“In fair Verona, where we lay our scene”. A multimodal analysis of the tourist gaze on Verona in travel blogs

The increasing presence and popularity of online travel blogs has recently added another layer to tourism discourse studies and to destination marketing, eliciting interest in research on user-generated content in tourism. Such blogs have been recognized as valuable sources of information as they are based on actual travel experiences; as a consequence, they can generate digital word-of-mouth communication to prospective visitors, potentially influencing their destination choices. This paper aims to investigate tourist perceptions and representations of Verona from a multimodal perspective, in order to explore the tourist gaze (Urry 1990) on the city, with an additional focus on its relation to the popular imagery of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. To this purpose, a number of blog entries about Verona from two travel blog platforms (TravelBlog, Travellerspoint) and individual non-professional blogs were analyzed, for a total of 100 entries published from 2010 to 2018. A quantitative-qualitative mixed approach will be adopted to analyze the language used in the blogs as well as the accompanying images, also drawing on Kress and van Leeuwen’s visual grammar model (2006).

ELF Users\u2019 Perceptions of Their \u2018non-nativeness\u2019 in Digital Communication Through English: Falling Short of the Target?

English is nowadays largely used as a shared code of communication among users of different first languages in a broad range of international contexts. English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) studies have become a flourishing field of research, particularly over the last couple of decades, investigating how English is employed in its lingua franca role across several domains, from academia to international mobility, business and other areas. More recently, interest in how ELF is used in written and, particularly, digital settings has been growing, given the significant surge in computer and Web-mediated communication, and the participatory characteristics of Web 2.0 environments. Despite the internet being a multilingual environment (e.g. Danet and Herring 2007; Crystal 2006), English continues to represent one of the major languages of communication, above all in its lingua franca function, allowing people of different linguacultures to connect and communicate across linguistic, cultural and spatial boundaries. Although research into ELF as employed in digital media is still a developing field (cf. the WrELFA 1 corpus, Carey 2013; Mauranen 2013; Franceschi 2014; Vettorel 2014; Vettorel and Franceschi 2016) it can be foreseen that, with more than 3.5 billion users of the Internet (Internet World Stats2) as of today, academic interest in how ELF is employed in digital environments will further expand. Recently, some ELF-related studies have explored metalinguistic comments pertaining to ELF users\u2019 self-perceptions of their competence in English, both in face-to-face (Jenkins 20073; Motschenbacher 2013; Hynninen 2013; Cogo and Jenkins 2010; Kalocsai 2009, 2014) and in online digital environments (Franceschi 2014; Jenks 2013; Vettorel 2014). The main aim of this paper is to explore ELF users' perceptions of their \u2018non-native\u2019 use of the language in web-related environments, either as a pre-emptive move, or when producing non-normative forms, in the EnTenTen corpus. Such perceptions will be investigated through a mainly qualitative approach, aiming at shedding light on how they are expressed and the purpose they fulfill in digital environments, mainly in connection to the conceptualization of the non-native speaker as a permanent learner, always falling short of the unattainable target of native-like proficiency

“A very gay city, also a beautiful one”: The role of attitude markers in early travel guidebooks to China

According to Marjorie Morgan (2001), the “traveling age” in its contemporary meaning began in the early Victorian years, when leisure traveling within and outside Britain became increasingly common. It is around the same time that we witness a divergence between the traditional genres of “travel account” and “travel guidebook”, which become “better defined and more easily distinguishable” (Buzard 1993, François 2012, pp. 72-73). In addition to more practical information, one of the distinctive characteristics of the modern travel guidebook is their objectivity (Behdad 1994). The author’s subjectivity, ubiquitous in travel accounts, appears here to be condensed in adjectives (Bertho Lavenir 1999, p. 61). This study attempts to analyze the presence of authorial subjectivity in early travel guides to China by looking at attitude markers, in order to determine whether and how the authors express opinions and judgements. The study is carried out on a corpus of travel guidebooks to China published between 1866 and 1934, compiled using OCR software ABBYY FineReader PDF 15 and investigated with corpus analysis software Sketch Engine. A mixed approach is adopted, employing both quantitative and qualitative methods. Hyland and Tse’s interpersonal model of metadiscourse (2004) is borrowed to investigate authorial stance, focusing specifically on attitude markers, namely, attitude verbs, sentence adverbs, and adjectives (Hyland 2005b, p. 180). Results highlight an overall positive assessment of the locations described in the guidebooks as well as of the products themselves and of the travel services offered. Attitude markers also steer the tourist towards certain locations and itineraries, also contributing to shaping how travelers “gaze” (Urry 1990) at China as a destination

“A very gay city, also a beautiful one”: The role of attitude markers in early travel guidebooks to China

According to Marjorie Morgan (2001), the “traveling age” in its contemporary meaning began in the early Victorian years, when leisure traveling within and outside Britain became increasingly common. It is around the same time that we witness a divergence between the traditional genres of “travel account” and “travel guidebook”, which become “better defined and more easily distinguishable” (Buzard 1993, François 2012, pp. 72-73). In addition to more practical information, one of the distinctive characteristics of the modern travel guidebook is their objectivity (Behdad 1994). The author’s subjectivity, ubiquitous in travel accounts, appears here to be condensed in adjectives (Bertho Lavenir 1999, p. 61). This study attempts to analyze the presence of authorial subjectivity in early travel guides to China by looking at attitude markers, in order to determine whether and how the authors express opinions and judgements. The study is carried out on a corpus of travel guidebooks to China published between 1866 and 1934, compiled using OCR software ABBYY FineReader PDF 15 and investigated with corpus analysis software Sketch Engine. A mixed approach is adopted, employing both quantitative and qualitative methods. Hyland and Tse’s interpersonal model of metadiscourse (2004) is borrowed to investigate authorial stance, focusing specifically on attitude markers, namely, attitude verbs, sentence adverbs, and adjectives (Hyland 2005b, p. 180). Results highlight an overall positive assessment of the locations described in the guidebooks as well as of the products themselves and of the travel services offered. Attitude markers also steer the tourist towards certain locations and itineraries, also contributing to shaping how travelers “gaze” (Urry 1990) at China as a destination

