Alessio Baldini
alessio.baldini@phd.unipi.it
The prose poem and the press in France from 1842 to 1900
[L-LIN/03]
This research aims to study the forms and the evolutions of the prose poem in France within the literary and the general press from 1842 to 1900. A genre whose definition remains arduous and dubious, the prose poem proves to be the symptom of the new scriptural practices in vogue since the second half of the 19th century. It is commonly known that in this period the press rose significantly, and, at the same time, that the prose poem is a symptomatic part of the huge success of reviews and newspapers. Adhering to the philological method, we would thus like to take an overall look at the objects (themes) and at the subjects (authors) of the prose poem. The period we will be paying attention to is from 1842, the year in which Gaspard de la Nuit by Aloysius Bertrand was published, to 1900, the year of the publication of Connaissance de l’Est by Paul Claudel, the final step of the genre’s constitution. Our Ph.D project, written in French, will thus seek to reconstruct the history of the prose poem by following a double critical approach: on the one hand, considering the role of the press, small and large, on the prose poem; on the other hand, the formal study of a composite textual corpus enriched with poems remaining unpublished.
Le poème en prose et la presse en France de 1842 à 1900
Notre recherche se propose d’étudier les formes et les évolutions du poème en prose en France à travers l’analyse de journaux et de revues de 1842 à la fin du siècle. Genre dont la définition se maintient complexe et controversée, le poème en prose s’avère le symptôme de nouvelles pratiques scripturaires en vogue vers le milieu du XIXe siècle avec l’avènement de la presse à grand tirage. Il est notoire que les périodiques connaissent en cette époque un essor remarquable et, conjointement, que le poème en prose acquiert ses lettres de noblesse par la floraison de revues et de journaux dont témoigne la seconde moitié du siècle. Notre thèse souhaiterait donc porter un regard d’ensemble, dans la perspective philologique de l’histoire littéraire, sur les objets (les thèmes) et sur les sujets (les auteurs) du poème en prose, entre 1842, année de la parution posthume du recueil novateur qu’est le Gaspard de la Nuit d’Aloysius Bertrand ; et 1900, année où paraît Connaissance de l’Est de Paul Claudel. Notre étude cherchera ainsi à reconstruire l’histoire du poème en prose dans une double démarche critique : d’une part, la prise en compte du rôle de la presse, petite et grande, sur le poème en prose ; d’autre part, l’étude formelle d’un corpustextuel enrichi de poèmes demeurant inédits.
Supervisor: Prof. Gianni Iotti – Pisa
Andrea Bianchini
andrea.bianchini@phd.unipi.it
Deseja-se Mulher + S.O.S. = El Uno. The Luso-Spanish theatre of Almada Negreiros, between self-translation and authorial philology.
[L-LIN/08]
My PhD project aims to reconstruct the filiation of the theatrical texts in which Almada Negreiros gave shape to the reflections on the concepts of “single direction” and “tragedy of unity”. The author, after a five-years period in Madrid (1927-1932), returns to Lisbon with a lot of material from a work that he would never publish: El Uno, Tragedia documental de la colectividad y el individuo, written in Castilian (with Portuguese inserts). All this unpublished material contributes to – and underlies – two plays published in Portuguese, Deseja-se Mulher (1959) e S.O.S. (1935). My research would focus precisely on that “underlies”, given that studies carried out to date do not unanimously establish which of the three works was written first, nor in which original language. I will, therefore, attempt to propose the constitutio textus of El Uno and I will investigate the way in which the author worked the language(s) through the processes of self-translation and code switching.
Deseja-se Mulher + S.O.S. = El Uno. O teatro luso-espanhol de Almada Negreiros, entre autotradução e filologia de autor.
O meu projeto para o doutoramento propõe reconstruir a filiação dos textos teatrais onde o autor mais representativo do século XX português, Almada Negreiros, deu forma às reflexões sobre o conceito de “direcção única” e sobre a “tragedia da unidade”. Almada vai a Madrid em 1927 e aí fica até 1932; quando regressa a Lisboa, traz consigo uma bagagem de folhas, cadernos, apontamentos e versões de uma obra que nunca publicará: El Uno, Tragedia documental de la colectividad y el individuo, escrita em castelhano (com inserções em português). Desta obra, sobra muito material inédito que concorre – e subjaz – à elaboração de duas obras publicadas em português: Deseja-se Mulher (1959) e S.O.S. (1935). A minha investigação versaria sobre esse “subjaz”, dado que alguns estudiosos almadianos, apesar de terem investigado esses materiais, não apresentaram uma reflexão definitiva relativamente a qual das três obras (ou quatro se considerarmos também Protagonistas) foi escrita antes, nem em que língua original. Para isso, proponho dedicar-me à constitutio textus de El Uno, estudando e “desembrulhando” todos os escritos nas suas várias fases de redação, colacionando as variantes encontradas no arquivo do autor, e tentando investigar sobre a maneira como Almada trabalhava a(s) língua(s), através processos de autotradução e de “code switching”.
