Letteratura postmoderna e comunicazione pubblicitaria, problemi teorici e analisi testuali

Premise: In the literary works of our anthropological and cultural imagination, the various languages and the different discursive practices are not necessarily quoted, expressly alluded to or declared through clear expressive mechanisms; instead, they rather constitute a substratum, a background, now consolidated, which with irony and intertextuality shines through the thematic and formal elements of each text. The various contaminations, hybridizations and promptings that we find in the expressive forms, the rhetorical procedures and the linguistic and thematic choices of post-modern literary texts are shaped as fluid and familiar categories. Exchanges and passages are no longer only allowed but also inevitable; the post-modern imagination is made up of an agglomeration of discourses that are no longer really separable, built up from texts that blend and quote one another, composing, each with its own specificities, the great family of the cultural products of our social scenario. A literary work, therefore, is not only a whole phenomenon, delimited hic et nunc by a beginning and an ending, but is a fragment of that complex, dense and boundless network that is given by the continual interrelations between human forms of communication and symbolization. The research hypothesis: A vision is delineated of comparative literature as a discipline attentive to the social contexts in which texts take shape and move and to the media-type consistency that literary phenomena inevitably take on. Hence literature is seen as an open systematicity that chooses to be contaminated by other languages and other discursive practices of an imagination that is more than ever polymorphic and irregular. Inside this interpretative framework the aim is to focus the analysis on the relationship that postmodern literature establishes with advertising discourse. On one side post-modern literature is inserted in the world of communication, loudly asserting the blending and reciprocal contamination of literary modes with media ones, absorbing their languages and signification practices, translating them now into thematic nuclei, motifs and sub-motifs and now into formal expedients and new narrative choices; on the other side advertising is chosen as a signification practice of the media universe, which since the 1960s has actively contributed to shaping the dynamics of our socio-cultural scenarios, in terms which are just as important as those of other discursive practices. Advertising has always been a form of communication and symbolization that draws on the collective imagination – myths, actors and values – turning them into specific narrative programs for its own texts. Hence the aim is to interpret and analyze this relationship both from a strictly thematic perspective – and therefore trying to understand what literature speaks about when it speaks about advertising, and seeking advertising quotations in post-modern fiction – and from a formal perspective, with a search for parallels and discordances between the rhetorical procedures, the languages and the verifiable stylistic choices in the texts of the two different signification practices. The analysis method chosen, for the purpose of constructive multiplication of the perspectives, aims to approach the analytical processes of semiotics, applying, when possible, the instruments of the latter, in order to highlight the thematic and formal relationships between literature and advertising. The corpus: The corpus of the literary texts is made up of various novels and, although attention is focused on the post-modern period, there will also be ineludible quotations from essential authors that with their works prompted various reflections: H. De Balzac, Zola, Fitzgerald, Joyce, Calvino, etc… However, the analysis focuses the corpus on three authors: Don DeLillo, Martin Amis and Aldo Nove, and in particular the followings novels: “Americana” (1971) and “Underworld” (1999) by Don DeLillo, “Money” (1984) by Martin Amis and “Woobinda and other stories without a happy ending” (1996) and “Superwoobinda” (1998) by Aldo Nove. The corpus selection is restricted to these novels for two fundamental reasons: 1. assuming parameters of spatio-temporal evaluation, the texts are representative of different socio-cultural contexts and collective imaginations (from the masterly glimpses of American life by DeLillo, to the examples of contemporary Italian life by Nove, down to the English imagination of Amis) and of different historical moments (the 1970s of DeLillo’s Americana, the 1980s of Amis, down to the 1990s of Nove, decades often used as criteria of division of postmodernism into phases); 2. adopting a perspective of strictly thematic analysis, as mentioned in the research hypothesis, the variations and the constants in the novels (thematic nuclei, topoi, images and narrative developments) frequently speak of advertising and inside the narrative plot they affirm various expressions and realizations of it: value ones, thematic ones, textual ones, urban ones, etc… In these novels the themes and the processes of signification of advertising discourse pervade time, space and the relationships that the narrator character builds around him. We are looking at “particle-characters” whose endless facets attest the influence and contamination of advertising in a large part of the narrative developments of the plot: on everyday life, on the processes of acquisition and encoding of the reality, on ideological and cultural baggage, on the relationships and interchanges with the other characters, etc… Often the characters are victims of the implacable consequentiality of the advertising mechanism, since the latter gets the upper hand over the usual processes of communication, which are overwhelmed by it, wittingly or unwittingly (for example: disturbing openings in which the protagonist kills his or her parents on the basis of a spot, former advertisers that live life codifying it through the commercial mechanisms of products, sons and daughters of advertisers that as children instead of playing outside for whole nights saw tapes of spots.) Hence the analysis arises from the text and aims to show how much the developments and the narrative plots of the novels encode, elaborate and recount the myths, the values and the narrative programs of advertising discourse, transforming them into novel components in their own right. And also starting from the text a socio-cultural reference context is delineated, a collective imagination that is different, now geographically, now historically, and from comparison between them the aim is to deduce the constants, the similarities and the variations in the relationship between literature and advertising.

