Category-building lists between grammar and interaction

Lists are one of the most common devices that are used in interaction to refer to a category. Yet, there are only few studies that analyze the relationship between lists and categorization. Our paper aims at advancing our knowledge of this relationship, and of lists in general. From a theoretical point of view, we discuss the benefits of integrating the Construction Grammar approach to lists adopted in Masini et al. (2018) with some of the basic assumptions of Interactional Linguistics. From an empirical point of view, we offer a qualitative analysis of lists based on data from two corpora of spoken Italian: the LIP corpus (De Mauro et al. 1993) and the KIParla corpus (Mauri et al. 2019a). In particular, we discuss a case study on the use of the Italian discourse marker insomma within list constructions: while it serves as a reformulation marker in most of its uses, insomma also proves to be used (more marginally) as a category introducer within category-building lists. Our findings provide useful insight to ultimately bridge the gap between denotation lists as a reference-oriented phenomenon and other types of mechanisms that are relevant at the discourse level, including conversational repair

Discontinuous reduplication: a typological sketch

The paper investigates discontinuous reduplication (DR), a pattern where reduplicant and base are separated by other material, by annotating a 214-example dataset collected from a 99-language sample. Several items turned out to serve as interposing elements, although their nature does not seem to correlate with function, unlike the category of the base. DR’s functions are a subset of those associated with reduplication cross-linguistically. All languages displaying DR also present contiguous reduplication, suggesting a contiguous reduplication > discontinuous reduplication hierarchy. Finally, a corpus-based analysis of Italian (lacking DR according to grammars) unveiled a wealth of DR patterns, suggesting that corpora are essential for the typological enterprise

Non-prototypicality by (discontinuous) reduplication: the N-non-N construction in Italian

This paper contributes to the research on the morphological expression of approximation by analysing the discontinuous reduplication pattern N-non-N in Italian, giving rise to complex nominals (e.g., sapone non sapone, lit. soap NEG soap, ‘non-soap/soap-free cleanser’). The analysis is based on a dataset of 4609 tokens and 692 types extracted from corpora and annotated for orthographical, phonological and categorical parameters. Given its unpredictable formal and semantic properties, N-non-N is analysed as a semi-schematic and productive construction, which is hypothesized to have emerged microdiachronically from the entrenchment and reanalysis of the expression tessuto non tessuto ‘nonwoven fabric’. We claim that the N-non-N construction bears a general function of ‘non-prototypicality’ and produces expressions with complex and specific meanings that are generated in context, by deviating from the ‘prototypical’ N concept in various ways. Despite its productivity, very few N-non-N expressions are conventionalised, making this device similar to other approximative strategies and to evaluative morphology in general

Binominal Lexemes in Cross-Linguistic Perspective. Towards a Typology of Complex Lexemes

The typological, contrastive, and descriptive studies in this volume investigate the strategies employed by the world’s languages to create complex denotations by combining two noun-like elements, together with the kinds of semantic relation they involve, and their acquisition by children. The term ‘binominal lexeme’ is employed to cover both noun-noun compounds and a range of other naming strategies, including prepositional compounds, relational compounds, construct forms, genitival constructions, and more. Overall, the volume suggests a new, cross-linguistic approach to the study of complex lexeme formation that cuts across the traditional boundaries between syntax, morphology, and lexicon

Exploring complex lexemes cross-linguistically

Concept-naming is one of the most fundamental activities performed by speakers, who need either ready-made labels to talk about entities or devices to build new labels. What are the strategies employed by languages for naming complex concepts? How do they differ cross-linguistically, and what are the limits of their variation? Are there strategies that are more widespread than others, or even universal? These are questions for lexical typology and/or word-formation typology, but what we know about the typology of complex concept naming is very limited compared to what we know about domains like word order or inflectional morphology. The article addresses some of the reasons behind this state-of-affairs and suggests that a ‘unified’ typological approach to complex lexemes should be adopted. It also clarifies that, for such a unified approach to be successful, two conditions should be met: (i) a supporting theoretical background, such as Construction Grammar, which is well-equipped to deal with cross-linguistic explorations and overcomes the traditional subdivision into levels of analysis; and (ii) clear definitions for cross-linguistic comparison. The ‘complex lexeme’ comparative concept is proposed and discussed, serving as a general background for more specific comparative concepts such as ‘binominal lexeme’, which is the topic of the volume

