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Abstract –In communication a great deal of meaning is exchanged through body language, including gaze, posture, hand gestures and body movements. Body language is largely culture-specific, and rests, for its comprehension, on people’s sharing socio-cultural and linguistic norms. In cross-cultural communication, L2 speakers’ use of body language may convey meaning that is not understood or misinterpreted by the interlocutors, affecting the pragmatics of communication. In spite of its importance for cross-cultural communication, body language is neglected in ESL/EFL teaching. This paper argues that the study of body language should be integrated in the syllabus of ESL/EFL teaching and learning. This is done by: 1) reviewing literature showing the tight connection between language, speech and gestures and the problems that might arise in cross-cultural communication when speakers use and interpret body language according to different conventions; 2) reporting the data from two pilot studies showing that L2 learners transfer L1 gestures to the L2 and that these are not understood by native L2 speakers; 3) reporting an experience teaching body language in an ESL/EFL classroom. The paper suggests that in multicultural ESL/EFL classes teaching body language should be aimed primarily at raising the students’ awareness of the differences existing across cultures. Keywords: ESL/EFL teaching; body language; cross-cultural communication; speech; gestures. Abstract –Nella comunicazione una buona parte del significato viene trasmetto attraverso il linguaggio del corpo, che include lo sguardo, la postura, i gesti delle mani e i movimenti del corpo. Il linguaggio del corpo è per lo più specifico di ciascuna cultura e si affida, per la sua comprensione, sulla condivisione di norme socio-culturali e linguistiche. Nella comunicazione interculturale l’uso del linguaggio del corpo da parte dei parlanti di L2 può trasmettere significati che non vengono compresi o vengono malinterpretati dagli interlocutori, con effetti sulla pragmatica della comunicazione. Nonostante la sua indiscussa importanza per la comunicazione interculturale il linguaggio del corpo è trascurato nell’insegnamento di ESL/EFL. Questo lavoro sostiene che lo studio del linguaggio del corpo dovrebbe essere integrato nel curriculum dell’insegnamento e dell’apprendimento di ESL/EFL. A tale scopo, questo studio: 1) fa una rassegna della letteratura che mostra lo stretto collegamento tra lingua, parlato e gesti e dei problem che potrebbero sorgere quando, nella comunicazione interculturale, i parlanti usano e interpretano il linguaggio del corpo secondo convenzioni diverse; 2) riporta dati da 2 studi pilota che mostrano il transfer dei gesti dalla L1 alla L2 e come i gesti trasferiti nella L2 non vengano compresi dai parlanti native della lingua target; 3) riporta una esperienza di insegnamento di linguaggio del corpo in un corso di ESL/EFL. Il saggio suggerisce che nelle classi multicultural di ESL/EFL l’insegnamento del linguaggio del corpo dovrebbe essere mirato in primo luogo a fare crescere la consapevolezza degli studenti delle differenze esistenti tra culture diverse. Keywords: insegnamento ESL/EFL; linguaggio del corpo; comunicazione interculturale; parlato; gesti.

Abstract - The aim of this paper is to explore the ‘literary’ in literary translation. It begins with a discussion of what makes a text literary, focussing on some very famous literary works which did not (and indeed do not) necessarily fit what is generally considered the literary canon. The features that translators should identify when first reading a text, on the look-out for potential literary value, are then outlined. These features are both textual (covering non-casual language, rhetorical features and equivalences) and contextual (connotations, implicatures, intratextual and culture-bound associations). The paper then discusses changing translation theory and practice, in particular illustrating points with comments made by translators and theorists in this book and elsewhere. Importance is also given to the profession itself, to literary translator beliefs about their role, the changing importance of the model reader and to changing beliefs about accepted style, making reference also to results of a global survey recently carried out on the subject. Riassunto -L’articolo si propone di esplorare il “letterario” nella traduzione letteraria. Si parte da una discussione di ciò che rende letterario un testo, facendo riferimento ad alcune opere letterarie molto famose che non rientravano (e non rientrano tuttora) in ciò che viene generalmente ritenuto il canone letterario. Si definiscono, poi, gli aspetti che i traduttori dovrebbero individuare leggendo un testo per la prima volta nella prospettiva di ricerca di un potenziale valore letterario. Tali aspetti sono sia testuali (il linguaggio ‘non casuale’, le figure retoriche e le equivalenze) sia contestuali (connotazioni, implicature, associazioni intratestuali e legate alla cultura). L’articolo discute, poi, l’evolversi della teoria e pratica della traduzione, illustrando in particolare alcuni punti commentati da traduttori e teorici di questo volume e al di fuori. Si sottolinea inoltre l’importanza della professione del traduttore e della percezione che il traduttore letterario ha del proprio ruolo, mettendo in evidenza come l’importanza del lettore modello e dei valori relativi a uno stile condiviso stia cambiando, facendo anche riferimento ai risultati di una recente intervista globale sull’argomento.

