Papers by Lucia Abbamonte
PLOS ONE, Oct 12, 2023
In this cross-sectional study we aimed at: 1) validating the observer (Obs) version of HEX-ACO Me... more In this cross-sectional study we aimed at: 1) validating the observer (Obs) version of HEX-ACO Medium School Inventory Extended (MSI-E); 2) establishing convergent and divergent construct validity of the HEXACO-MSI-E; 3) establishing criterion validity of HEXACO-MSI-E. We administered the HEXACO-MSI-E, the Big Five Questionnaire-Children (BFQ-C), the Internalizing and Externalizing scales of Youth Self Report (YSR), some items of the 2019 Middle School Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRB) and some items about adolescents' values, beliefs, behaviors, and desired features of a possible future job to 1175 adolescents (M age = 12.03, SD = 0.89) and the observer version of these measures (except for BFQ-C) to 854 parents or legal guardians. The factorial structure and the reliability of the Observer Report of HEXACO-MSI-E were confirmed. Convergent and divergent validity were successfully established with a version of the inventory filled out by parents. Convergent and divergent validity were also established with BFQ-C notwithstanding some only apparent anomalies. Criterion validity was established with respect to four specific groups of criteria collected in both self-report and observer form. HEXACO-MSI-E traits were more predictive with respect to self-report than to observer criteria and the majority were common. Together with the positive results of this study, implications and issues for future studies are discussed.
Culturally Specific Pedagogy in the Mathematics Classroom, 2018
Worlds of Words: Complexity, Creativity, and Conventionality in English Language, Literature and Culture – XXVIII AIA Conference, 2017
CERLIS - Centro di ricerca sui linguaggi specialistici - Research Centre on Languages for Specifi... more CERLIS - Centro di ricerca sui linguaggi specialistici - Research Centre on Languages for Specific Purposes
Linguistica e Filologia, 2008
One noteworthy aspect is that the more famous the authors are, the less they tend to conform to g... more One noteworthy aspect is that the more famous the authors are, the less they tend to conform to generic norms and standard scientific reporting style. The present paper will show, with qualitative data from the Introductions of influential volumes by Christie (1970), Critchley (1970), Dalgleish & Power (1999), Kolb & Wishshaw (2003) Gazzaniga (2004), Goldstein & McNeil (2004), how authors feel free to use a more personal language, constructing a delicate balance between consideration for the canons of scientific reporting and the need for more authentic, holistic interaction with the audience. Far from disguising their personal involvement, they highlight how their research fits into a larger picture, engaging the readers as participants in a disciplinary discourse that functions as situated social interaction. Evidence will be given of the discoursal features these famous authors use to ‘trade’ knowledge from their personal perspectives – explicitly appraising both individual and c...
Russian Journal of Linguistics, 2017
Nowadays, companies who want to engage environment-friendly consumers increasingly rely on green-... more Nowadays, companies who want to engage environment-friendly consumers increasingly rely on green-economy oriented campaigns. Such categories of (ethical) consumers are numerically increasing, and expressions evoking environmental friendliness are becoming particularly trendy. In this vein, words such as 'sustainability' have been variously recontextualized/reframed and have become an 'ought to' for media-savvy companies 'with a vision'-Walmart, the American multinational retail corporation, being a relevant case in point. It is no accident that, on the first Google page for 'sustainability', 'Walmart' proudly surfaces:http://corporate.walmart.com/global-responsibility/sustainability. The company has made an explicit commitment not just to expand the business but also to improve communities and enhance the sustainability of the products they sell, by encouraging more responsible production practices, while at the same time making product choices more affordable for customers, as reported on its website. However, as the world's largest company, Walmart is an easy target for attack mainly by environmentalists. Sometimes, Walmart gives its critics grounds for some legitimate criticism in a variety of fields ranging from the supply chain emissions to renewable energy and preserving habitat. Such criticism resonates across the media, owing to their 'lack of closure' (Laclau and Mouffe 1985), finalized to offer an unbiased perspective. Against this 'complexified' (Macgilchrist 2007) background, our study aims to examine, from a broadly Multimodal and Positive Discourse Analysis perspective, the Walmart website 'sustainability' pages with their variety of communicative strategies, advertising 'responsible' Walmart positive attitudes to fundamental issues like Energy, Waste, Products and Responsible Sourcing.
