Books by Davide Mastrantonio
A che punto sono le nostre conoscenze sulla testualità antica? Che ruolo svolge il latino nel con... more A che punto sono le nostre conoscenze sulla testualità antica? Che ruolo svolge il latino nel consolidamento della coesione dei generi medievali, letterari e non? Quali strumenti teorici facilitano l'analisi dei testi? Sono queste alcune delle domande a cui il volume cerca di rispondere. A una prima sezione che espone i metodi del lavoro, seguono sei capitoli dedicati alla coesione in quattro piani dell'organizzazione testuale: piano referenziale, piano logico-argomentativo, piano metatestuale e piano interazionale. Ne emerge un quadro articolato, che non si limita ad ampliare le nostre conoscenze sulla testualità diacronica ma offre anche nuove prospettive metodologiche.
Nel Medioevo il latino ha influenzato il volgare non solo nel lessico, ma anche nella sintassi. I... more Nel Medioevo il latino ha influenzato il volgare non solo nel lessico, ma anche nella sintassi. In quest’ottica lo studio delle interferenze sintattiche può offrire un valido contributo alla conoscenza dell’italiano antico. Nel volume si indaga l’impatto sul volgare di quattro costrutti non–finiti tipici della latinità: ablativo assoluto, perifrastica passiva, costruzioni gerundive e accusativo con l’infinito. Il corpus è costituito da testi toscani in prosa del Duecento afferenti a tipologie testuali di ogni livello, dai testi pratici alle opere letterarie. Il filo conduttore dei vari capitoli è stabilire, sulla base di criteri non soltanto formali, se un determinato costrutto volgare sia ereditario o frutto di imitazione, e nel secondo caso ricostruire le ragioni pragmatiche e stilistiche del latineggiamento.
Papers by Davide Mastrantonio
Questo articolo prende in esame la ricezione da parte della comunità scientifica della "Grammatic... more Questo articolo prende in esame la ricezione da parte della comunità scientifica della "Grammatica storica dell’italiano e dei suoi dialetti" di Gerhard Rohlfs, opera che l’editore il Mulino ha recentemente ripubblicato (2021) corredandola di saggi introduttivi a ciascuno dei tre volumi. Sono passate in rassegna le principali tappe della genesi e dell’accoglienza dell’opera, con particolare attenzione al passaggio dall’edizione tedesca (Franke 1949-1954) alla seconda edizione e traduzione italiana (Einaudi 1966-1969). La prima parte dell’articolo si concentra sulla formazione e sul metodo del Rohlfs e sull'impostazione dell’opera. Seguono esempi specifici e studi di caso che fanno luce sulla dialettica tra aspetti tradizionali, aspetti innovativi e la capacità del Rohlfs di cogliere regolarità linguistiche anche con gli strumenti teorici disponibili al suo tempo.
This paper presents the PRIN2022 PNRR project “Dictionary of Academic Italian: forms and textual ... more This paper presents the PRIN2022 PNRR project “Dictionary of Academic Italian: forms and textual functions” (DIA) and the first acquisitions one year after its start. The aim of the project is to carry out a systematic reflection on the nature of the so-called “academic lexicon” and to produce a dictionary of it. This dictionary will be freely available online. Therefore, the paper presents a partial and provisional list of headwords and its organisation into communicative-textual functions, after illustrating the working hypotheses around the concept of academic lexicon and clarifying the conceptual assumptions. It also presents some results of automated lexicometric surveys carried out on the corpus specially created for the project, whose physiognomy and composition criteria are thoroughly illustrated. The paper concludes with an outlook on future research directions.
In this paper we will analyze the Elegia giudeo-italiana taking into account enunciation-related ... more In this paper we will analyze the Elegia giudeo-italiana taking into account enunciation-related phenomena. Specifically, we will focus on the alternation of verb tenses and modes and on the presence of other linguistic features such as interjections, first and second persons and so forth. These elements are also helpful in highlighting the structure of the text, an issue which has been debated by previous scholars. We will also discuss the segmentation and the interpretation of the phrase soro e frati (v. 87).
