La morfologia nominale nell’italiano L2 di minori stranieri non accompagnati: analfabetismo, acquisizione, didattica

Il contributo esplora la possibilità di tracciare specificità nel processo di acquisizione della morfologia nominale nell’italiano L2 di apprendenti privi di competenze di scrittura in lingua madre e debolmente o per nulla scolarizzati al loro arrivo in Italia, rispetto al generale progredire delle varietà di apprendimento, così come quest’ultimo viene descritto nella letteratura di riferimento. L’indagine si avvale di un corpus di italiano L2 realizzato nell’ambito dei corsi di lingua e di alfabetizzazione della Scuola di Lingua italiana per Stranieri dell’Università di Palermo

Toward a Cognitive Classical Linguistics. The Embodied Basis of Constructions in Greek and Latin

The volume that gathers a series of papers bringing together the study of grammatical and syntactic constructions in Greek and Latin under the perspective of theories of embodied meaning developed in cognitive linguistics

The semantic network of the Latin preposition per: a diachronic investigation.

This paper explores the semantic network of the Latin preposition per (“through”) in a diachronic perspective derived from the analysis of two electronic corpora of 3rd century BCE – 4th century CE (PHI5; Intratext Digital Library). Drawing upon the insights of Cognitive Grammar (e.g. Langacker 1991), we analyze the role of the schematic import of per in the spread from basic to abstract meanings, thus accounting for the interconnections among the various senses of the polysemous entity. This theoretical position is integrated with Croft’s (1991) model of causal structure of events, as well as the results of an extensive analysis of Early Latin (Brucale & Mocciaro fc.), in order to address the following issues: 1. the diachronic shifts in the ratio of spatial to abstract meanings: spatial meanings are predominant in Early Latin (e.g. per urbem ire, Pl., Poen 522; per cribrum transire, Cat., De Agr. 76.3.4), while the only abstract values which are fully grammaticalized at this stage are MEANS (a less prototypical and abstract instrument: per vim retinere, Pl., Bacch. 843; see Croft 1991: 178) and REASON (the motivation for an agent to act: per metum mussari, Pl., Aul. 131; see Pinkster 1990). We aim at tracing back the path(s) through which new abstract meanings arise. 2. the role of Animacy: MEANS and REASON involve non-animate (abstract) participants, whereas the spread to Animacy represents a secondary development within the area of Causation, documented in Early Latin in a few instances of CAUSE (the motivation of a non- agentive event: per aliquem vivere, Pl., Poen. 1187) and INTERMEDIARY (per me interpretem, Pl., Mil. 910). Out of the causal domain, however,, Animacy is a rather ancient feature, represented in the expressions of Appeal (with performative verbs such as iuro, e.g. per Iovem iurare, Pl. Amph. 435) and Judgment of licitness (per me licet, Pl., Merc., 989). On the other hand, the expression of (concrete) INSTRUMENT represents a later development (cf. Luraghi 2010: per nauiculam uenire, Itala, cod. d., Ioh. 21, 8). In other words, the spread from concrete to abstract meanings appears to be non-unidirectional, rather drawing the following trajectory: SPATIAL (CONCRETE) > ABSTRACT > ANIMATE > INANIMATE (CONCRETE). 3. the grammaticalization of the expression of PURPOSE: another later development, which is based on an extension of Reason: “The objects we aspire for are usually also the cause for our aspiration” (Radden 1989: 562; see also Croft 1991: 293). Finally we propose a semantic map of the range of values conveyed by per, showing that they do not arrange on a linear continuum, but rather represent a multi-directional configuration originating from the progressive (metonymical) extension of a prototypical nucleus over time. Brucale, L. & Mocciaro, E. (fc.), Continuity and discontinuity in the semantics of the Latin preposition per: a cognitive hypothesis, in STUF 63/1. Croft, W. (1991), Syntactic Categories and Grammatical Relations. Chicago: Chicago University Press. Hewson, J. & Bubenik, V. (2006), From Case to Adposition: The development of configurational syntax in Indo-European Languages. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Langacker, R. (1991), Foundations of Cognitive Grammar. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Luraghi, S. 2010, Adverbial Phrases, in P. Baldi & P. Cuzzolin (eds), New Perspectives on Historical Latin Syntax, 2. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Pinkster, H. (1990), Latin Syntax and Semantics. London: Routledge. Radden, G. (1989), Semantic roles, in R. Dirven, & R. Geiger (eds), A User’s Grammar of English. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 421–471

