the interpretative paradigms of Women’s Studies, I will single out the peculiar traits of the female protagonists in their contextual dimension. In essence, my research concentrates on the potential and critical value of the science fiction genre as revisited by contemporary female writers.
Supervisors: prof. Laura Giovannelli, prof. Simona Beccone
Andrea Lupi
andrea.lupi@phd.unipi.it
“You must not deny the body”: Corporeal Encounters in T. S. Eliot’s Writings
[L-LIN/10]
The current research project seeks to examine the relevance of the corporeal sphere and its interaction with the world at the core of T. S. Eliot’s works, including his poetry, plays, and criticism. By closely reading a selection of primary texts along with secondary literature, this doctoral research posits the deep entanglements between corporeality and literature in modernism, and most specifically in Eliot, as explored in critical and aesthetic terms. Relying on the notion of the body as performative and interrelational, I will contribute to the on-going reassessment of Eliot’s oeuvre, rendering a further level of significance, so far only partially recognised by critics, and shedding light on the complexity and plurality of experiences and issues mediated by the body – e.g. epistemology, gender and sexuality, the relationship with the non-human. It will be hence questioned how Eliot engages with corporeality in his works, what his philosophical, critical, and aesthetic understanding of the body-world relationship is, and in what ways he interacts with his contemporaries’ theories and achievements around the nature and workings of the body.
Supervisors: prof. Laura Giovannelli, prof. Fausto Ciompi
Caterina Russo
caterina.russo@phd.unipi.it
The exile in Spanish literature of the Golden Age
[L-LIN/05]
The research project intends to offer a study on exile in the literary production of the Spanish Golden Age, about the category of destierro. Firstly, exile is defined as a literary theme, starting from the tools provided by thematic criticism. Then, a series of categories useful for the critical analysis of the literary cases. Finally, the textual corpus is presented, indicating the expected results of its analysis in a thematic key. Respect to the subject, the term destierro (deprivation of land, as shown by the suffix des-), refers to the legal institution, which provided for a spatial removal from the place of residence, to restore the balance of power. Currently, there is a lack of a thematic study related to this modality of the theme. Therefore, in this research, I will try to offer a critical analysis of the philological-literary aspects, but from a global and transversal perspective that can touch on different fields of research (for example, sociocultural or political-philosophical issues).
Supervisors: prof. Enrico Di Pastena, prof. Federica Cappelli
CURRICULUM LINGUISTICO
Paola Esposito
paola.esposito@phd.unipi.it
Future between temporality and modality: the paths of diachronic typology
[L-LIN/01]
This project proposes an analysis of the grammaticalization of the future morphology in Classical Arabic and in some Arabic varieties spoken in Maghreb from the perspective of diachronic typology. In the face of the grammaticalization processes currently identified in this field of study, the following research project will explore the possible existence of alternative paths, with particular attention to the lexical sources out of which future morphemes can develop. For this purpose, this study will provide for an enlargement of the database both on the diatopic and diachronic axis, by means of the inclusion of varieties generally underrepresented in typological studies on this subject. In pursuing this goal, the focus will be on the modal functions which can be encoded by the future morphemes: these functions give fundamental information to shed light not only on the mechanisms of semantic change involved in the development of future values, but also on the nature of this ambiguous linguistic category.
Supervisors: prof. Francesco Rovai, prof. Daniele Mascitelli
Agnese Lombardi
agnese.lombardi@phd.unipi.it
Neural language model enriched with lexical semantics and cognitive implications
[L-LIN/01]
This project aims to create a Neural Language Model (NLM) based on Transformer, built combining the semantic representations automatically extracted from the texts (contextualized embedding abstracting the entire sentence) with the graphs containing the lexical semantic information, to obtain enriched semantic representations. The lexical semantic knowledge is represented with a graph that extracts the information from parsed corpora, using syntactic relations as an approximation of defined lexical semantics. The hypothesis is that the use of enriched semantic representations improves the performance of the model, specifically in the processing of tasks that require complex semantic composition. Once pretrained, the model might be fine-tuned to process real-word tasks. In a second step, the model will be evaluated on the processing of linguistic tasks, also in comparison to the performance of human subject on the same tasks. The project aims to contribute to the state of art on three perspectives. First, the computational perspective, improving the semantic compositionality of NLM. The second is the bare theoretical linguistic one, because it clarifies how speakers process lexical semantics properties and how they interact with each other. The last one is the cognitive one: considering the comparison between the results of the model and those of the speakers, can the NLM be considered also a cognitive model of language processing?