Abstract – This paper will analyze the ‘historical’ novel Gould’s Book of Fish (2001) by the Tasmanian writer Richard Flanagan with the aim of reflecting upon the power of the creative word as a means to forge reality, shape identities, mask or unmask truths, and also to prefigure a different, alternative world order based on commonly negotiated and thus shared values. The postmodernist revisiting of the traditional genre of the historical novel does not compromise the postcolonial commitment of the writer: Flanagan’s incursions into the Australian colonial past are informed by his concern for urgent social and political causes which has characterized his unswerving fight against all systems of inequality and exploitation. In his novel, the subversion of the linear causal relation of events which calls into question the truthfulness and objectivity of history, together with the foregrounded metanarrative reflection on the art of writing, contribute to the revisiting and re-discussing of the myth of progress and the cult of rationality at the very roots of Western civilization and of its imperialistic enterprise. Flanagan’s ‘anti-historical’ historical novel tackles urgent questions about modernity interrogating the founding narratives of the Australian national identity, in order to explore the uncontrollable and shifting areas of the contemporary ‘transnation’ in which the traditional categories shaping subjectivities are disrupted. As the paper will demonstrate, the writer digs into the past of his nation not simply in order to unravel its hidden histories but to detect the profound, inextricable interconnections with the present across different times and spaces. Feelings and experiences that exist above and beyond historical contingencies and cultural differences represent the writer’s privileged area of investigation as they trespass upon conventional and artificial boundaries revealing what it is that makes us all human.

Abstract - The luxury fashion is an important industry from both the economic and socio-cultural perspectives, since the high sales volume marks it as a crisis-proof sector, where the luxury fashion brands trigger specific cognitive, emotional, and behavioural effects on their end users. Yet, marketing and semiotics literatures still have to fully enquire into the use of multimodality in the production of advertisements. This paper explores this multimodal construction of print advertising of luxury brands, focusing on the semantic dimensions of “textual silence”. In particular, the qualitative analysis carried out by this study exemplifies how the choice between “offer” and “demand” images and their disposition as visual vectors are meant to activate specific interpretations and reactions by receivers, without resorting to written language. Besides the application of the theoretical background of multimodality to the luxury fashion industry, this paper has practical implications as well, for it develops a framework for the analysis of the advertising discourse which encompasses semiotic, linguistic and motivational aspects.

Abstract – Translation has always been viewed as a virtuous circle throughout history. The present paper examines one of the oldest translation strategies, namely borrowing which also come to be employed by language users to fulfill communicative transaction in daily use of the language. The paper also explores re-borrowing as a translation method used by translators to render borrowed words usually integrated in a Source Language (SL) text by SL author to relay his/her ideology via micro-/macro-signs. The data consists of selected examples from the translation of The Square Moon: Supernatural Tales (SMST) by Ghada Samman. The writer employs borrowing to steer the SL readership towards her ideology. The findings of the paper show that re-borrowing may bring about optimal translation in the target language (TL), but reveal discrepancies between the SL and the TL caused by failure to render the ideology. Keywords: translation, borrowing, re-borrowing, English, Arabic.

