This contribution focuses on the changes and developments of political language in Italy in the last twenty years. These changes can obviously be attributed to many different factors, but there is no doubt of the role Silvio Berlusconi and the mass media have played in it. At the same time, the financial crisis from which Southern Europe has not yet recovered and international terrorism have also intensively contributed to these changes.
[Inglese] This doctoral dissertation explores aspects of the language of conflict in Northern Ireland. In this area, the conflict between Unionists and Republicans, Catholic and Protestants has been raging on for centuries, reaching its most recent peak with the 1970s so-called 'Troubles'. Today, after almost four decades of physical violence, as the peace process unfolds, the fight seems to have moved from paramilitary action onto political debate – a war of words is slowly replacing real war. For this study, a written corpus has been collected, comprising the annual party conference speeches from the past ten years by the leaders of the two main and opposed political parties of Northern Ireland: the President of the Republican Sinn Féin party, Gerry Adams, and the president of the Protestant Democratic Unionist Party, Ian Paisley. By comparing texts by these politicians, who have been on the Northern Irish scene for over thirty years, it should be possible to observe the development of their discourse from a diachronic perspective. A Critical Discourse Analysis approach is considered particularly suitable for dealing with political speeches, but contributions from different fields and disciplines are also considered. The discourse analysis of the texts collected is supported by computer-aided analysis. Two aspects are being focussed on, in particular: 1) the overall influence of language on politics, i.e. how words are used to exercise power; and 2) the use of same/different argumentative structures by the same orators to discuss same/different subjects over the years. It is hoped that the present study may help clarify aspects of the evolution of political discourse in Northern Ireland, in general, and of the argumentative skills and strategies of the above two politicians, in particular. [Italiano] La presente tesi di dottorato esplora alcuni aspetti del linguaggio del conflitto nell'Irlanda del Nord. In questa regione, il conflitto fra Lealisti (o Unionisti) e Repubblicani, Cattolici e Protestanti, imperversa com'è noto da secoli, e ha raggiunto il suo apice in tempi recenti nei cosiddetti "Troubles" (disordini) degli anni 1970. Dopo quasi quattro decenni di violenze, pare oggi che il processo di pace si stia sviluppando positivamente e che la lotta stia lentamente spostandosi dalle strade ai palazzi di governo: una guerra di parole sta fortunatamente soppiantando la guerra vera. Per questa ricerca, è stato raccolto un corpus formato dai discorsi tenuti alle conferenze annuali di partito dai leaders dei due principali e contrapposti partiti politici nordirlandesi: il Presidente del repubblicano Sinn Féin, Gerry Adams, e quello del protestante Democratic Unionist Party, Ian Paisley. Confrontando i testi di questi politici, che si muovono sulla scena politica locale da più di trent'anni, dovrebbe essere possibile osservare lo sviluppo delle caratteristiche del loro discorso dal punto di vista diacronico. Trattandosi di testi di natura politica, si ritiene particolarmente adatto un approccio di analisi critica del discorso; sono tuttavia considerati contributi da altri campi e discipline. L'analisi del discorso dei testi raccolti sarà supportata da tecniche di analisi computazionale. Sono due, in particolare, gli aspetti che saranno maggiormente trattati: 1) l'influenza generale della lingua sulla politica, cioè come le parole siano usate per esercitare potere; e 2) l'uso di strutture argomentative simili o differenti, da parte dei medesimi oratori, nel discutere i medesimi argomenti nel corso degli anni. Si spera, in generale, che la presente ricerca contribuisca a chiarire aspetti dell'evoluzione del discorso politico dell'Irlanda del Nord e, in particolare, delle abilità e strategie argomentative dei due politici considerati.
This paper deals with the topic of text simplification discussing two models of writing that make texts easier to read and understand. First, it briefly discusses plain language, which has been debated in Italy since the beginning of the 1990s as a tool to improve government communication. However, even though several initiatives tried to promote it, it is still little used, and it has not defeated bureaucratese. Second, this paper presents "Easy-to-Read", a model of linguistic adaptation designed to write texts that are easy to read and understand for people with intellectual disabilities. Its features of conciseness and simplicity also make it suitable for other categories with reading difficulties due to psychological and neuropsychiatric conditions, social factors, and/or poor knowledge of a language. Plain language and Easy-to-Read share several traits, although Easy-to-Read is a more specific application designed for readers with special needs. Easy-to-Read is a relatively new concept: several guidelines have already been created for some languages, along with the European ones, designed during the Pathways project by the European association Inclusion Europe. Yet, the existing guidelines often lack extensive linguistic indications and can prove insufficient to write proper easy-to-read texts. After presenting Easy-to-Read, the paper will discuss some methodological issues, such as some problems regarding the existing guidelines for the Italian version of Easy-toRead; the complexity of the needs of its recipient; and the absence of proofs, as Easy-toRead currently lacks a more scientific approach and further studies are still needed. Finally, the paper briefly discusses the need to spread both plain language and Easy-toRead in order to foster the participation in social life of people with reading difficulties or intellectual disabilities and promote their right to information.
