Two new records of conifer-inhabiting mirid bugs (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Miridae) from Malta

Short correspondence article regarding two new records of conifer-inhabiting mirid bugs which were recently collected in a Malaise trap located in the private grounds of the Verdala Palace, close to Buskett : Orthotylus (Parapachylops) junipericola regularis and Phytocoris (Exophytocoris) parvulus.peer-reviewe

New records of true bugs (Hemiptera, Heteroptera) from the Maltese Islands

A list of 133 species of heteropteran bugs collected from the Maltese Islands is presented; 21 of them are new records for the Maltese archipelago whereas an additional 15 represent new records for individual islands of this archipelago. The new records are of native origin in the Maltese Islands with the exception of Corythauma ayyari which is an Oriental species rapidly expanding its distribution range in Europe and Saudi Arabia. Earlier records of Capsodes gothicus and Gonocerus insidiator from Malta are incorrect and should refer to C. vittiventris and G. imitator respectively. The presence of Tuponia brevirostris in Malta is confirmed since this record was previously based only on the catalogue of Palaearctic Heteroptera without original data. A total of 15 species previously reported from the Maltese Islands are considered as doubtful. Considering the results of the present paper with additions and corrections made to the checklist of Maltese Heteroptera, the total number of confirmed records is augmented to 232 (221 in Malta, 74 on Gozo and 38 on Comino)peer-reviewe

Unique equilibrium states for some intermediate beta transformations

We prove uniqueness of equilibrium states for subshifts corresponding to intermediate beta transformations with $\beta > 2$ having the property that the orbit of 0 is bounded away from 1

Il gioco linguistico del significato letterale

Literal Meaning is a widely used notion, which seems to be well rooted in the strong intuition that words have a meaning in themselves. However, as pointed out in previous literature (e.g. RECANATI 2004), this theoretical notion seems to be problematic in accounting for some aspects of the nature of linguistic meaning. Embracing these criticisms, we will show how the heuristic power of this notion becomes apparent when looking at some specific types of contexts, namely those language games where it is necessary to retrieve the meaning of words in isolation. This will allow us to argue in favour of consistency of this notion with theoretical framework with a strong focus on the contextual nature of linguistic meaning. In order to do so: 1. 2. 3. We will clarify what we mean by standard notion of literal meaning and the main criticisms coming from contextualist approaches; We will show how, in spite of its weaknesses, this notion tends to be widely used, since it seems to capture the intuition that words have a meaning in themselves and therefore that languages rely on a stable lexicon which can be accessed metalinguistically; We will show how this notion can still be used within contextualist frameworks to account for some specific types of language games where those metalinguistic operations are necessary

I "gravissimi autori" del "Fuggilozio"

La raccolta di novelle del napoletano Tomaso Costo, Il fuggilozio, si colloca esattamente alla fine del XVI secolo; può perciò essere considerata un eloquente paradigma della forma assunta dal novelliere alle soglie del Seicento. La ripresa dell'espediente strutturale decameroniano si accompagna a novità dettate dal gusto dei moderni, ben esemplificate dalle sentenze poste a chiusura di ciascuna novella a sanzione del portato didattico del racconto, spesso assegnate a fonti autorevoli. La rassegna puntale delle auctoritates citate in questo contesto illumina un composito canone di autori percepiti come sicuri garanti del senso morale. Al vertice della gerarchia si scopre una triade rappresentativa delle tre culture, con Aristotele, Seneca e Petrarca; ma la rassegna mostra anche la resistenza ad affidarsi a nomi recenti, nonché sorprendenti assenze persino della più rinomata classicità. Un'attenzione particolare meritano le menzioni sentenziose tratte da Boccaccio, rare e piegate a corroborare un'etica ormai troppo diversa da quella che permea il Decameron.The Neapolitan writer Tomaso Costo's collection of short stories Il fuggilozio dates back to the end of the sixteenth century, and can thus be considered an eloquently paradigmatic instance of the form of such collections at the turn of the seventeenth century. Costo combines his appropriation of the Decameron 's structure with elements of novelty in keeping with modern taste, as is evident from the sentences often ascribed to authoritative sources and placed at the end of each short story, which collectively confirm the didactic purpose of the narrative. An accurate examination of the auctoritates mentioned in this context sheds light on a complex canon of authors regarded as reliable moral guarantors. At the top of the hierarchy there stands a triad (Aristotle, Seneca and Petrarch) representing the three cultures; but the survey also shows some reluctance to rely upon recent names, as well as the surprising absence of the most renowned classical figures. The sententious quotations from Boccaccio deserve particular attention in view of their rarity and because they are forced to corroborate a moral system that, by now, is utterly different from that of the Decameron