Peer and group relationships in preschoolers: the role of social and linguistic skills

Being able to positively interact and build relationships with playmates in preschool years is crucial to achieve positive adjustment. An update review and two studies on such topics were provided. Study 1 is observational; it investigates the type of social experience in groups (N = 443) of children (N = 120) at preschool age in child-led vs. teacher-led contexts. The results revealed that in child-led contexts children were more likely to be alone, in dyads, and in small peer groups; groups were mostly characterized by same-gender playmates who engaged in joint interactions, with few social interactions with teachers. In teacher-led contexts, on the other hand, children were more likely to be involved in small, medium and large groups; groups were mostly characterized by other-gender playmates, involved in parallel interactions, with teachers playing a more active role. The purpose of Study 2 was to describe the development of socio-emotional competence, temperamental traits and linguistic skill. It examined the role of children’s reciprocated nominations (=RNs) with peers, assessed via sociometric interview, in relation to socio-emotional competence, temperamental traits and linguistic skill. Finally, the similarity-homophily tendency was investigated. Socio-emotional competence and temperamental traits were assessed via teacher ratings, linguistic skill via test administration. Eighty-four preschool children (M age = 62.53) were recruited within 4 preschool settings. Those children were quite representative of preschool population. The results revealed that children with higher RNs showed higher social competence (tendency), social orientation, positive emotionality, motor activity and linguistic skill. They exhibited lower anxiety-withdrawal. The results also showed that children prefer playmates with similar features: social competence, anger-aggression (tendency), social orientation, positive emotionality, inhibition to innovation, attention, motor activity (tendency) and linguistic skill. Implications for future research were suggested.

Exercise associated factors affecting cardiovascular health and function: from myocyte signaling to genetic variations

The exact mechanisms of the exercise induced adaptations is not lucid, but recent studies have delineated two means of signaling by which the adaptations occur (1) substrate availability signaling (metabolic stress) (2) hormone-receptor signaling. We have decided to specifically investigate two metabolic signaling enzymes [AMP-activated kinase (AMPK) and Sirtuin 1(SIRT1)] and two hormones [Adiponectin and Adrenergic stimulation].Tis based on four papers with the following conclusions: (1)Increase in SIRT1 activity and expression in H9c2 cells treated with phenylephrine is an adaptive response to the hypertrophic stress, mediated by AMPK. (2)The lack of optimal nutritional conditions (energetic substrates) due to a prolonged activation of AMPK can contrast the establishment of hypertrophy, possibly also by means of the negative modulation of ODC activity. (3) Our findings offer a possibile hypothesis as to the fact the the G allele on site 45 could lead to the increasd risk of Type II diabetes through a decrease in lean body mass. (4) Our results suggest that there is an ADIPOQ gene effect in relation to bone parameters. Statistical analysis show that the presence of the T allele in position 45 favors an increase in lumbar spine bone mineral content (BMC) when compared to subjects with a G allele substitution, which can be do the the increase in lean body mass in this genotype group.

