COURSES TAUGHT AT THE INSTITUTE
Identity and Culture in Italy: A Comparative Approach
CREDENTIALS
2004 Ph.D in Linguistics, University of Padua
1998 BA and Masters Degree: Summa cum laude, Modern languages (English and Dutch), University of Padua
LATEST PROJECTS / PUBLICATIONS
– 2011 – 2012 Wissenschaftlicher mitarbeiter: Goethe-Universität Fankfurt am Main, Institut für Romanische Sprachen und Literaturen
– 2009 – 2011 Marie Curie Research Fellow: University of Cambridge, Department of Italian. Title of the project: Dialectal variation and the definition of finiteness: finite and non-finite dependent clauses in two dialect clusters
Edited books:
– 2009 (with P. Benincà and N. Pennello), Selected Proceedings of the XXXIV Incontro di Grammatica Generativa [IGG], Rivista di Grammatica Generativa, Padova: Unipress.
– 2007 (with J. Garzonio), Studi sui dialetti della Puglia, Padova, Unipress.
Articles:
– 2011 (with J. Garzonio) “Sull’inversione ipotetica in russo”, in F. Biagini (ed.) Le lingue slave ieri e oggi: morfosintassi, semantica e pragmatica, Bologna, Bologna University Press.
– 2010 (with C.Poletto) “I quantificatori nei dialetti siciliani del progetto ASIt” [Quantifiers in the sicilian dialects of the ASIt project], J. Garzonio (ed.) Studi sui dialetti della Sicilia, Padova: Unipress, pp.43-61.
– 2010 (with C. Zanini) “Ordini marcati dei costituenti in siciliano” [Marked order of the constituents in Sicilian], in J. Garzonio (ed.) Studi sui dialetti della Sicilia, Padova: Unipress, pp. 139-153.
– 2010 “Matching moods: Mood concord between CP and IP in Salentino andSouthern Calabrian subjunctive complements”, in P. Benincà and N. Munaro (eds.), Mapping the left periphery, Oxford-New York: Oxford University Press.
– 2010 (with A. Padovan), “Prefissi sia separabili che inseparabili in tedesco” [Separable and inseparable prefixes in German], in D. Bertocci-E. Triantafillis (eds), Atti della Giornata sui Preverbi [Proceedings of the Workshop on Preverbs], Quaderni Patavini di Linguistica, 26.
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
I learned most of what I know from teachers whose jobs were their passions. They thought the issues they investigated were relevant and fascinating, and always questioned whether we had the right intellectual tools to tackle them. They did not “teach” as much as tried to make you see for yourself the complexity under the simple surface, and the best way to account for it. I try to apply the same “method” in my own teaching, I try to focus on issues I think are relevant for my students, and make them feel comfortable about expressing their opinions. I am convinced that in the humanities some very useful and general principles can be accurately learned even from exposure to few and limited facts, if the teacher is able to extrapolate from them experiences, beliefs and attitudes familiar to all.
MOST REWARDING MOMENTS
When students show they can connect their own personal experience and ideas to the notions and events discussed in class.
FAVORITE QUOTE
“Learn from the mistakes of others, you can never live long enough to make them all yourself” – Groucho Marx