This essay connects Antonio Gramsci's expanded concept of Marxian ideology to his training in linguistics and, broadly understood, philosophy of language in order to advance a hypothesis regarding Gramsci's views on literary criticism and aesthetic judgment. This hypothesis can be summed up in the following way: aesthetic judgment, including literary criticism, maintains a unity of form and content while rejecting facile attempts to reduce the global meaning of a "political" work of art to its ideological content, where ideology is understood in the sense of a series of theoretical propositions about the world, which reside in the realm of traditional Marxist superstructure. As a result, there is no recourse to either a scientific objectivity or a relativistic emphasis on subjectivity in the evaluation of works of art; instead, priority is given to an immanent, contextual interpretation of works of literature and culture. Such a methodology is intimately related to Gramsci's reworked concept of ideology and therefore deserves further consideration. Keywords: Gramsci; Ideology; Philosophy of Language, Aesthetic Judgment.
- ; Electoral turnout figures reveal that in recent years young voters have shown a strong disaffection with politics, which could be explained by the increasing lack of communication between them and the political class. By examining some strategies adopted by German politicians to approach young people and by addressing the characteristics of young people's language, the paper will first focus on an interview with Angela Merkel by woman YouTuber Ischtar Isik. To ascertain whether the language used in the interview by this young influencer truly represents her usual way of speaking, a second document will be analysed, in which Ischtar, this time as interviewee, deals with general topics. Conclusions will be drawn based on the data resulting from the comparison between the two interviews. ; -
Contemporary populism could be read as a form of social-ism, i.e, a political discourse marked by the languages and the -isms of social networks. On the basis of this assumption, the aim of this paper is to explore and analyse three specific semiotic aspects of the social-ist language. First, the relationship between moods and noises that characterizes the enunciation in and of the social networks, in which screaming plays a fundamental role. Second, the prerequisite and consequences of shots/ slams, whose roots are to be found in the correlation between the language of social media and that of neotelevision. Third, the forms of political provocation, rewritten, nowadays, by the communicative and interactional logic of digital media. The reasoning we develop is inspired by the analysis of texts - tweets, Facebook and Instagram posts, messages and conversations extracted from Whatsapp public groups - taken from both the Italian and Brazilian context. Nevertheless, we believe our findings are potentially generalizable, since they seem to resume how, on an international scale, the languages of politics - and, vice versa, the politics of language - are nowadays constructed and articulated.
The current scientific paths in the pedagogical scope that have encountered linguistics and related areas had some validity in the past, but they should be quickly updated in the face of the constant and unexpected evolutions in which we are immersed, as they are partly outdated. Speaking about languages, it is necessary to work to reduce the artificial separations between humanistic and scientific skills, for a recomposition of knowledge, as a premise of the indispensable recomposition of the person, suspended between the revolt towards new commands and the supine acceptance of the technologies that guide existences. ; Gli attuali percorsi scientifici in ambito pedagogico che hanno incontrato la linguistica e le aree collegate hanno avuto nel passato una certa validità, ma andrebbero rapidamente aggiornati di fronte alle evoluzioni costanti e inattese in cui siamo immersi, in quanto risultano in buona parte superati. Parlando di linguaggi, bisogna operare per ridurre le artificiali separazioni tra competenze umanistiche e scientifiche, per una ricomposizione dei saperi, intesi come premessa della indispensabile ricomposizione della persona, sospesa tra la rivolta verso nuovi comandi e l'accettazione supina delle tecnologie che orientano le esistenze.
The European Commission publishes documents containing proposals for Community actions in many different areas. Primarily they are documents addressed to interested parties – organizations and individuals, who are invited to participate in a process of consultation and debate. In some areas, such as education, they provide an impetus for subsequent legislation. These documents, sometimes, follow discussion papers published to launch a consultation process at European level. While discussion papers set out a range of ideas presented for public discussion and debate, document papers contain an official set of proposal in specific areas and are used as vehicles for Community development. The aim of this contribution is to identify through public official European documents some opportunities in the field of education, especially in combating social exclusion, and to assess how important . the teacher's work is in giving students confidence in learning languages. People often speak about "World Peace", but they often don't know how to start turning violence, war, terrorism in to peace actions. Promoting European ideas in the field of education is the first step to develop this aim. My opinion is that school and university must be closely associated in the operation of the EU supporting it with specific programmes.