UN EPISODIO DEL PENSAMIENTO FRANCÉS DE LA AUTONOMÍA Benjamin Constant y las idées très ingénieuses Francisco Gelman Constantin Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad de Buenos Aires Abstract – This paper attempts a consideration of the significance of Benjamin Constant’s aesthetic thoughts within the context of the history of the concept of “aesthetic autonomy”. With that in mind it reevaluates his transformation of the German tradition, by way of its binding to the social theory corresponding to the cultural and historical analysis of early French Romanticism. Taking the coinage of the expression “art for art’s sake” as a starting point, this paper reconstructs the whole of Constant’s thought-system, as well as its exchanges with some of his contemporaries –namely Mme. de Staël and Henry Crabb Robinson– in the means of understanding the proper reach of the conceptual novelties brought in by him, as can be seen from the standing point of Begriffsgeschichte. The paper deals not only with his postulates referring specifically to a negative relationship towards the mercantile society, but also with the analogies he establishes between art, love, religion and morality, while it furthermore examines his theory of social autonomy. The reflexive setting together of this different elements, assembled from his political essays, his journals, the novel Adolphe and other writings, brings to the light a general form of a thought of the autonomous, which explains the manner in which Constant understands aesthetic autonomy in particular, by way of his collaboration and dissent with his European colleagues. Keywords: autonomy; Constant; art for art’s sake; Begriffsgeschichte; religion Resumen – Este trabajo se propone reconsiderar la importancia de las reflexiones estéticas de Benjamin Constant en el contexto de la historia del concepto de autonomía estética. Para ello reevalúa las transformaciones efectuadas sobre la tradición alemana en correlato con una teoría social marcada por el análisis cultural e histórico propio del primer Romanticismo francés. Partiendo de la acuñación de la expresión “arte por el arte”, reconstruye el conjunto del pensamiento de Constant, así como sus diálogos con algunos de sus contemporáneos –especialmente Mme. de Staël y Henry Crabb Robinson– en vistas a la comprensión de la alcance preciso de sus innovaciones conceptuales, desde el punto de vista de la Begriffsgeschichte. En este sentido, el trabajo no sólo considera los postulados referidos específicamente a la relación negativa del arte respecto de la sociedad mercantil, sino que también investiga las analogías establecidas en el interior del pensamiento de Constant entre arte, amor, religión y moralidad, así como examina su teoría de la autonomía de lo social. A partir de todos elementos, sobre la base del análisis de sus ensayos políticos, diarios, la novela Adolphe y otros de sus textos, se infiere una forma del pensamiento de lo autónomo que explica el modo en que Constant concibe en particular la autonomía estética, en conversación y disputa con sus interlocutores europeos. Palabras claves: autonomía; Constant; arte por el arte; Begriffsgeschichte; religión

This paper investigates the mechanism of argument movement in the derivation of grammatical Tiv construction. It examines Tiv as a syntactically ergative language and how ergative case is valued as well as the feature computation of T in ergative constructions. Raising constructions in Tiv is defined as hy­per-raising and this paper also provides insight on how features in such constructions are valued so as to avoid a situation which this paper also identifies as feature roaming. The paper also considers the effects of phase heads: whether strong phase heads block movement or not; it also seeks to account for the features re­sponsible for copy movement where it is operational in Tiv especially in subject to object movement. Using the framework of the Minimalist program, this work submits that DPs ergative constructions value their case in relationship with the verb before movement which makes the movement not for greed but to value the edge feature of T; therefore, T in ergative constructions is identified as mere Ts. In raising constructions, the mechanism of case delay has to be employed so as to avoid “feature roaming”. In this case copies left at the extraction sites, overt or covert are still useful in valuation of case in raising constructions in Tiv. In cases of copy movement, the paper accounts for such instances in terms of strong structural features such as Edge feature and complementation. The paper recommends that narrow syntax condition such as Earliness condi­tion is too strict for Tiv syntax and the syntax of other related languages and therefore should be relaxed.

This paper intends to analyse the relationship between lexicology and terminology in the use of language within the Spanish parliament. It moves forth from the methodological approach of the Cultural Theory on Terminology, without disregarding the Communicative or the Socio-cognitive Terminology. The fieldwork begins with the analysis of two linguistic corpora of the Spanish parliamentarian language, and a corpus of generic language. From the comparison of these two corpora the author has drawn the basic terminology for the definition of the participants, the areas of action and communication, and the organisation of communication and of political action within the Spanish parliament. The results of this terminological extraction have been studied following the principles of the International Organisation for Standardization, and this has brought to prominence the need for a cultural study of the terminology of parliamentarian language, due to the special characteristics of this particular language: the consequences of its action on the general public, the variety in denomination, and the fact that concepts and ideas are here a matter of negotiation as much as of linguistics. Three major monolingual dictionaries have then been researched to verify the presence and the lexicographic setting of the extracted terminology. These studies have revealed that dictionaries often incur into problems with polyrhematic units and with the labelling of the knowledge-units. The paper's conclusion focuses on the need for an onomasiological approach of lexicography, and on the use of specialized corpora, in addition to those already used as reference, in the elaboration of generic language dictionaries.

ENThe current paper analyses the way India and its cultural universe are re-interpreted and represented in Brazilian telenovela Caminho das Índias (2009). An analysis of this audio-visual product shows that linguistic and cultural ‘translation’ processes are at work. In particular, the paper will discuss the following features: constant code-mixing (Brazilian Portuguese-Hindi); and forms and processes of hybridization which are highly interesting from a cultural point of view.Keyword: Brazilian telenovelas, code-mixing, translation, cultural stereotypes, Bollywood PTEste trabalho, com base na análise das formas de representação do universo cultural indiano presentes na novela brasileira Caminho das Índias (2009), pretende investigar as modalidades de releitura novelística da cultura indiana, evidenciando, nesse processo de tradução e transposição, desde um ponto de vista linguístico, frequentes fenômenos de code-mixing (português brasileiro-hindi) e desde um ponto de vista cultural, interessantes formas de hibridismo.Keyword: Novela brasileira, code-mixing, transposição, estereótipo cultural, Bollywood