This paper addresses specificational clauses, observed from a syntactic, semantic, lexical and te... more This paper addresses specificational clauses, observed from a syntactic, semantic, lexical and textual point of view. The study draws on passages from real texts, particularly from academic prose. The preverbal noun is argued to be a predicate and not a subject; it often encodes information related to the logical-argumentative level and cognitive and metatextual aspects. Due to preverbal nouns, the conceptual category to which the postverbal subject belongs is presented as the starting point of the sentence. This mechanism allows for a strong cohesion, displaying an informative given-new progression.
![Research paper thumbnail of Le regolarità nascoste: aspetti comunicativi sottorappresentati nella didattica L2/LS, "Italiano LinguaDue", 15 (1), 2023, pp. 343-58 [intero]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/103989184/thumbnails/1.jpg)
In this paper we reflect on the existence of hidden communicative regularities: functional phenom... more In this paper we reflect on the existence of hidden communicative regularities: functional phenomena that are recurrent in linguistic materials devoted to LS/L2 learners, but that for various reasons have not yet fully entered the scope of LS/L2 Italian teaching. The analysis is based mainly on a small sample of textbooks, with some comparisons conducted on foreigners’ syllabi and pedagogical grammars. Shedding light on these aspects is a priority for those involved in language education: on the one hand because metalinguistic reflection is an important factor in learning, and on the other hand because the regularities at issue do not only affect elementary conversations but also characterize more complex texts. Hence, gaining awareness of their existence at an early stage of the learning process makes it possible to start building an academic competence, within the frame of continuity between everyday communication and language for study.
![Research paper thumbnail of Capire i testi accademici: il continuum tra comunicazione ordinaria e lingua per lo studio, "Italiano a stranieri", 31, 2022, pp. 25-30 [intero].](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/92252127/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Il contributo sviluppa il problema della comprensione da parte degli studenti stranieri della var... more Il contributo sviluppa il problema della comprensione da parte degli studenti stranieri della varietà accademica scritta, con l'obiettivo di contribuire al dibattito in corso per ridurre lo scarto tra competenze comunicative di base (BICS) e competenze legate allo studio (CALP). Sottolinea la mancanza di una descrizione della varietà accademica e il fatto che i contenuti grammaticali dei sillabi e dei manuali L2 sono tuttora presentati secondo un approccio prevalentemente morfosintattico. Formula proposte per lo sviluppo di indici comunicativi e grammaticali relativi ad alcune funzioni ("identificare e definire", "stabilire rapporti di causa-effetto", "classificare"). Argomenta a favore dell'opportunità di rafforzare il continuum tra BICS e CALP ponendo attenzione al fatto che le funzioni considerate sono presenti già nella comunicazione ordinaria, benché realizzate in forme lessicali e morfosintattiche differenti.
L'articolo esamina il prestito anglo-americano "task force". Si analizza la storia della parola a... more L'articolo esamina il prestito anglo-americano "task force". Si analizza la storia della parola a partire dalla sua prima comparsa (anni '40 del Novecento) attraverso i cambiamenti di significato che ha subito nella seconda metà del secolo. Il corpus di riferimento è costituito dall'archivio online del quotidiano "La Stampa" (1867-2005) e dall'Archivio del Senato della Repubblica Italiana. Oltre a illustrare la storia della parola, l'analisi permette di concludere che, a dispetto della provenienza militare del termine, task force non appartiene al gruppo di metafore belliche che sono state impiegate con grande frequenza durante la pandemia del 2020.
In this article we reflect on the nature and characteristics of Italian written academic register... more In this article we reflect on the nature and characteristics of Italian written academic register, defined as the set of linguistic features used in academic written genres regardless of scientific field. The article was written primarily from a didactic perspective and in relation to exchange students, who need to master the linguistic tools to understand study texts. However, for the purpose of didactic planning, an exhaustive description of this language variety is firstly required, a description that has not yet been given; in this respect, the article is conceived as the first step of a wider research. After a review of the state of the art, some linguistic phenomena are described and some didactic proposals are developed.