The crisis resulting from the pandemic had immediate and long-term consequences. Distance teaching has been fundamental for the maintenance of continuous training. In the didactic integration, the mediation of the musical language is a fundamental element for a better outcome of the educational and didactic intervention. It is a truly universal language, capable of overcoming linguistic and cultural barriers. Even more it can be said: it offers an idea of itself to each listener, who interprets it according to their sensitivity. Fair, inclusive and quality education must take into account several elements. We believe that training for beauty and aesthetic taste is one of the cornerstones of effective training. The so-called Via Pulchritudinis can be a valid tool for lifelong learning and becomes good practice of civil coexistence and democracy. ; La crisi scaturita dalla pandemia ha avuto conseguenze immediate e di lungo termine. La didattica a distanza è stata fondamentale per la tenuta della formazione continua. Nell'integrazione didattica la mediazione del linguaggio musicale è un elemento fondamentale per una migliore riuscita dell'inter- vento educativo e didattico. Essa è un linguaggio veramente universale, ca- pace di superare barriere linguistiche e culturali. Ancor più si può dire: offre un'idea di sé a ciascun ascoltatore, che la interpreta secondo la propria sensibilità. Un'istruzione equa, inclusiva e di qualità deve tener conto di diversi elementi. Riteniamo che formare al bello ed al gusto estetico sia uno dei cardini di un'efficace formazione. La cosiddetta Via Pulchritudinis può essere un valido strumento per un apprendimento che dura tutta la vita e diviene buona pratica di convivenza civile e di democrazia.
The aim of this article is to discuss the fundamental features and the main avenues of the development of the modern Italian language. A great many specialists express their concern over the excessive influence of the spoken language on the morphosyntactic structures of the written language, which is evidenced by, among other things, the use o f repetitions, pleonasms, a lack of discourse coherence as well as rampant use of ready-made expressions copied from the "jargon" used in politics, or the language used by publicists or by bureaucrats. Another problem which is raised by contemporary linguists is the relation between the national language and dialects. Researchers are not in agreement as to the extent to which the Italian language is spread among dialectophones and the mutual influence of these two codes. Finally, attention is drawn to trends in the contemporary Italian language. ; The aim of this article is to discuss the fundamental features and the main avenues of the development of the modern Italian language. A great many specialists express their concern over the excessive influence of the spoken language on the morphosyntactic structures of the written language, which is evidenced by, among other things, the use o f repetitions, pleonasms, a lack of discourse coherence as well as rampant use of ready-made expressions copied from the "jargon" used in politics, or the language used by publicists or by bureaucrats. Another problem which is raised by contemporary linguists is the relation between the national language and dialects. Researchers are not in agreement as to the extent to which the Italian language is spread among dialectophones and the mutual influence of these two codes. Finally, attention is drawn to trends in the contemporary Italian language.
In the dystopian world that George Orwell imagines in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, the hegemonic politic party Ingsoc promulgates the Newspeak, a language created in order to satisfy the ideological needs of the Party: to control the individual and prevent the exercise of his free thought. Imaginary languages have always played an important role within the dystopian genre: the structure of society is reflected in that of language, the intimate relationship between representation of reality language is exploited for political ends. The article investigates - through the perspective of linguistic relativism - the functioning of the relationship between linguistic sign and referent in Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. The study uses in particular the concepts of denotation and connotation and relates them to the iconic surface of words theorized by Berman. ; Nel mondo distopico che George Orwell immagina nel suo romanzo 1984, il partito egemone l'Ingsoc promulga il Newspeak, un linguaggio creato al fine di realizzare i bisogni ideologici del partito: controllare il singolo individuo e impedire l'esercizio del suo libero pensiero. Le lingue immaginarie hanno sempre giocato un ruolo importante all'interno del genere distopico: la struttura della società si riflette in quella della lingua, l'intima relazione tra mondo e linguaggio viene sfruttato per fini politici. L'articolo indaga - attraverso la prospettiva del relativismo linguistico – il funzionamento del rapporto tra segno linguistico e referente che caratterizza il Newspeak inventato da Orwell in 1984. Lo studio utilizza in particolare i concetti di denotazione e connotazione e li mette in relazione con la superficie d'iconicità delle parole teorizzato da Berman.