ENThe fabrication of a popery charge, which in August 1578 Edward Rokewood was subjected to while hosting Queen Elizabeth in the East Anglia, has been dubiously dealt with in the field of gender studies (Dovey, 1996; Brownlow, 2003) or overrated by historians of Puritanism to corroborate how the queen’s Privy Council ruled the kingdom through a manipulation of her weak will and female simple-mindedness (MacCulloch, 1986; Collinson, 2007). My paper proposes to substantiate how the intrigue against Rokewood arose from a wider social group of officers than the Lord Chamberlain Sussex and the royal favourite Leicester’s clique. Some days after the papist had been jailed in the castle of Norwich, mayor and aldermen commissioned public speeches and a composite biblical pageantry which, though allusively, both staged Rokewood’s conspiracy in favour of the Spanish king’s invasion and urged Elizabeth to inflict a death penalty. But the queen did not only turn a deaf ear to these pressures, presiding over the trial proceedings to get a time of forced reform for Rokewood. Some letters from the judge of assizes Francis Wyndham will help me to suggest that she was nor manipulated neither prevented from seeing that the case had been invented by the municipal corporation to advoke their bishop’s means of control and persecution of dissent.ITL’invenzione di un’accusa di papismo, che ad agosto del 1578 Edward Rokewood subisce mentre ospita la regina Elisabetta nella regione orientale dell’Anglia, è discussa con grande scetticismo nel settore dei gender studies (Dovey, 1996, pp. 54-55; Brownlow, 2003, pp. 11-13), oppure sopravvalutata da storici della cultura puritana convinti che il Privy Council tenga le redini del regno manipolando volontà e credulità della regina (MacCulloch, 1986, pp. 218-219; Collinson, 2007, p. 131). Questo paper si propone di documentare come la macchinazione ai danni di Rokewood si estenda ben oltre la cerchia del ciambellano di corte Sussex o del favorito regio Leicester. Infatti, alcuni giorni dopo che il papista veniva imprigionato a Norwich, la fanatica municipalità commissiona orazioni pubbliche ed uno spettacolo di sacre rappresentazioni che, sia pure in maniera allusiva, drammatizzano come Rokewood cospiri a favore dello sbarco di Filippo II sull’isola e istigano Elisabetta a comminare una condanna a morte. La destinataria non solo resiste alle pressioni giustizialiste, ottenendo che il processo si concluda con un periodo di arresto ‘riabilitativo’. Alcune lettere del giudice di assise mi aiuteranno a segnalare come, a dispetto della corrente storiografia, Elisabetta non è né manipolata né ignora che il caso di eresia sia stato inventato per avocare il potere di sorveglianza e punizione del dissenso che il vescovo è titolato ad esercitare nella diocesi.

The language of adolescents has always been of particular interest to linguists mostly for being extremely creative. Adolescence is, in fact, a transition stage that coincides with the entrance into secondary school, where teenagers strive to construct their own identity, mainly through linguistic innovation (Eckert 1989, 1997, 2004). In this sense, language becomes a strong identity marker (Edwards 2009) whose role becomes crucial in the portrayal of adolescent characters in films. The present paper aims at investigating the language of American adolescents diachronically in three famous movies of different decades from the 1980s to 2000s, namely Sixteen Candles (1984, Hughes), Clueless (1995, Heckerling) and Juno (2007, Reitman), which revolve around teenagers’ life at high school. The first step in the analysis consists in the identification of some characterising features of teen talk, especially focusing on word formation. Then, the analysis will be carried out contrastively and cross-culturally from a translational perspective, since these phenomena will be also investigated in Italian dubbing. More specifically, it will be ascertained whether or not these features are transposed into Italian, if so, pinpointing the most common strategies employed as well as the strategies used for compensation when, on the contrary, the complexity and difficulty in rendering certain linguistic and cultural specific phenomena hamper to find efficient translating solutions in the target text. Finally, problems deriving from this type of audiovisual translation, like lip synch, will also be taken into account and it will also be checked if the dubbed version succeeds in depicting the characters in the same way as in the original text.

Abstract – The present paper aims at analysing the deep pragmatic equilavence relation existing between the so called Spanish support verb constructions formed by a verb + noun (hacer+sugerencia; dar+permiso). We will focus our attention on the functioning of such expressions as speech acts in order to demonstrate that on the basis of their semantic characteristics, there no always exists a parfect equivalence between the verbal expression and the verb as such in terms of realizing a speech act.