Parental Androids

About forty years ago, feminist scholars formulated several independent definitions of an ethics of care (Gilligan 1982; Ruddick 1989; Noddings 1984), suggesting the need to reframe human collective and personal interactions. However, care theory fails for the most part to consider the lived experiences and the needs of marginalized subjects (Gary 2022). This study observes care theory from a linguistic perspective in three audio-visual texts featuring examples of non-normative care. The sci-fi TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Battlestar Galactica, and Raised by Wolves will be considered, with a focus on androids acting as caregivers. The linguistic analysis, following a Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA), will focus on discursive strategies relating to the parties involved, their relational ties, care behaviors, and the androids’ adequacy as caretakers. The emerging perspectives may be mapped onto current discourse on minority groups’ access to fostering or adoption and their reproductive rights

OVERVIEWING RESEARCH ON BELF COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES From professional practice to ELT materials

The present paper focuses on the use of English in BELF contexts, bearing in mind both teaching and practice in the professional field. After an overview of the state of the art in ELF and BELF research over the last twenty years, the topic is tackled from three different perspectives, which mirror the studies carried out by the unit of the University of Verona in a three-year-long nationally funded research. Firstly, we will address BELF in professional settings, to shed light on what facilitates success in online interactions, with a special focus on e-mail exchanges. Secondly, still addressing e-mail exchanges, we will suggest a broadening of the notion of BELF communication strategies that goes beyond sheer successful, mutual understanding in the professional field. Finally, bearing the first two steps of our research in mind, we will turn to the teaching environment, overviewing if and to what extent international business ELT coursebooks deal with BELF communication strategies at different levels of competence, so as to provide hints and suggestions for more effective materials in this field

On the verge between Ancient and Modern Times. A linguistic analysis of Urban Exploration practices

Recently the fascination with the aesthetics of abandoned places has stepped into the limelight as a new form of tourism known as Urbex or Urban Exploration, which involves discovering abandoned places and reporting the exploration with documentary evidence on specialized websites and blogs. This paper aims to investigate online discourse on Urbex by analyzing how urban exploration is talked about in two different online spaces, i.e., interest-based communities where discussion about the activity of visiting abandoned places among members is fostered and encouraged (Reddit), and more public, monologic spaces, such as blogs and websites, where longer texts are produced with a more descriptive/commercial purpose. To reach this goal, a comparative analysis of keywords and selected key terms was carried out on two ad-hoc corpora, i.e., the Urban Website Corpus (UW-Corpus) and the Urban Reddit Corpus (UR-Corpus). Results show that the linguistic choices of urban explorers highlight the existence of tension between the core tenets and ethical principles of urban exploration - avoiding disclosure of exact location, focusing on sites disregarded by preservationists, awareness of legal repercussions for trespassing - and a shift towards a more mainstream, regulated type of activity. In the UR-Corpus, distinctive language forms suggest that Urbex aficionados constitute a discourse community

When Rey-Osterrieth's Complex Figure Becomes a Church: Prevalence and Correlates of Graphic Confabulations in Dementia

Verbal confabulation (VC) has been described in several pathological conditions characterized by amnesia and has been defined as ‘statements that involve distortion of memories’. Here we describe another kind of confabulation (graphic confabulation, GC), evident at the recall of the Rey-Osterrieth complex figure (ROCF). In a retrospective study of 267 patients with mild-to-moderate dementia, 14 patients (4.9 %) recalled the abstract ROCF as drawings with recognizable semantic meaning. VC was evident at the story recall test in 19.8% of the study participants. VC and GC were homogeneously distributed among the different types of dementia. VC has been proposed to originate from complex interactions of amnesia, motivational deficit and dysfunction of monitoring systems. On the contrary, GC seems to be the result of a deficit in visual memory replaced by the semantic translation of isolated parts of the ROCF along with a source monitoring deficit

Agerelated quantitative and qualitative changes in decision making ability

Abstract. The "frontal aging hypothesis" predicts that brain senescence affects predominantly the prefrontal regions. Preliminary evidence has recently been gathered in favour of an age-related change in a typically frontal process, i.e. decision making, using the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), but overall findings have been conflicting. Following the traditional scoring method, coupled with a qualitative analysis, in the present study we compared IGT performance of 40 young (mean age: 27.9 ± 4.7) and 40 old (mean age: 65.4 ± 8.6) healthy adults and of 18 patients affected by frontal lobe dementia of mild severity (mean age: 65.1 ± 7.4, mean MMSE score: 24.1 ± 3.9). Quantitative findings support the notion that decision making ability declines with age; moreover, it approximates the impairment observed in executive dysfunction due to neurodegeneration. Results of the qualitative analysis did not reach statistical significance for the motivational and learning decision making components considered, but approached significance for the attentional component for elderly versus young normals, suggesting a possible decrease in the ability to maintain sustained attention during complex and prolonged tasks as the putative deficit underlying impaired decision making in normal aging