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The aim of this paper is to examine how exemplification is used in real-time interactions to make reference to conceptual categories. Based on real occurrences of spoken Italian, it is shown that in conversations exemplification is used cooperatively by different participants to perform several functions. Not only can exemplification be used to present or expand the reference to a category by both speaker and addressee, but it can also contribute to the creation of a mutually accepted common ground (examples can be employed to communicate that alignment has been reached or to communicate how such alignment could be reached). Finally, we argue that examples are part of a bigger picture of cooperative reference construction, where speakers collaborate reformulating the reference using different types of strategies.

The aim of this paper is to analyze list constructions as linguistic tools to build categories in discourse, identifying the inferential processes leading from list constructions to categorization and examining the semantic and morphosyntactic elements that activate abstractive reasoning within lists. Based on real occurrences of lists in written and spoken Italian, we will first of all propose a crucial distinction between exhaustive and non-exhaustive lists, arguing that (non-)exhaustivity determines the layer at which the construction of a category occurs, namely the layer of presupposition or the ‘what-is-said’ part of the utterance. We will then focus on non-exhaustive lists, arguing that they directly communicate a bottom-up, exemplar-driven abstraction, characterized by the presence of an inherently indexical reference (i.e. reference to further Xs characterized by some underlying Property P), which will lead us to call it ‘indexical categorization’. The linguistic analysis of how indexical categorization is expressed in discourse will show a major distinction between (i) elements characterized by an indexical semantics, which trigger the abstraction process, and (ii) elements providing semantic clues towards the correct construction of the indexical category. We will conclude by taking a broader perspective and by explaining the patterns observed for indexical categorization in the light of the wider process of online reference construction.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze different alignment types attested in North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) dialects. NENA dialects can be divided into three alignment types according to their degree of ergativity: Split-S, Dynamic-Stative and Extended-Ergative dialects. This research will provide an analysis of Extended-ergative system in comparison with instances of marked nominative alignment and a possible explanation for the diachronic changes in the alignment pattern., RiCOGNIZIONI, V. 1, N. 2 (2014): STUDI DI DIALETTOLOGIA SEMITICA. Prima Giornata di Studi Arabi e Semitici (Torino, 28 marzo 2014)

The book aims to examine the relationship between exemplification and categorization, using linguistic data from Japanese to better understand how people create and communicate conceptual categories in real-life situations (cf. the notion of ad hoc categories). In the book, exemplification is defined in functional terms as a process through which a speaker signals that a given entity should be construed as representative of a larger category of similar entities. The status of example can thus be encoded by means of dedicated analytical markers that overtly signal the exemplifying relation (e.g. for example), but also by making explicit reference to the larger category from which the examples have been selected. Through a case-study on four Japanese exemplifying markers (ya, nado, tari, toka), this book aims to understand (i) how examples are used and encoded by speakers to make reference to conceptual categories, (ii) what types of categories speakers can create and communicate by means of exemplification, (iii) how the relationship between exemplification and categorization can be used by speakers to achieve specific discourse effects, such as vagueness and politeness.