Abstract – This paper analyses how Patient Information Leaflets (PILs) of over-the-counter medical products convey information. More precisely, the article focuses on “instructions” on how to use medicines and related “instructional information” (Trimble 1985). The latter is used in PILs to explain why consumers should follow the instructions. The aim is to show, then, how and whether the PILs sampled help consumers to translate effectively the information contained into actions. The first part of the article examines the deontic devices employed in 8 English and Italian PILs of the most common over-the-counter medicines for human consumption used to relieve the same symptoms. The second part, instead, analyses whether and how the eight leaflets sampled followed the ‘instructions’ contained in one of the authoritative works by Sless and Shrensky in this field (2006). Both Australian authors, indeed, provide useful advice on how to write directives and related explanations in PILs.Riassunto – Questo lavoro si propone di analizzare come i foglietti illustrativi dei medicinali da banco veicolano le informazioni. Nel caso specifico, l’attenzione è rivolta alle “istruzioni” per l’uso (dei medicinali) e alle “informazioni sulle istruzioni” (Trimble 1985). Quest’ultime vengono utilizzate nei foglietti illustrativi per spiegare ai consumatori perché seguire specifiche istruzioni. L’intento è quello di mostrare, quindi, come e se i foglietti illustrativi dei medicinali presi a campione aiutino i consumatori a tradurre in modo efficace le informazioni in azioni. La prima parte dell’articolo è incentrata sulle strategie deontiche utilizzate in 8 foglietti illustrativi di medicinali da banco inglesi e italiani per uso umano, usati comunemente per curare la stessa tipologia di sintomi. La seconda parte, invece, analizza se e come gli otto foglietti illustrativi presi a campione hanno seguito, a loro volta, le ‘istruzioni’ contenute in uno degli lavori considerati più autorevoli nel campo dei foglietti illustrativi dei medicinali (Sless e Shrensky 2006). Entrambi gli autori australiani, infatti, offrono una serie di consigli utili su come scrivere le istruzioni e le relative spiegazioni.

Abstract – The debate which surrounds the role of English as a lingua franca has been lively and extensive over the last twenty years or so. Numerous conferences and specific publications in the field testify to the interest and importance that the question of the development of a possible international functional language has stimulated. The present article aims to critically reassess the claims made for ELF and, at the same time, highlight the profound significance of the issues the debate has raised. Discussion of ELF has touched upon the perception of linguistic diversity, (in)accuracy and variation, intelligibility and the potential functions of an international language. Other topics of profound importance that are part of the debate relate to the role of any language in creating and maintaining identity, enabling social mobility and empowering its users. Some criticisms of ELF proposals have been easily rebutted, but this paper aims to underline the serious linguistic and socio-linguistic aspects of the debate in order to emphasize the need for a theoretical underpinning to our understanding of how language can operate in the global environment. Clarification of what we can and cannot know about language change and behavior will also contribute to ideas as to future research in ELF but will also bring us to the conclusion that predictions of the future development of ELF are of little purpose beyond the curiosity value they may possess. Keywords: English1; lingua franca2; non-native speaker3. Abstract– Il dibattito intorno al ruolo di inglese intesa come lingua franca è vivace e largo da almeno venti anni. Le conferenze e pubblicazioni specifiche sull’argomento sono numerose e sono testimone di quanto è interessante e importante la questione dello sviluppo di una lingua internazionale funzionale e utile. L’articolo qui presentato ha lo scopo di valutare a rivalutare le speranze che si sono formate per l’inglese come lingua franca e, nello stesso tempo, enfatizzare l’importanza profonda delle idee che sono state chiamate in causa durante il dibattito. La discussione ha coinvolto la percezione della diversità linguistica, errori possibili e la variazione, la comprensibilità e le funzioni potenziali di una lingua internazionale. Altri temi significativi sono collegati al ruolo di ogni lingua nel creare e mantenere identità, nell’aiutare la mobilità sociale e nel dare opportunità ai suoi utenti. Alcune critiche dell’uso di inglese come lingua franca sono state superate con facilità, ma questo articolo intende sottolineare gli aspetti linguistici e sociolinguistici del dibattito per dimostrare il bisogno di una base teorica per nostra comprensione di come una lingua può operare nel mondo globale. Rendere chiaro quello che si può sapere dei processi di cambiamento linguistico e dell’uso delle lingue ci aiuterà a trovare altre idee per le ricerche nell’ambito del futuro della lingua inglese come lingua franca e ci porterà alla conclusione che non ha tanto senso ipotizzare sugli sviluppi futuri eventuali della lingua inglese al di là di una certa interessa che ci sia nelle loro stranezze curiose. Keywords: English1; lingua franca2; non-native speaker3.