美中法律评论, 2010
The present study focuses on the communicative relevance of lexical choices in the documents of t... more The present study focuses on the communicative relevance of lexical choices in the documents of the European Union Committee of the Regions (CoR) and of other related bodies within a pragmalinguistic perspective. The function of the Committee of the Regions is to issue opinions on proposals for Community legislation which are closest to the citizen interests – education, youth, culture, health. It is thus a voice at the heart of the EU which aims at increasing the participation of European regions in community life. Our corpus consists in 100 documents (Proposals and Opinions) whose lexico-grammatical aspects and communicative/ rhetorical strategies are here investigated. Our hypothesis is that such texts aim at creating a holistic we to construe a common ground of interests, within the constraints of legal intercourses, shared by both the sender and the receiver of the messages. Frequently occurring lexical items are: welcome, ensure, strengthen, aid. To stress urgency, generate empathy, emphasize needs and endorse value-positions are the recognizable perlocutionary effects of such semantic/pragmatic choices. Tools for analysis were taken from the domain of pragmalinguistics, from Evaluative/Appraisal Frameworks and, also, from social sciences. Particularly relevant appeared the notion of ‘advocacy’ (i.e., when researchers are asked to use their expertise to defend the subjects’ interests in healthcare, education, political rights, and cultural autonomy). This study will provide both qualitative and quantitative data to support our hypothesis, and will offer suggestions for further research.
Since the 1980s, investigations into the intersection of language and law have been of major inte... more Since the 1980s, investigations into the intersection of language and law have been of major interdisciplinary interest among scholars and practi-tioners from different research backgrounds. Emanating from the field of linguistics and other disciplines, this research has generated different data for analysis, method, and theory about the intriguing aspects of language and law, thus being clearly important as a source for coherent and integra-ted results. This second issue of the Explorations in Language and Law series – Language and Law in Academic and Professional Settings: Analyses and Applications explores descriptively and interpretatively the ways language and law inte-ract from an interdisciplinary perspective, and allows various approaches and perspectives to be taken from academic and professional contexts. The issue presents various Analyses of topic areas where definitional insights, legal discourse (spoken or written), language policy, identity, power, con-trol, ideology,...
In the domain of forensic linguistics this study investigated the sequences of linguistic behavio... more In the domain of forensic linguistics this study investigated the sequences of linguistic behaviour in Italian courtroom (cross) examinations by analysing the influence of the interviewers' questions on the interviewees' answers as well as the influence of the respondents' answers on the subsequent questions formulated by the interviewers. The Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) was utilised, which is a prominent framework for the analysis of linguistic exchanges in social psychology and has captured cross-disciplinary imagination. The major focus of this research has been on the reciprocal influence exerted by the linguistic behaviours enacted by legal professionals, witnesses and defendants. CAT allowed to identify the dominance of convergence or divergence strategies in those specific situations of interaction. Additional insight was provided by a broad discourse analysis approach which highlighted how convergence/divergence strategies in courtroom examinations o...
Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies, 2014
ABSTRACT The study investigated the situated linguistic interactions of the users of the Samsung ... more ABSTRACT The study investigated the situated linguistic interactions of the users of the Samsung and Apple Facebook pages, with a focus on the attitudinal/affectual values they displayed towards these brands and their products, in a comparative perspective. Following Corpus Linguistics (CL) methodology, two corpora were created, named AppleCorpus (7337 tokens) and SamsungCorpus (5216 tokens), consisting in the wall posts on Apple Inc. and Samsung Mobile pages collected over a period of four days. These corpora were scrutinized both in a CL quantitative perspective and in a qualitative perspective by using the resources of the Appraisal Framework (AF) for discourse analysis to better identifying these social network users' stance and attitudinal positioning. The findings of this pilot study showed that Samsung's users display a more positive attitude toward the brand than Apple's users. Results are discussed in the text.
Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies, 2014
ABSTRACT Contextual Information and Reappraisal of Negative Emotional Events Ivana Baldassarre*, ... more ABSTRACT Contextual Information and Reappraisal of Negative Emotional Events Ivana Baldassarre*, Lucia Abbamonte, Marina Cosenza, Giovanna Nigro, and Olimpia Matarazzo Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Italy {ivana.baldassarre,lucia.abbamonte,marina.cosenza, giovanna.nigro,olimpia.matarazzo}@unina2.it Abstract. In this study the effect of the contextual-information induced reappraisal on modifying the emotional response elicited by failure has been investigated. To an academic or job setting failure (control condition) it has been added one of two types of contextual information (knowing that many other people failed the same task and knowing that it would be possible to try the failed task again) affecting three dimensions of failure appraisal: responsibility, sharing, and remediability. In an experimental condition both information were added. Four hundred and eighty undergraduates participated in this study. The experimental design was a 2 (negative emotional event) x 4 (contextual information) between-subjects design. The first variable was included in the design as covariate. We expected that generalized failure should imply a decrease of responsibility and an increase of sharing, the possibility of retrying should imply an increase in the remediability, and that the presence of both types of information should produce all the abovementioned effects. Our findings substantially corroborated the hypotheses.
Cognitive Computation, 2014
ABSTRACT This study investigated the effect of helpful contextual information, presented before a... more ABSTRACT This study investigated the effect of helpful contextual information, presented before and after a negative event, on modifying appraisal and emotional reaction. Through the scenario technique, a basic situation of negative outcome (in health or hobby domain) entailing appraisal of high responsibility and low remediability (control condition) was manipulated by adding – separately or together – two types of contextual information able to modify the two appraisal dimensions: knowing that other people shared the same outcome (sharing), knowing that it was possible to remediate the negative outcome (remedy possibility). In half scenarios the information was presented before the event, in the other half after the event. We expected that sharing and remedy possibility would selectively affect the two appraisal dimensions which in turn would selectively affect the emotions chosen to assess emotional reaction. We also expected that the event-preceding information would be more effective than the event-following information. On the whole, the results corroborated our predictions but also revealed unexpected effects that have been discussed.
Forum for Modern Language Studies, 2007
... Colour as a metaphor for meaning. Effective sound image of audio/oral communication impeded. ... more ... Colour as a metaphor for meaning. Effective sound image of audio/oral communication impeded. Literal/transparent translation, no explicitation needed. ... Some traces of speech in its role as the mirror of the subject's personality may, however, be still detected. ...
Peter Lang, 2017
The World Wide Web has now become the fastest growing advertis- ing medium, thus making online ad... more The World Wide Web has now become the fastest growing advertis- ing medium, thus making online advertising of vital importance to the advertising industry (Ha 2012). Elaborate new technologies, such as eye tracking, for investigating consumers’ processing/interpretation of mean- ingful visual elements (Lagerwerf/van Hooijdonk/Korenberg 2012), are now being used to fully exploit the multimodal resources of contempo- rary communication. Accordingly, investigating the language of adver- tising entails a multidisciplinary perspective, ranging from cognition and neuroscience to decision making, marketing, statistics, emotion retrieval from the web (Burns/Matarazzo/Abbamonte 2014), and web advertising, with its fast-evolving genres and global-wide target audiences. Among such genres, promotional tourism communication, which traditionally attempts to persuade, lure and seduce millions of potential clients (Dann 1996), has increasingly been enhanced by online resources: the textual, linguistic and multimodal features of tourism websites constitute power- ful instruments for influencing audiences’ reactions to the subject matter they illustrate. Such resources can reach a virtually unlimited audience and offer a wide range of information through invitingly interactive web- sites which function as hypertexts (Francesconi 2014) with a wide vari- ety of discursive strategies (Fodde/Denti 2008; Maci 2012). The present study will focus on one of the most appealing and exhaustive websites dedicated to Capri, www.capri.net/it/ (available both in Italian and in English). In capri.net the ‘enshrinement’ (MacCannell 1976), or ‘framing’, of Capri is mainly displayed through a sequence of iconic images aiming at signalling the eco-aesthetic and historical-cultural features of the Blue Island. Throughout this website’s pages, infor- mation and promotion/persuasion are deftly blended, using a carefully constructed hierarchy of presentation/ foregrounding. We will investigate its main lines of appeal (Dyer 1988), i.e. landscape and shore excursions, glamour, (habitué) celebrities and nightlife, cuisine, luxury, shopping, wedding locations, ancient historical places, and the cultural memory (Assman 2008) of the illustrious people who brought the island world- wide fame.
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Papers by Lucia Abbamonte