Supervisors: prof. Alessandro Lenci, prof. Domenica Romagno
LITERARY CURRICULUM
Pierpaolo Amenta
p.amenta@studenti.unipi.it
Traduire le Maroc littéraire d’expression française entre XXème et XXIème siècle : Elisa Chimenti, Driss Chraïbi et Mahi Binebine. Pour une étude de l’hétérolinguisme et de la phraséologie transculturelle.
[L-LIN/03]
Ce projet de recherche vise à mettre en évidence les modalités par lesquelles, dans le processus de traduction, l’hétérolinguisme et le contact de langues et cultures engendrent un enrichissement linguistique et culturel dans l’idiome d’accueil, notamment en italien mais à l’aide de la comparaison avec l’espagnol et l’anglais.
L’objet de notre étude est un corpus portant sur l’écriture de certains écrivains dont les œuvres font partie de la production littéraire marocaine d’expression française. Le corpus se compose de trois auteur·e·s appartenant à trois générations différentes : Elisa Chimenti (1883-1969), Driss Chraïbi (1926-2007) et Mahi Binebine (1959- ), et sera étudié dans une perspective essentiellement traductologique et intrinsèquement transdisciplinaire, puisant dans la littérature comparée différentielle, dans la sociolinguistique du contact et dans la phraséologie. Il s’agira, de ce fait, de sonder en diachronie, à l’aide de la comparaison et, dans certains cas spécifiques, de la génétique des textes et des traductions, la manière dont des passages hétérolingues ont été textualisés et, ensuite, traduits dans les autres langues de réception, en accordant une attention particulière aux insertions lexicales et aux phraséologismes témoignant de la cohabitation de langues et cultures. Lorsque cela sera possible, nous essaierons d’évaluer la possibilité de prendre en compte dans la traduction italienne les altérités linguistiques et culturelles restées piégées dans le texte source.
Our research aims to highlight the modalities by which, in the translation process, heterolingualism and contact between languages and cultures generate linguistic cultural enrichment in the host idiom, particularly in Italian, through comparison in Spanish and English.
The object of this study is a corpus dealing with the writing of French-speaking Moroccan writers whose works pertain to Moroccan literature in French. The corpus includes three authors belonging to three different generations: Elisa Chimenti (1883-1969), Driss Chraïbi (1926-2007) and Mahi Binebine (1959- ), and it will be studied from a translatological and inherently transdisciplinary perspective drawing mainly on ‘differential’ Comparative Literature, Sociolinguistics of languages in contact and Phraseology. It will therefore be a question of probing, using the methods of comparison and, in some cases, of the genetics of translations, the way in which heterolingual texts have been textualised and, subsequently, translated into the other receiving languages, paying particular attention to lexical inserts and transcultural phraseological units. Where possible, we will try to assess the possibility of considering in the Italian translation the linguistic and cultural alterities that have remained trapped in the source text.
Supervisor: Prof. Antonietta Sanna – Pisa
LINGUISTIC CURRICULUM
Daler Tashkhuzhaev
daler.tashkhuzhaev@phd.unipi.it
Language interference in the acquisition of unaccusative Italian verbs by native Russian speakers
[L-LIN/02]
This thesis project proposes investigating the possible implications of the Unaccusative Hypothesis on the acquisition of verbal syntax of Italian L2 by native Russian speakers. Although both these languages have unaccusative verbs, their distribution and morphosyntactic features may vary significantly causing potential cases of language interference. This study intends to show how the instances of wrong selections of perfective auxiliary with intransitive verbs operated by native Russian learners can be accounted for the differences in morphosyntactic representation of split intransitivity in these two languages and their semantics. Combining the methods of contrastive analysis of the morphosyntactic and semantic features of correspondent Italian and Russian intransitive verbs with the experimental evidence from native Russian learners of Italian L2, this project intends to investigate the potential application of the Unaccusative Hypothesis to second language learning.
Supervisor: Prof. Francesca Gallina – Pisa