Changes in the microbial community based on seawater pH variations

Ocean acidification is an effect of the rise in atmospheric CO2, which causes a reduction in the pH of the ocean and generates a number of changes in seawater chemistry and consequently potentially impacts seawater life. The effect of ocean acidification on metabolic processes (such as net community production and community respiration and on particulate organic carbon (POC) concentrations was investigated in summer 2012 at Cap de la Revellata in Corsica (Calvi, France). Coastal surface water was enclosed in 9 mesocosms and subjected to 6 pCO2 levels (3 replicated controls and 6 perturbations) for approximately one month. No trend was found in response to increasing pCO2 in any of the biological and particulate analyses. Community respiration was relatively stable throughout the experiment in all mesocosms, and net community production was most of the time close to zero. Similarly, POC concentrations were not affected by acidification during the whole experimental period. Such as the global ocean, the Mediterranean Sea has an oligotrophic nature. Based on present results, it seems likely that seawater acidification will not have significant effects on photosynthetic rates, microbial metabolism and carbon transport.

Sea Level Variations from Decades to Millennia: A few Case Studies

The main goals of this Ph.D. study are to investigate the regional and global geophysical components related to present polar ice melting and to provide independent cross validation checks of GIA models using both geophysical data detected by satellite mission, and geological observations from far field sites, in order to determine a lower and upper bound of uncertainty of GIA effect. The subject of this Thesis is the sea level change from decades to millennia scale. Within ice2sea collaboration, we developed a Fortran numerical code to analyze the local short-term sea level change and vertical deformation resulting from the loss of ice mass. This method is used to investigate polar regions: Greenland and Antarctica. We have used mass balance based on ICESat data for Greenland ice sheet and a plausible mass balance for Antarctic ice sheet. We have determined the regional and global fingerprint of sea level variations, vertical deformations of the solid surface of the Earth and variations of shape of the geoid for each ice source mentioned above. The coastal areas are affected by the long wavelength component of GIA process. Hence understanding the response of the Earth to loading is crucial in various contexts. Based on the hypothesis that Earth mantle materials obey to a linear rheology, and that the physical parameters of this rheology can be only characterized by their depth dependence, we investigate the Glacial Isostatic Effect upon the far field sites of Mediterranean area using an improved SELEN program. We presented new and revised observations for archaeological fish tanks located along the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic coast of Italy and new RSL for the SE Tunisia. Spatial and temporal variations of the Holocene sea levels studied in central Italy and Tunisia, provided important constraints on the melting history of the major ice sheets.

Design, development and first evaluation of a client/server system for managing and querying linguistic corpora

This thesis is concerned with the role played by software tools in the analysis and dissemination of linguistic corpora and their contribution to a more widespread adoption of corpora in different fields. Chapter 1 contains an overview of some of the most relevant corpus analysis tools available today, presenting their most interesting features and some of their drawbacks. Chapter 2 begins with an explanation of the reasons why none of the available tools appear to satisfy the requirements of the user community and then continues with technical overview of the current status of the new system developed as part of this work. This presentation is followed by highlights of features that make the system appealing to users and corpus builders (i.e. scholars willing to make their corpora available to the public). The chapter concludes with an indication of future directions for the projects and information on the current availability of the software. Chapter 3 describes the design of an experiment devised to evaluate the usability of the new system in comparison to another corpus tool. Usage of the tool was tested in the context of a documentation task performed on a real assignment during a translation class in a master's degree course. In chapter 4 the findings of the experiment are presented on two levels of analysis: firstly a discussion on how participants interacted with and evaluated the two corpus tools in terms of interface and interaction design, usability and perceived ease of use. Then an analysis follows of how users interacted with corpora to complete the task and what kind of queries they submitted. Finally, some general conclusions are drawn and areas for future work are outlined.