Canzoni 'date in moglie' a sirventesi nella vida II di Bertran de Born

Si propone una nuova interpretazione di un passo della biografia in prosa provenzale (vida) del trovatore Bertran de Born che comproverebbe il suo successo come creatore di sirventesi composti su melodie altrui

Daude de Pradas (?), “Belha m’es la votz autana” (BdT 124.5)

The attribution of this love song to the troubadour from Rouergue, Daude de Pradas, according to the only Occitan testimony, i.e. song-book C, was considered impossible or at least suspicious by many scholars for the mere fact that its first verse is quoted, as a ‘chançon auvrignace’, in the “Roman de la Rose” (or Guillaume de Dole) attributed to Jean Renart and initially dated to the earliest years of the XIIIth century. However, in the light of the recent dating of Daude’s poetic activity between 1191 and 1242, the chronological criterion alone cannot resolve the issue of attribution. This paper, where a more conservative edition of the text than that by C. Appel (1890) is proposed, will now present for the first time codicological – i.e. order and sources of Daude’s section in Ms. C – as well as metrical, stylistic and musical data, on the basis of the notation present in Ms. W. The discussion leads to the hypothesis that the song might be the work of an author belonging to the group of Marcabru’s imitators and therefore relatively early (third quarter of the XIIth century), setting aside the isolated attribution to Daude de Pradas

"Leggere le pitture come fossero un libro". L’interprétation du plafond peint de Manfredi Chiaramonte entre philologie et histoire

Le plafond en bois peint (1377-1380) de la grande salle du Palais Chiaramonte ou Steri à Palerme, « somme figurative de toute la littérature romanesque du Moyen Âge » (G. Folena), est un monument unique en son genre où se rencontrent des traditions artistiques et littéraires européennes, méditerranéennes et locales. Depuis sa découverte en 1899, il a été étudié par des archéologues et des historiens de l’art, mais aussi par des philologues comme Ezio Levi et Maria Bendinelli Predelli, qui se sont questionnés sur les sources littéraires et iconographiques de ses nombreuses scènes narratives : histoires de Tristan et Ιseult, d’Hélène de Narbonne, du Cycle troyen, d’Alexandre le Grand, d’Enée et Didon, ainsi que plusieurs épisodes bibliques, scènes allégoriques, et quelques scènes encore non identifiées ou qui ne sont plus visibles. Récemment, une infestation de termites a endommagé les poutres du plafond, qui est maintenant en cours de restauration. Dans cette contribution, nous nous proposons de discuter les thèses avancées à ce jour sur le « programme » iconographique et le sens général de l’oeuvre, en mettant l’accent sur certaines scènes ou images à l’interprétation problématique, et en questionnant la légitimité d’une lecture suivie et globalisante des peintures, telle que les historiens de l’art l’ont prônée. On propose, pour finir, une nouvelle piste interprétative qui concerne les histoires « centrales » du secteur initial (poutres III-XI)

Perspectives on language use and pragmatics.

recensione: Alessandro Capone (ed.), Perspectives on language use and pragmatics. A volume in memory of Sorin Stati, M\ufcnchen (Lincom Europa) 2010