Sign languages are fully-fledged natural languages, endowed with the same expressive potentiality and structural complexity as spoken languages. The fact that they are transmitted in the visual-manual modality poses specific challenges to L2 M2 (second language, second modality) learners, which need to be taken into account. Italian Sign Language (LIS) has only been recently recognized as an official language by the Italian Parliament. Nevertheless, LIS has already been taught for twenty years in Italian universities. In particular, it was implemented as a specialization language in BA and MA degree courses in the BA and MA programs of Ca' Foscari University of Venice and at the University of Catania. Both universities have taken important steps towards offering specialized academic training for LIS interpreters and translators. ; Le lingue dei segni sono a tutti gli effetti lingue naturali, dotate della stessa potenzialità espressiva e complessità strutturale delle lingue vocali. Il fatto che siano trasmesse nella modalità visivo-manuale pone sfide specifiche agli apprendenti L2 M2 (lingua seconda, modalità seconda), che devono essere tenute in considerazione. La lingua dei segni italiana (LIS) è stata ufficialmente riconosciuta dal Parlamento italiano solo di recente. Tuttavia, è già da vent'anni che la LIS viene insegnata nelle Università italiane. In particolare, è stata inserita come lingua di specializzazione nei corsi della triennale e della magistrale dell'Università Ca' Foscari Venezia e dell'Università di Catania. Entrambi gli atenei hanno compiuto passi importanti nell'offrire una formazione accademica specializzata nell'interpretazione e traduzione in LIS.
The social, political and cultural developments which brought during the last few decades to a change in the relationships between gender find an important correlate in linguistic usage, which on the one hand reflects changes and on the other sustains and strengthens it. Such new usages affect in particular, in many European languages, the correct use of the feminine gender when defining a woman's profession or social role. Italian seems to be late in accepting the change (Avvocata? Avvocatessa? Donna avvocato? Avvocato donna?), whereas French, German and Spanish don't hesitate in using the feminine (avocate/Anwältin/abogada). English, on the other hand, where no such gender distinction holds for the vast majority of nouns, is moving in the opposite direction, abolishing the few cases formerly existing (no longer actor vs. actress but actor or performer for all). One specially sensitive and interesting case are the pronouns: if all languages use the pronoun corresponding to the person's gender, what happens when we don't know the gender of a particular person? Some languages have been developing new forms of genderless pronoun in order to avoid repetitions: in English each student must bring his/her own book has been replaced by each student must bring their book; in Swedish han/hon (he/she) gave way to hen for everyone. Such genderless forms, by the way, are also used by non binary and gender fluid people in order to avoid the choice between masculine and feminine. Finally, the attempt not to repeat masculine and feminine forms in addressing groups (it. Cari colleghi e care colleghe, and so on) led to the research for new graphic solutions, such as, in Italian, the asterisk (car* collegh*) or, more recently the IPA symbol for schwa (car« collegh«). ; Le trasformazioni sociali, politiche e culturali che nel corso degli ultimi decenni hanno modificato i rapporti tra i generi trovano un loro importante corrispettivo negli usi linguistici, che da un lato riflettono le trasformazioni e dall'altro le sostengono e le rafforzano. Queste innovazioni negli usi linguistici riguardano in particolare, in molte lingue europee, l'uso appropriato del genere femminile quando ci si riferisca alla professione o alla funzione svolta da una donna. In questo senso l'italiano sembra accogliere la trasformazione con ritardo (Avvocata? Avvocatessa? Donna avvocato? Avvocato donna?) rispetto a lingue come francese, tedesco e spagnolo dove le forme femminili non sono più messe in discussione (avocate/Anwältin/abogada). L'inglese, d'altro canto, non disponendo di un sistema di generi simile a quello delle lingue menzionate, va nella direzione opposta, eliminando le poche tracce di distinzione precedentemente esistenti (non più actress/actor ma solo actor o performer, etc.). Un caso particolarmente delicato e interessante è quello dei pronomi: se in tutte le lingue è naturale usare il pronome appropriato al genere al genere della persona, cosa fare quando non conosciamo il genere della persona in questione? In alcune lingue sono nate forme nuove di pronome ambigenere per evitare le ripetizioni: in inglese each student must bring his/her own book diventa each student must bring their book; in svedese han/hon (lui/lei) diventa hen pronome uguale per tutte e tutti. Queste forme ambigenere tra l'altro sono utilizzate anche dalle persone non binary e gender fluid per sfuggire alla scelta obbligata tra maschile e femminile. Infine, il problema della ridondanza delle forme maschili e femminili ripetute (cari colleghi e care colleghe, ecc.) ha portato alla ricerca di nuove convenzioni ortografiche, come, nel caso dell'italiano, il ricorso all'asterisco (car* collegh*) o, più di recente, del simbolo IPA per lo schwa (car« collegh«).