Comparing genetic and linguistic diversity in African populations with a focus on the Khoisan of southern Africa

The interaction between disciplines in the study of human population history is of primary importance, profiting from the biological and cultural characteristics of humankind. In fact, data from genetics, linguistics, archaeology and cultural anthropology can be combined to allow for a broader research perspective. This multidisciplinary approach is here applied to the study of the prehistory of sub-Saharan African populations: in this continent, where Homo sapiens originally started his evolution and diversification, the understanding of the patterns of human variation has a crucial relevance. For this dissertation, molecular data is interpreted and complemented with a major contribution from linguistics: linguistic data are compared to the genetic data and the research questions are contextualized within a linguistic perspective. In the four articles proposed, we analyze Y chromosome SNPs and STRs profiles and full mtDNA genomes on a representative number of samples to investigate key questions of African human variability. Some of these questions address i) the amount of genetic variation on a continental scale and the effects of the widespread migration of Bantu speakers, ii) the extent of ancient population structure, which has been lost in present day populations, iii) the colonization of the southern edge of the continent together with the degree of population contact/replacement, and iv) the prehistory of the diverse Khoisan ethnolinguistic groups, who were traditionally understudied despite representing one of the most ancient divergences of modern human phylogeny. Our results uncover a deep level of genetic structure within the continent and a multilayered pattern of contact between populations. These case studies represent a valuable contribution to the debate on our prehistory and open up further research threads.

Studies on the dual in Mycenaean, in the Homeric poetry and in the Attic Theatre of the 5th century — morphological, dialectal and stylistical variations

The present dissertation focuses on the dual number in Ancient Greek in a diachronical lapse stretching from the Mycenaean age to the Attic Drama and Comedy of the 5th century BC. In the first chapter morphological issues are addressed, chiefly in a comparative perspective. The Indo European evidence on the dual is hence gathered in order to sketch patterns of grammaticalisation and paradigmatisation of specific grams, growing increasingly functional within the Greek domain. In the second chapter syntactical problems are tackled. After a survey of scholarly literature on the Greek dual, we engage in a functional and typological approach, in order to disentangle some biased assessments on the dual, namely its alleged lack of regularity and intermittent agreement. Some recent frameworks in General Linguistics provide useful grounds for casting new light on the subject. Internal Reconstruction, for instance, supports the facultativity of the dual in each and every stage of its development; Typology and the Animacy Hierarcy add precious cross linguistical insight on the behaviour of the dual toward agreement. Glaring differences also arise as to the adoption — or avoidance — of the dual by different authors. Idiolectal varieties prove in fact conditioned by stylistical and register necessity. By means of a comparison among Epics, Tragedy and Comedy it is possible to enhance differences in the evaluation of the dual, which led sometimes to forms of ‘censure’ — thus triggering the onset of competing strategies to express duality. The last two chapters delve into the tantalising variety of the Homeric evidence, first of all in an account of the notorious issue of the Embassy of Iliad IX, and last in a commentary of all significant Homeric duals — mostly represented by archaisms, formulae, and ad hoc coinages.

Diversity of the proximal femur in humans: morphological variations of the head-neck junction

The proximal femur is a high-diversity region of the human skeleton, especially at the anterior junction between head and neck, where various bony morphologies have been recognized since mid nineteenth century. Classical literature on this topic is chaotic and contradictory, making almost impossible the comparison of data from different researches. Starting from an extensive bibliographic review, the first standardized method to score these traits has been created. This method allows representing both the anatomical diversity of the region already described in literature and a part of variability not considered before, giving few and univocal definitions and allowing to collect comparable data. The method has been applied to three identified and five archaeological European skeletal collections, with the aim of investigating the distribution of these features by sex, age and side, in different places and time periods. It has also been applied to 3D digital reconstructions of femurs from CT scan files of coxo-femoral joints from fresh cadavers. In addition to the osseous traits described in the standardized method, the presence and frequency of some features known as herniation pits have been scored both on bones and on CT scans. The various osseous traits of the proximal femur are present at similar frequencies in skeletal samples from different countries and different historical periods, even if with clear local differentiation. Some of the features examined show significant trends related to their distribution by gender and age. Some hypotheses are proposed about the etiology of these morphologies and their possible implication with the acquisition of bipedalism in Humans. It is therefore highlighted the possible relation of some of these traits with the development of disorders of the hip joint. Moreover, it is not recommended the use of any of these features as a specific activity-related marker.