It. ostare 'obstruct, hinder' is considered a borrowing from Lat. obstare. However, some Old Ital... more It. ostare 'obstruct, hinder' is considered a borrowing from Lat. obstare. However, some Old Italian occurrences bear the meaning 'take off, remove', which is far from the Latin sense. After an introductory section (§1), in which methodological problems are discussed, the article analyses the occurrences of o(b)stare derived from the OVI databases (§2), containing Old Italian texts. A final section focuses on the origin of the verb and its meanings (§3).
The “predicative” function of Italian past participles is dealt with in this article, a function ... more The “predicative” function of Italian past participles is dealt with in this article, a function that has not yet been taken into account in Italian grammars. More precisely, we analyse constructions like l’aglio mettilo tagliato (‘add the sliced garlic’).
As some constituency tests clearly show, such participles neither fall under the definition of “attributive” participles, nor under the “circumstantial” function: they rather behave as modifiers of the verbal phrase. Within the frame of secondary predication studies, the participles under consideration can be counted among the “depictives”. Depictive predicative participles recur very often in the language of cookbooks and recipes: therefore we use such texts as a source for our purpose.
![Research paper thumbnail of "Non obstante", da formula del linguaggio giuridico a connettivo concessivo, "La lingua italiana", XV, 2019, pp. 129-148. [prima pagina]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/61742156/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Non obstante, from the legal language formula to the concessive connective · In this paper we pro... more Non obstante, from the legal language formula to the concessive connective · In this paper we provide an explanation of the process which led the formulaic Latin ablative absolute non obstante (aliqua re) to develop the function of a concessive connective (meaning 'although', 'in spite of '). We analyse data derived from the Old Italian database "TLIO", containing Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries texts ; furthermore, we take into account examples from Late Latin and Medieval Latin texts. The analysis is carried out within the theoretical framework of the "Historical Pragmatics". In order to explain the linguistic change, on the one hand we take into account strictly linguistic aspects (phonetic variation, morphological fixation, transcategorisa-tion) ; on the other hand, we focus on pragmatical, sociolinguistic and contextual aspects. Two factors seem to have played a crucial role : the definiteness of the noun phrase which follows nonostante ; the spreading of such expressions outside the legal language among illiterate people. Riassunto · In questo contributo si ricostruisce il processo di grammaticalizzazione che ha por-tato l'ablativo assoluto non obstante (aliqua re) a sviluppare già in italiano antico la funzione di un connettivo concessivo ('benché', 'malgrado'). I dati italiani sono ricavati dal corpus "TLIO", contenente testi due-trecenteschi ; sono inoltre presi in considerazione esempi provenienti da testi tardolatini e mediolatini. L'analisi è condotta nel quadro teorico della "pragmatica storica". In linea con questo orientamento, nella spiegazione del mutamento sono presi in considerazio-ne da un lato gli elementi strettamente linguistici (oscillazione fonetica, fissazione morfologica, cambio di categoria sintattica), dall'altro lato gli aspetti pragmatici, sociolinguistici e contestuali. Due fattori più di tutti sembrano aver pesato nel processo di mutamento : la definitezza del sintagma nominale retto da nonostante ; la diffusione di questa formula al di fuori del registro giuridico presso parlanti non colti.
![Research paper thumbnail of Il tipo "macchina da scrivere" tra norma, competenza grammaticale e sintassi storica, "Italica Wratislaviensia", 9 (1), 2018, pp. 107-122. [intero]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/63363771/thumbnails/1.jpg)
In this paper, we deal with constructions featuring a noun followed by "da + infinitive", such as... more In this paper, we deal with constructions featuring a noun followed by "da + infinitive", such as macchina da scrivere and macchina da cucire. During the 20 th century, such phrases were considered wrong by some grammarians; the rule that grammarians proposed instead was to replace the preposition da with the preposition per, as in macchina per scrivere and macchina per cucire. As a matter of fact, this prescription influenced at least one generation of students, as can be seen in posts and discussions found on websites and in grammar questions addressed to linguists. Historical linguists reject such a prescription, showing that constructions with da frequently are found in Old Italian texts, as in tavolo da giocare, armi da combattere, pancha da sedere, and cane da combattere. Until now, there have been no attempts to provide a linguistic explanation of the state of things. The apparent contradiction can be solved if one takes into account a syntactic re-analysis that took place within the transition from Old to Modern Italian: the syntactic role of the name preceding "da + infinitive" has no relevance in Old Italian; on the contrary, in Modern Italian, the name must correspond to the direct object of the infinitive (i.e., libro da leggere, cf. leggere il libro, but *coltello da tagliare, cf. *tagliare il coltello). Phrases like macchina da scrivere were not affected by such a restriction, as they are phrasemes, hence perceived as a unity.