nulo ; Dezessete anos após a morte de um conhecido editor milanês, num atentado terrorista nunca esclarecido, um grupo de seus ex-colaboradores e amigos decidem realizar um filme sobre aquela trágica morte. Mas o que realmente aconteceu e qual foi a verdadeira personalidade do editor morto? O romance, relato do falimento do filme, mediante a técnica do patchwork, permite ao autor relatar todas as opiniões sem se pronunciar. ; Seventeen years after the death of a well-known Milanese editor in a terrorist attack which was never cleared up, a number of his friends and collaboration decides to make a movie about his tragic death. Whata really happened and what was the real personality of the editor? The movel describes the failure of the movie, by means of a patchwork technique; in this way allows the author to relate everyone´s opinion without giving his own.
Cette thèse, née de la volonté d'explorer un corpus textuel encore méconnu et pourtant exceptionnel à bien des égards – plus de 5000 écrits couvrant les années 1499-1540, toujours en cours d'édition par les soins du philologue Pierre Jodogne (1) –, met au jour les rôles de « laboratoire » et de « réserve » de la correspondance du penseur et homme politique florentin Francesco Guicciardini. Elle démontre que les lettres du célèbre historiographe italien constituent un lieu d'élaboration de sa langue et de sa pensée, mais aussi une sorte de répertoire dans lequel sont conservés mots et idées qui alimentent de fois en fois sa production non épistolaire. Au travers de l'analyse d'un groupe de cinq termes politiques clés des Ricordi – prudence, discrétion, expérience, conjecture et opinion –, l'étude permet de comprendre le travail opéré par Francesco Guicciardini sur la langue de la politique et le processus de re-sémantisation à l'œuvre sous sa plume à un moment crucial de l'histoire florentine, italienne et européenne. L'angle d'approche choisi fait émerger, pour les termes considérés, des usages propres à Guicciardini qui, sans recourir à des mots nouveaux mais par approches successives et artifices syntaxiques, dote des termes hérités de la tradition d'acceptions nouvelles : pour chacun des mots étudiés, on observe un glissement sémantique par rapport aux usages traditionnels. Il apparait également que les mots envisagés ne peuvent l'être séparément car ils constituent le système d'interprétation du réel propre à Guicciardini ; autour de ces noyaux sémantiques gravitent, de surcroît, d'autres termes, points de référence d'une grille complexe, qui sont autant d'indicateurs de l'effort de clarification de la part de l'auteur. L'examen du lexique dans la correspondance et les œuvres renseigne, par ailleurs, sur le modus operandi guichardinien, puisqu'il permet de montrer que la rédaction des lettres, continue dans le temps et marquée par la nécessité de l'action, contribue à alimenter et à affiner la réflexion de l'auteur sur les « mots » et les « choses », et que les missives assurent une forme de continuité textuelle entre les autres écrits, qu'ils soient historiographiques ou de relevance plus théorique. Le parcours suivi fait émerger des similitudes de différents ordres entre production fonctionnelle et production formelle, allant de simples codes stylistiques à l'autocitation, en passant par la reprise régulière de ce que l'on peut appeler des « nœuds conceptuels », des fondements de la pensée guichardinienne. L'analyse chronologique détaillée de la récurrence de certains motifs permet en outre de démontrer que, dans plusieurs cas, la réflexion nait à « chaud » dans les lettres avant d'être reprise et complexifiée dans les autres textes, les Ricordi, l'Histoire d'Italie mais aussi les Discours politiques, qui apparaissent sous un éclairage nouveau. Non seulement, donc, Francesco Guicciardini se penche sur les faits a posteriori, mais il le fait également dans l'actualité brûlante des événements : les textes étudiés témoignent de ce va-et-vient continu entre action et conceptualisation, d'un habitus mental où la réflexion sur les concepts, née de la pratique, fournit des procédures cognitives et opératives, des schémas mentaux passés au crible de la raison, prompts à être réappliqués à l'urgence de l'action. (1) GUICCIARDINI, F., Le lettere, P. JODOGNE (éd.), Rome, Istituto Storico Italiano per l'età moderna e contemporanea, 1986-2007, 10 vol. parus.