Verbal compounding in Latin: the case of -MAKE verbs

This paper aims at describing Latin compound verbs (CVs) whose second member is a verbal constituent connected with facio ‘to make’. Though there is a large literature on CVs in other languages, little has been said on Latin (Flobert 1978; Fruyt 2001 inter al.). CVs are extremely interesting in several respects. First, compared to Latin nominal compounds, whose core consists of exocentric formations, -MAKE CVs are endocentric constructions (Brucale 2012). Second, they represent an island of productivity in the generally unproductive area of verbal compounding in Latin. Third, they can be compared to analogous constructions in other Indo-European languages, viz. Persian and Hindi, which exhibit the same pattern. Two subclasses of -MAKE CVs can be found: 1) -fico verbs, whose first constituent can be either a noun, e.g. aedifico ‘to erect a building’, or an adjective, e.g. beatifico ‘to make happy’. In the former case, the noun is syntactically the direct internal argument of the verb. In the latter, the adjective has a predicative function and the compound conveys the causative meaning ‘make Q’ (or ‘factitive’, Lehmann fc.), where Q is a quality/state/condition (Kulikov 2001). 2) -facio verbs, which includes many types of compounds, the most productive of which is the so-called Causative subtype (Hahn 1947). This subtype is further divisible into three classes: a) CVs quite regularly connected to intransitive verbs in -eo (e.g. caleo ‘to be hot’) denoting states/conditions. This type is particularly productive and is used in causative CVs (e.g. calefacio ‘to make hot’), sharing with the -fico compounds above the meaning ‘make Q’. b) CVs in which the presence of facio does not yield any causative meaning nor introduces any semantic change in the first member, which already possesses a causative meaning, e.g. perterrefacio ‘to terrify’. c) compounds not related to any existent verb in -eo: - CVs connected with inchoative -sco verbs (e.g. assuesco ‘to become accustomed’/assuefacio ‘to accustom’). These are often ‘labile verbs’ which can be employed both as causatives and corresponding non-causatives with no overt formal change in the verb. The meaning of the corresponding -facio CV, therefore, will equal the meaning at work in the causative use of the verb in the first member. - CVs involving verbs of 1st (e.g. maturo ‘to ripen’/maturefacio ‘to ripen’) and 3rd conjugation (e.g. expergo ‘to arouse’/expergefacio ‘to arouse’). In this group are listed many causative verbs whose meaning is not altered by the compounding operation with –facio. In this work, we intend to provide an accurate description of the range of Latin -MAKE CVs, in order to find a rationale allowing for a perspicuous classification of these data. In particular, we attempt to clarify the morpho-syntactic status of causative CVs, and to further investigate which kind of causativization strategies they instantiate (Lehmann fc). References Brucale, Luisa 2012. Latin Compounds. Probus 24/1 : 93-117. Flobert, Pierre 1978. La composition verbale en latin. In: Etrennes de septantaine: travaux de linguistique et de grammaire comparee offerts a Michel Lejeune par un groupe de ses eleves, 85–94. Paris. Fruyt, Michèle 2001, Réflexions sur la notion de mot en latin: les verbes du type calefacio. In: Claude Moussy (ed.), De lingua Latina novae quaestiones. Actes du Xe Colloque International de Linguistique Latine, 81-94. Louvain. Hahn, Adelaide 1947. The Type calefacio. Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 78: 301–335. Kulikov, Leonid 2001. Causatives. In: Martin Haspelmath, Ekkehard Konig, Wulf Oesterreicher, Wolfgang Raible (eds), Language Typology and Language Universals. Vol. 2, 886–898. Berlin-New York. Lehmann, Christian (fc). Latin causativization in typological perspective. In: Muriel Lenoble & Dominique Longrée (eds.), Actes du 13ème Colloque International de Linguistique Latine. Louvain

Legitimacy Maintenance After a Corporate Social Irresponsibility Scandal: Lessons From The Parmalat Case