Abstract in English The paper introduces a socio-cognitive enquiry into the hybridization processes occurring in the academic discourse of Islamic Finance as represented in a corpus of recently-published textbooks written in English as a ‘specialized lingua franca’ dealing with financial topics (cf. Iqbal and Mirakhor 2011). Hybridization involves the structural, textual and pragmatic choices identified in such textbooks reflecting as they do a specific attempt on the part of the text producers to make financial concepts informed by Shariah practices accessible (Widdowson 1991) and acceptable to Western/International university students, especially those from the expanding circle. The focus is placed on selected texts written by Islamic/Muslim scholars reformulating original texts in the L1-Arabic through ELF structures and pragmatics in order to provide explanations and clarifications to the original Islamic concepts. The objective of the enquiry, based on a systematic comparative analysis grounded on Halliday’s (1985) functional grammar, involves an identification of the strategies writers apply to: (a) make a text function in a cross-cultural perspective and (b) facilitate students to acquire content competences in a way that best fits their background knowledge of the discipline. Therefore, facilitating strategies such as definitions, periphrasis and repetitions of noun phrases shall be explored as triggers for Western students’ processes of schema redefinition, of cross-cultural revision of textuality standards (de Beaugrande and Dressler 1981) and of simplification rules (van Dijk 1980) which actually define a specialized ELF variety of hybrid academic discourse. Abstract in Italian Il presente studio introduce un’indagine socio-cognitiva sui processi di ibridazione in atto nel discorso accademico della Finanza Islamica rappresentato in un corpus di testi di recente pubblicazione in lingua inglese utilizzata come ‘lingua franca specialistica’ applicata al contesto della Finanza (Iqbal and Mirakhor 2011). Il concetto di ‘ibridazione’ è qui utilizzato in relazione a processi di ampio respiro, legati ad aspetti semantici, sintattici e pragmatici di questa varietà di ELF applicata a testi accademici, miranti a riflettere nel processo testuale il tentativo da parte dei produttori del testo di rendere concetti finanziari basati sulle pratiche della Shari’ah accessibili (Widdowson 1991) ed accettabili a studenti occidentali/internazionali, in particolare a quelli dall’ ‘expanding circle’. Il focus dello studio risiede in particolare su una selezione di testi composti da studiosi islamici coinvolti nel processo di riformulazione dei testi originali in arabo-L1, attraverso strutture e pragmatica di questa varietà di ELF, aventi l’obiettivo di fornire spiegazioni e chiarificazioni a concetti di origine islamica. L’obiettivo dell’analisi, basato sul metodo sistematico comparativo della grammatica funzionale di Halliday (1985), si identifica in una definizione delle strategie applicate dai produttori del testo, al fine di: (a) rendere il testo funzionale in una prospettiva cross-culturale, e (b) facilitare gli studenti all’acquisizione di competenze di contenuto in modo da facilitare gli studenti nel processo di comprensione in linea con gli ‘schemata originali’ della disciplina. Dunque, strategie facilitative di tale processo sono identificate in definizioni, perifrasi e ripetizioni di espressioni nominali da considerare stimoli di un processo più ampio di ridefinizione di schemi da parte di studenti occidentali, di revisione degli standards di testualità (de Beaugrande and Dressler 1981), e regole di semplificazione (van Dijk 1980), che contribuiscono ad identificare una nuova varietà di ELF del discorso accademico ibrido.

Abstract – English has been increasingly adopted as the Lingua Franca (ELF) by people with different L1s (cf. Crystal 2003; McArthur 2003; Seidlhofer 2004) and diverse lingua-cultural backgrounds (Cogo et al. 2011). Previous research into its syntax (Mauranen and Ranta 2009) has undoubtedly shed light on some recurrent features of intercultural communication in immigration and asylum contexts (e.g. negation, question formulation, if-clauses), but little attention has been paid to the correlation between personal pronouns, semantic verb types and tense within the communicative process and, more specifically, the report of any traumatic event (Tuval-Mashiach et al. 2004) to which immigrants have been exposed over time and which constitutes what is generally referred to as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD; Friedman et al. 2007; Liotti and Farina 2011). This paper is based on the analysis of a corpus of transcripts published on the internet by the Minnesota Historical Society. The site, Becoming Minnesotan, collects excerpts from oral interviews conducted between 1967 and 2011 with recent immigrants to Minnesota usually fleeing civil war and strife, and their American-born children. By adopting the quantitative research methodology typical of corpus linguistics (Biber et al. 1999; Meyer 2002; Sinclair 1991), we searched for and extracted all the instances of semantic verbs types as well as personal pronouns and mapped their frequencies by means of Wordsmith Tools 6 (Scott 2012). Drawing on Halliday’s (1994) and Scheibman’s (2002) semantic verb type taxonomy, we can observe the frequency of certain semantic verb categories and tenses, and make some general considerations which seem to back up the ‘trance-like level of public re-enactment’ (Guido 2008, p. 105) that the interviewees experience during interviews: their physical and interior ‘displacement’ thus appears to be iconically represented by means of a tense usage being ‘displaced’ with respect to the consecutio temporum and differ according to the traumatic event.