Supervisor: Prof.ssa Valeria Tocco – Pisa
Sara Manzi;
sara.manzi@phd.unipi.it
Il canto della poesia rock in Unione Sovietica [L-LIN/21]
This study aims to analyse the typological elements of the “sung” texts in late Soviet culture, especially concerning the beginnings of rock poetry in the 1980s. The reflection will involve a selection of authors of the time, including Aleksandr Bashlachev, Egor Letov and Ianka Diagileva. These independent voices represent an original and non-conformist artistic phenomenon that developed in the cultural context of the Soviet underground. Rock poetry should not be understood as political protest or rebellion against the system, as it has often been configured in its Western narratives. The instances of Soviet rock poets often transcend the dissident political level, to take shape as a free artistic expression capable of recovering the deepest instances of literary tradition and popular culture. The present investigation intends to contribute to the systematic mapping of the phenomenon, constituting an integral part of the research project “Free voices in the USSR” (1953-1991), developed by the University of Pisa in synergy with the University of Florence and with the involvement of international institutes and researchers. With the editorial support of Firenze University Press, part of the activity will be devoted to the implementation and digital publication of the research results.
Данное исследование направлено на анализ типологических элементов рок-поэзии, как поэзии напевного строя в поздней советской культуре, с особым упором на начало рок-поэзии в восьмидесятых годах. Размышление будет касаться выбора авторов того времени, в том числе Александра Башлачева, Егора Летова и Янки Дягилевой. Эти независимые голоса представляют собой оригинальный нонконформистский художественный феномен, развивавшийся в культурном контексте советского подполья. Рок-поэзию не следует понимать как политический протест или восстание против системы, как это часто было в его западных представлениях. Искусство советских рок-поэтов часто выходит за рамки диссидентского политического плана, чтобы быть свободным художественным выражением, способным восстановить самые глубокие образцы литературной традиции и народной культуры. Целью данной работы является внесение своего вклада в систематическое изучение этого культурного пласта как неотъемлемой части научно-исследовательского проекта “Свободные Голоса в СССР” (1953-1991), разработанный в Университете Пизы в сотрудничестве с Университетом Флоренции, с привлечением международных институтов и исследователей. Используя редакционную поддержку Firenze University Press, часть деятельности будет направлена на создание и цифровую публикацию результатов исследований.
Cecilia Martino
cecilia.martino@phd.unipi.it
For a Linguistic Analysis of the Poetic Text: M. V. Panov’s Approach in the Context of Russian Literary Studies of the Late 20th Century. [L-LIN/21]
The current project aims at investigating M. V. Panov’s (1920-2001) scientific production and theoretical views in the field of literary studies. Having been one of the leading voices in the area of Soviet linguistics, the scholar covered, with his versatile research, the major branches of this discipline; in doing so, he also managed to incorporate in his field of investigation that specific linguistic area in which language takes on an “aesthetic function” and serves as the material of verbal art. Particular attention will be paid to the model of analysis of the poetic text that the scholar developed in his works on the Russian poetry of the XVIII-XX centuries. Such model will be then compared with additional approaches of analysis, which were promoted by some of the most prominent figures who operated, as well as M. V. Panov, in the field of literary studies, between the 60s and 80s, in the period of the rebirth of linguistic and structuralist research, which was built on the heritage of Russian Formalism (V. Vinogradov, Yu. Lotman, B. Uspensky, L. Ginzburg, M. Gasparov). By continuing to pursue the specific line of research on “the literary fact”, that gives relevance to its structural and linguistic aspects, the project intends to offer further points of reference, along with some investigation tools, which will be useful for acquiring a more specific and conscious insight into the literary work.
К лингвистическому анализу поэтического текста: модель М. В. Панова в контексте советского литературоведения второй половины XX века
Данный проект имеет своей целью рассмотреть литературоведческое наследие и литературные воззрения Михаила Викторовича Панова (1920-2001). Будучи одним из крупнейших российских языковедов ХХ века, он стал специалистом в самых различных областях лингвистики, включая сюда и поэтику и продолжая в этом отношении научную традицию ОПОЯЗа. Особое внимание будет уделено изучению разработанной ученым модели анализа поэтического текста, представленной в его лекциях по истории русской поэзии XVIII-XX вв. Пановская модель станет объектом сравнительного анализа с другими методами изучения поэтического произведения, применяемыми во второй половине прошлого столетия, в период расцвета структурно-семиотических исследований, такими советскими литературоведами, как В. Виноградов, Ю. Лотман, Б. Успенский, Л. Гинзбург и М. Гаспаров. Продолжая изучение тех литературоведческих направлений, которые придают особое значение текстовому моменту и лингвистической сущности «литературного факта», мы намереваемся расширить ориентиры и инструменты, необходимые для освоения более специфического и сознательного отношения к литературному произведению.