From the organizations’ perspective, maintaining legitimacy in such contexts has been considered relatively unproblematic (Patriotta, 2011; Scherer et al., 2013) as it entails following adaptive strategies and conforming substantially (or even merely symbolically) to the dominant institutional logics (Suchman, 1995; Elsbach, 1994; Scherer et al., 2013). 3 Nonetheless, whilst the implementation of a adaptive strategy to maintain the corporation with its main audiences is a necessary phase, it cannot be considered sufficient to assure the maintenance of audience support. Audiences evaluate competitive advantage and other sources of reassurance that supporting the company is worthwhile from a rational perspective. This restoration process may be complemented by the corporations’ power over resource dependent audiences. Independent audience decisions are based on the competitive advantage of firm in each business. When their are untouched, the adaptive strategy leads to audience support and successful business rehabilitation processes with all audiences, even with those that were initially harmed. However, if competitive advantage is feeble independent audiences will not sustain the weak business (or corporation) even if adaptive strategies have been implemented. The presence of an unharmed competitive strategy is crucial to the selection of which parts of an organization (or the organization as a whole) can be reintegrated with all the main audiences of the company after a CSI scandal, including the “harmed” audience. The richness of the empirical setting allows us to highlight that a significant difference between firm characteristics that plays a crucial role in determining the reactions of the main constituent audiences and, consequently, the possibility for maintain the legitimacy. The post-crisis turnaround processes to succeed is the possession of sound source(s) of competitive advantage in one (or more) of the business(es) in which the firms operates

From “Strategic Fit” to Synergy Evaluation in M&A Deals

The aim of this paper is to grasp the processes underlying the genesis and assessment of synergies in M&A deals. We proceed to an in-depth scrutiny of the foundations of synergies using Porter’s model of the value chain. A discernment of the nature of synergies and the mode of their emergence is helpful to clarify to what extent and under which boundary conditions it is appropriate to apply the DCF or the real option techniques for evaluating each type of synergy. Combining both financial tools, the methodology suggested for evaluating the synergies is able to: evaluate projects of M&As, orient the selection of target firms and the definition of the premium of acquisition, and drive the integration processes

Curcumin affects HSP60 folding activity and levels in neuroblastoma cells

The fundamental challenge in fighting cancer is the development of protective agents able to interfere with the classical pathways of malignant transformation, such as extracellular matrix remodeling, epithelial\u2013mesenchymal transition and, alteration of protein homeostasis. In the tumors of the brain, proteotoxic stress represents one of the main triggering agents for cell transformation. Curcumin is a natural compound with anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties with promising potential for the development of therapeutic drugs for the treatment of cancer as well as neurodegenerative diseases. Among the mediators of cancer development, HSP60 is a key factor for the maintenance of protein homeostasis and cell survival. High HSP60 levels were correlated, in particular, with cancer development and progression, and for this reason, we investigated the ability of curcumin to affect HSP60 expression, localization, and post-translational modifications using a neuroblastoma cell line. We have also looked at the ability of curcumin to interfere with the HSP60/HSP10 folding machinery. The cells were treated with 6, 12.5, and 25 \ub5M of curcumin for 24 h, and the flow cytometry analysis showed that the compound induced apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner with a higher percentage of apoptotic cells at 25 \ub5M. This dose of curcumin-induced a decrease in HSP60 protein levels and an upregulation of HSP60 mRNA expression. Moreover, 25 \ub5M of curcumin reduced HSP60 ubiquitination and nitration, and the chaperonin levels were higher in the culture media compared with the untreated cells. Furthermore, curcumin at the same dose was able to favor HSP60 folding activity. The reduction of HSP60 levels, together with the increase in its folding activity and the secretion in the media led to the supposition that curcumin might interfere with cancer progression with a protective mechanism involving the chaperonin

The development of verbal strategies in L2 Italian of low/non-literate adult learners

I present the results of a research conducted in Palermo, Italy (the 'gateway to Europe' in the new migrations crossing the Mediterranean Sea) between 2017 and 2019.A conspicuous feature in new migrations is widespread illiteracy and low schooling rates, especially in the case of migrants coming from sub-Saharan Africa or Bangladesh. This research focused on the acquisition of verbal morphosyntax in adult learners with limited or no literacy in a language of origin upon arrival on Italian shores