Abstract – In this paper I focus on the polylinguistic and polycultural landscape of Milan on the theoretical basis of daily life studies, the sociolinguistics of globalization, and intercultural pragmatics. The relevance of this field is determined by the need for urban anthropology to semiotize the urban spaces as an interpretative bridge between the microsystem (the individual level) and the macrosystem (the social level). More concretely, I investigate the presence of the Spanish language in the superdiversity of Milan and, methodologically, I collect ethnographically and interpret qualitatively a corpus of 700 daily life texts of various types of street writing. The results show the significant presence of Spanish in the urban landscape and a high level of hybridism which is, nevertheless, totally functional in communication. I also detect the emergence of linguistic, pragmatic and intercultural awareness in the writers. Finally, with some precautions, I confirm the scientific potential of the daily life documents to investigate complex urban dynamics.Resumen – El tema de este estudio es el panorama polilingüe y policultural de Milán y se plantea a partir de las bases teóricas de los everyday life studies, de la sociolingüistica de la globalización y de la pragmática intercultural. La relevancia del estudio descansa en la necesidad de la antropología urbana de elaborar una interpretación semiótica de los espacios urbanos, puesto que pueden constituir un puente interpretativo entre el microsistema (individuo) y el macrosistema (sociedad). Concretamente, el objetivo es investigar el papel del idioma español en la supediversidad milanesa; la metodología es de etnografía urbana con la formación e interpretación cualitativa de un corpus fotográfico de setecientos textos cotidianos de escritura callejera (pintadas, avisos, grafiti, ecc.). Los datos relevan una presencia significativa del español en el landscape milanés, con un alto nivel de hibridismo que, de todas formas, es funcionalmente adecuado y denota el emerger de la conciencia lingüística, pragmática e intercultural de los hablantes-escritores. Además, se confirma, con alguna precaución, el aporte científico de los documentos de la cotidianidad para interpretar la complejidad urbana.

Abstract – The purpose of this paper is to present the Clipflair project, a web platform for foreign language learning (FLL) through revoicing and captioning of clips. Using audiovisual material in the language classroom is a common resource for teachers since it introduces variety, provides exposure to nonverbal cultural elements and, most importantly, presents linguistic and cultural aspects of communication in their context. However, teachers using this resource face the difficulty of finding active tasks that will engage learners and discourage passive viewing. ClipFlair proposes working with AV material productively while also motivating learners by getting them to revoice or caption a clip. Revoicing is a term used to refer to (re)recording voice onto a clip, as in dubbing, free commentary, audio description and karaoke singing. The term captioning refers to adding written text to a clip, such as standard subtitles, annotations and intertitles. Clips can be short video or audio files, including documentaries, film scenes, news pieces, animations and songs. ClipFlair develops materials that enable foreign language learners to practice all four standard CEFR skills: writing, speaking, listening and reading. Within the project’s scope, more than 350 ready-made activities, which involve captioning and/or revoicing of clips, has been created. These activities has been created for more than 16 languages including English, Spanish and Italian, but focus is placed on less widely taught languages, namely Estonian, Greek, Romanian and Polish, as well as minority languages, i.e. Basque, Catalan and Irish. Non-European languages, namely Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian and Ukrainian are also included. The platform has three different areas: The Gallery offers the materials and the activities; the Studio area, offers a captioning and revoicing tools, in order to create or practice and learn languages by using the activities; the Social Network area, where the users can find materials – including activities, clips and tutorials – collaborate through groups, send feedback through forums, etc. Keywords: foreign learning language; translation; subtitling; dubbing; video. Riassunto – Lo scopo di questo articolo è quello di presentare il progetto Clipflair, una piattaforma web per l'apprendimento delle lingue straniere (L2) attraverso la risonorizzazione (revoicing) e il sottotitolaggio (captioning) nei filmati. L’uso di materiale audiovisivo nelle aule di lingua è una pratica frequente per gli insegnanti in quanto introduce varietà linguistiche, mostra elementi culturali non verbali e, ciò che è più importante, presenta aspetti linguistici e culturali della comunicazione nel loro contesto. Tuttavia, gli insegnanti che usano gli audiovisivi hanno la difficoltà di trovare attività che permettano un ruolo attivo degli studenti al di là della semplice visione del film. ClipFlair permette di lavorare con materiale audiovisivo in modo produttivo e anche motivante, chiedendo agli studenti di fare il revoicing o il sottotitolaggio di un filmato. Revoicing è un termine usato per riferirsi alla risonorizzazione di un filmato, come sarebbe il doppiaggio, il libero commento, l’audiodescrizione o il karaoke. Il termine captioning fa riferimento all’inserimento di un testo scritto sul filmato come nel caso dei sottotitoli convenzionali oppure i commenti o gli intertitoli. I filmati possono essere brevi file di video o audio, compresi i documentari, scene di film, notizie, animazioni e canzoni. ClipFlair sviluppa materiali che permettono agli studenti di lingue straniere di mettere in pratica le quattro abilità basilari del QCER: scrivere, parlare, ascoltare e leggere. Nell’ambito del progetto, sono state elaborate più di 350 attività di doppiaggio e/o sottotitolaggio. Queste attività sono state create per più di 16 lingue tra cui l’inglese, lo spagnolo e l’italiano, ma soprattutto ci sono attività finalizzate all'apprendimento delle lingue meno insegnate, cioè estone, greco, rumeno e polacco, o delle lingue minoritarie, vale a dire basco, catalano e irlandese. Inoltre, il progetto comprende anche attività rivolte a lingue non europee come l’arabo, il cinese, il giapponese, il russo e l’ucraino. La piattaforma ha tre aree diverse: la Biblioteca offre i materiali e le attività; l'area Studio offre gli strumenti per sottotitolare e doppiare i filmati per imparare la lingua portando a termine le attività o creandone altre nuove; l'area Social Network è uno spazio dove gli utenti possono trovare i materiali - tra cui attività, filmati e tutorial - collaborare attraverso i gruppi, inviare commenti attraverso i forum, cercare informazioni sul progetto, ecc. Parole chiave: apprendimento della lingua straniera; traduzione; sottotitolaggio; doppiaggio; video.