Supervisor: Prof. Marco Sabbatini – Pisa
Lorenzo Santi
lorenzo.santi@phd.unipi.it
Traits and phenomenologies of dystopian-speculative fiction in South Africa, from the apartheid years to the post-millennium. [L-LIN/10]
The aim of this research is to carry out an analysis of the features, evolution and purposes of dystopian-speculative fiction in South African literature written in English from the years of the apartheid regime (1948-1990) to our age. This study will start by systematically highlighting themes, strategies and stylistic traits connected with the genre; it will subsequently focus on a number of novels which have not yet been fully investigated from the perspective of utopian/dystopian, speculative or apocalyptic writing. Light will therefore be shed on the ways and extent to which South African authors from various ethnic groups have succeeded in creating path-breaking works by building on the link between the politics of fiction and their coeval historical context. By appropriating and revisiting a western genre such as dystopian and speculative writing, these authors can be seen to enter a postcolonial, globalized field fully armed with an urgent and powerful message to be conveyed across their country and the world.
Supervisor: Prof. Laura Giovannelli – Pisa
LINGUISTIC CURRICULUM
Serena Auriemma
serena.auriemma@phd.unipi.it
Semantic applications for the analysis of Public Administration documents with Computational Linguistics techniques based on Neural Language Models
[L-LIN/01]
This research project aims to create a Neural Language Model based on Transformer and specialized in the semantic analysis of the Public Administration documents. For the construction of the Language Model, Deep Learning algorithms applied on domain corpora will be used, which will allow the model to learn, through an initial unsupervised training phase, a semantic-probabilistic knowledge of the language. Thanks to the compatibility of the Transformer with transfer learning methods, such as, for example, fine-tuning or few-shot learning, the linguistic competence achieved by the pre-trained model will be specialized and reused for different types of NLP task (i.e. Question Answering, Named Entity Recognition, Topic Modeling, Document Classification, etc.). During this second phase of supervised training, annotated data and linguistic resources created specifically for the training of the model will be employed. Finally, the accuracy of the model will be assessed for each task in which the model has been previously trained. The final aim of the project will be the integration of the LM in a document management system for the Public Administration, realized in collaboration with the company 01Semplice Srl, to facilitate the digital transition process undertaken by the Italian PA entities in recent years.
Supervisor: Prof. Alessandro Lenci (Pisa)
Giuditta Avano
giuditta.avano@phd.unipi.it
Dialectal acquisition and attrition in the context of regional varieties of Italian: studies on Gorgia Toscana and Gorgia Enfatica
[L-LIN/01]
This sociophonetic study aims to observe the phenomena of attrition and acquisition of phonetic features due to contact between two varieties of the same language, observing the acquisition and attrition of two typical traits of Tuscan regional Italian: Gorgia Toscana (GT) and Gorgia Enfatica (GE). The study, more specifically, investigates how sociolinguistic and linguistic factors can influence the process of attrition of GT and GE analysing the speech of people who have moved from Florence to other areas of Italy. Similarly, it investigates the process of acquisition of these traits analysing speeches of subjects who have moved to Florence from other regional areas. The research aims to understand what happens at the microscopic level, and which factors influence Cross-Linguistic-Interference, when two mutually intelligible varieties of the same language come into contact; it also allows to expand knowledge about GT and GE at both linguistic and sociolinguistic level.
Supervisor: Prof. Giovanna Marotta – Pisa
Roberta Bianca Luzietti
roberta.luzietti@phd.unipi.it
Legacy data and Sociophonetics. A case study on rhotic degemination in Tuscan vernacular.
[L-LIN/01]
The project aims at conducting a sociophonetic analysis on oral sources from the past, initially conceived for other purposes. The selected archive consists of interviews conducted by the historian Angela Spinelli in the early 1980s. The analysis focuses on rhotic degemination in the rural variety of Prato. This work aims at providing an experimental framework on a residual phonetic phenomenon, through to the reuse of historical archives of the past containing spontaneous speech, difficult to elicit in the laboratory. Being able to access oral material, properly annotated and witness of the history and language of the past, represents the opportunity for an interdisciplinary work on the evolution of sociolinguistic phenomena.
Supervisor: Prof. Silvia Calamai – Siena
Filippo Saettoni
filippo.saettoni@phd.unipi.it
A Corpus-Assisted Analysis on the Use of Vague Language Across the BNC and the ICE Corpora [L-LIN/12]
Despite being a requirement for adequate communication, vague expressions have been granted little attention over the years, due to their apparent imprecision and ambiguity. However, recently, their importance in conversational exchanges has been positively reassessed by many scholars. In this light, the research will qualify as a corpus-assisted analysis on vagueness, which will be carried out in two parts by means of corpus linguistics tools and by adopting a sociolinguistic perspective. While the first part will focus on a corpus-driven analysis of vague expressions within the spoken section of the British National Corpus, the second part will investigate how vague language use varies, both quantitatively and qualitatively, across 12 national varieties of English, which will be retrieved from the International Corpus of English. Hopefully, corpus linguistics tools together with the large size of the corpora will help display the most typical vague expressions and their patterns in different varieties of English. These results might be used to raise ESL learners’ awareness of how vagueness is used in relation to a set of sociolinguistic parameters and across different varieties of English.
Supervisor: Prof. Silvia Bruti – Pisa
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