Introduzione ai lavori

La presentazione fornisce elementi di contesto, a livello locale, nazionale e internazionale, sul tema del convegno, ovvero scienza aperta e (riforma della) valutazione della ricerca

Approximation in Morphology

This Special Issue "Approximation in Morphology" has been collated from peer-reviewed papers presented at the ApproxiMo 'discontinuous' workshop (2022), which was held online between December 2021 and May 2022, and organized by Francesca Masini (Bologna), Muriel Norde (Berlin) and Kristel Van Goethem (Louvain)

La rete di data steward: l’esperienza di UniBO

Come rafforzare il supporto alla gestione FAIR dei dati della ricerca e sviluppare una cultura di Open Science all’interno di un Ateneo? Una risposta unica non esiste. L’Università di Bologna si è messa in gioco e, dopo aver inserito questi obiettivi all’interno del piano strategico per il quinquennio 2022-2027, ha lanciato un progetto, chiamato “Data Steward@Unibo”, sperimentando una possibile via per supportare i ricercatori e rafforzare la consapevolezza di una corretta gestione dei dati di ricerca. Il primo passo è stato dotarsi di professionisti, “data steward”, esperti nei diversi domini di ricerca, con esperienza nella gestione FAIR dei dati e nelle tematiche di Open Science. Il talk vuole essere l’occasione per condividere obiettivi e azioni del progetto, presentare i primi risultati di questa esperienza e le prospettive future

Questione di 'stile'. L'espressione analitica della maniera indessicale

This contribution aims to explore the semantic and structural properties of the construction [‘stile’ N], an analytical construction that is taking hold in contemporry Italian to express manner starting from nouns. The word ‘stile’ “style” followed by a nominal often appears within prepositional phrases (e.g. ‘in puro stile McDonald’ “in pure McDonald style”), but in this work we focus on the occurrences in which ‘stile’ is juxtaposed to the head it modifies, without the intermediation of the preposition (e.g. ‘musica di sottofondo stile piano-bar’ “piano-bar-style background music”). Based on examples extracted from the corpus of written Italian CORIS, we how these uses are regulated by a series of formal and functional properties, which lead us to analyze this pattern in terms of Construction Grammar. Great attention is devoted to inherently indexical semantics of this construction, the interpretation of which largely depends on context and shared knowledge. To conclude, some analytical constructions competing with [‘stile’ N] are briefly discussed, illustrating their different distribution and proposing some explanatory hypotheses to be answered through new dedicated and wide-renging research

Deformation analysis of a metropolis from C- to X-band PSI: proof-of-concept with Cosmo-Skymed over Rome, Italy

Stability of monuments and subsidence of residential quarters in Rome (Italy) are depicted based on geospatial analysis of more than 310,000 Persistent Scatterers (PS) obtained from Stanford Method for Persistent Scatterers (StaMPS) processing of 32 COSMO-SkyMed 3m-resolution HH StripMap ascending mode scenes acquired between 21 March 2011 and 10 June 2013. COSMO-SkyMed PS densities and associated displacement velocities are compared with almost 20 years of historical C-band ERS- 1/2, ENVISAT and RADARSAT-1/2 imagery. Accounting for differences in image processing algorithms and satellite acquisition geometries, we assess the feasibility of ground motion monitoring in big cities and metropolitan areas by coupling newly acquired and legacy SAR in full time series. Limitations and operational benefits of the transition from medium resolution C-band to high resolution X-band PS data are discussed, alongside the potential impact on the management of expanding urban environments