Abstract – Nonverbal languages are an integral part of human communication since they transmit substantial information such as emotions and psychological conditions, and therefore they contribute to understanding. Culture affects nonverbal behaviours. The Indian subcontinent is highly multicultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multilingual, and language diversity often makes communication difficult. In India alone, there are 22 official languages besides about 400 other languages. The populations of the southern area, who speak languages of Dravidian origins, do not have a common language to communicate with people living in the North, who speak languages of Aryan origins, and even people living in the same village often speak different dialects. English, which has the status of an L2 in the country, is spoken appropriately only by those who can afford to go to English-medium schools. The majority of people can be placed in a continuum going from highly creolised forms of English to a number of ‘trade pidgins’. Yet, in spite of the inability to communicate in a common language, Indians make use of nonverbal languages, such as hand and head gestures, facial expressions, eye movements, as well as less evident messages such as dress and their colours, posture and the space between speakers. Nonverbal behaviours that Indians display in daily communication are related to those found in traditional performing and aesthetic arts. The purpose of this paper is to suggest how the knowledge of nonverbal languages is useful for an appropriate intercultural competence for interaction with migrants coming from the Indian subcontinent.

Abstract – The huge increase in migration flows through the Afro-Mediterranean routes during recent decades has shaped previously homogeneous populations into linguistically and culturally diverse ethnoscapes. Migration has therefore made a notable contribution to the acquisition and the use of English as a first, second and foreign language and to the burgeoning of new Englishes all over the world (Crystal 1997; Trudgill et al. 2002; Jenkins, 2003) thus questioning our traditional knowledge of language as a social projection of territorial unity held together by shared behavioral norms, beliefs and values. Specifically, by examining the communicative and translation processes which twelve interviewed interpreters, translators and language mediators were involved in during their interaction with newly-arrived migrants in Southern Italy, this paper addresses three main research issues concerning: a) the use of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) in the practice of language and cultural mediation and the extent to which this language may be perceived either as a barrier or as a bridge, thus affecting the relationship between the mediator and the migrant and the shaping of the politics of hospitality in the Mediterranean; b) the different linguistic and extra-linguistic strategies which mediators can adopt in the field of migration emergencies not only to serve communicative purposes, but also to humanize the migrants’ transfer to, and stay at the different camps across Italy; c) the interviewed language mediators’ narratives as a testimony of negotiation, activism and resistance to the strict institutionalized protocols of Italian immigration policies. Finally, in this chapter, we also intend to investigate the extent to which the interviewed mediators form not a mere aggregation of individuals achieving the task of translation as a mere linguistic transfer, but a community of practice held together by a conscious and critical sense of the performative power of their words and their mediation conceived as a way to create meanings which form and transform human reality.