Global and regional sea level variations in the recent past and future: insight from observations and modeling

This work is focused on the analysis of sea–level change (last century), based mainly on instrumental observations. During this period, individual components of sea–level change are investigated, both at global and regional scales. Some of the geophysical processes responsible for current sea-level change such as glacial isostatic adjustments and current melting terrestrial ice sources, have been modeled and compared with observations. A new value of global mean sea level change based of tide gauges observations has been independently assessed in 1.5 mm/year, using corrections for glacial isostatic adjustment obtained with different models as a criterion for the tide gauge selection. The long wavelength spatial variability of the main components of sea–level change has been investigated by means of traditional and new spectral methods. Complex non–linear trends and abrupt sea–level variations shown by tide gauges records have been addressed applying different approaches to regional case studies. The Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition technique has been used to analyse tide gauges records from the Adriatic Sea to ascertain the existence of cyclic sea-level variations. An Early Warning approach have been adopted to detect tipping points in sea–level records of North East Pacific and their relationship with oceanic modes. Global sea–level projections to year 2100 have been obtained by a semi-empirical approach based on the artificial neural network method. In addition, a model-based approach has been applied to the case of the Mediterranean Sea, obtaining sea-level projection to year 2050.

The role of language in tv shows and its impact on the audience: A linguistic analysis of Game of Thrones

Through the analysis of American TV show Game of Thrones, this dissertation will focus on the linguistic issues concerning the adaptation from books to television, the power of language over the audience, and the creation of two languages, with all the linguistic and cultural implications related to this phenomenon.

Linguistic gender identity construction in political discourse : a corpus-assisted analysis of the primary speeches of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton

The present study is concerned with exploring the linguistic identity construction of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in the context of USA 2008 Democratic Party primaries. Thus, their speeches are examined in order to detect the aspects of identity that each politician resorted to in the process of projecting a political identity. The study, however, takes a special interest in the ways in which gender identity is projected by Obama and Clinton. Moreover, the notions of gender bias as well as gender representations are also investigated.

Acknowledging linguistic diversity in a multicultural society: the issue of indigenous languages in Colombia.

Nowadays, modern society is gradually becoming multicultural. However, only in the last few years awareness on its importance has been raised. In the case of Colombia, multiculturalism has existed since the pre-Columbian period and today there are more than 80 ethnic groups and 65 indigenous languages in the country. The aim of this work is to illustrate the status of indigenous languages in Colombia and to enlighten about the importance of recognizing, protecting and strengthening the use of these native languages. Subsequent to this, it will be point out that linguistic diversity should be considered a resource and not a barrier to achieve unity in diversity. Finally, ethno-education will be presented as an adequate educational program that may guarantee an equal linguistic representation in the country.

"Linguistic Imperialism" di Robert Phillipson: proposta di traduzione di alcuni estratti

L'oggetto di questo elaborato è la proposta di traduzione di alcuni passaggi tratti dal terzo capitolo dal manuale Linguistic Imperialism di Robert Phillipson. L'autore ha scritto un saggio di linguistica applicata che discute dell'esistenza dell'imperialismo linguistico e delle conseguenze che ha sulla realtà linguistica moderna. Il terzo capitolo, in particolar modo, descrive i fondamenti teorici su cui si basa l'intera teoria.