![Research paper thumbnail of Note sul latino e l'italiano in Galilei, "Rivista italiana di linguistica e dialettologia", XXI, 2019, pp. 73-92. [prima pagina]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/61254650/thumbnails/1.jpg)
This article deals with the relationship between Latin and vernacular language within the works o... more This article deals with the relationship between Latin and vernacular language within the works of Galileo Galilei. A general introduction is outlined in the first paragraph (§ 1), in which the choice of the language is observed from both an external-and internal-linguistics perspective. It is pointed out, among other things, that the Latin/vernacular alternative has not to be seen in a sim-plistic way, for instance seeing Latin as the conservative option, whereas vernacular as the progressive one. A brief history of the studies devoted to the topic under discussion is also summarized. In the second paragraph (§ 2), two texts written by Galilei are compared in detail: a) a vernacular letter that he sent to his friend and patron of arts Antonio de' Medici in January, 1610; b) some passages from the worldwide famous Latin treatise Sidereus nuncius, published in March, 1610, the latter being a translation, or rather a re-elaboration, of the first. The comparison concerns not only the lexicon (§ 2.2), which plays undoubtedly an essential role, but also other linguistic levels: morphology (§ 2.1), syntax and text cohesion (§ 2.3). Furthermore, particular attention is constantly paid to rhetorical means employed by Galilei, as well as to pragmatic aspects.
![Research paper thumbnail of Marcatori conclusivi del discorso diretto in italiano antico, "Romanistisches Jahrbuch", 70, 2019, pp. 105-122. [intero]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/71313331/thumbnails/1.jpg)
In this paper we deal with a specific subset of direct speech markers, to which little or no atte... more In this paper we deal with a specific subset of direct speech markers, to which little or no attention has been drawn so far: the expressions which codify the ending of the direct speech (“marcatori conclusivi del discorso diretto”). We analyse these markers in Old Italian texts, comparing them with their Latin and, occasionally, Old French equivalents. In the introduction (§1), we take into account some general issues related with ancient texts, namely the practice of spoken-word reading and the lack of systematic punctuation marking that helps text segmentation. After that (§2), we classify the different strategies ancient writers had at their disposal to signal that a direct speech is over, hence that what follows has to be interpreted as the narrator voice; the markers are organized in an range from the most explicit to the most implicit ones (disse > quando ebbe detto > a queste parole > allora > [Ø]). Thereafter (§3), we focus on two specific markers, the participial marker (detto questo) and the “connector + finite tense” marker (quando ebbe detto questo) in a corpus of 9 texts. Though these two markers are roughly synonymic, their occurrence is not uniform among the analysed texts. The explanation of their unequal distribution is that they belong to different Diskurstraditionen: “quando + finite tense” is a typical expression attested in Romance narrations (the so called quand-Satz), whereas detto questo appears to be dependent from Latin tradition.
Abstract. This paper deals with Italian punctuation marks within the interlinguistic subtitles in... more Abstract. This paper deals with Italian punctuation marks within the interlinguistic subtitles in tv shows. What makes this text type interesting, apart from some very specific features (coexistence of different communication codes, contact between punctuation marks and spoken language etc.), is the widespread use of audiovisual products, especially among young audience, hence their possible influence on the new forms of writing. We first describe the main features of subtitling; then we analyse three punctuation marks (comma, colon, ellipsis) in a corpus of 12 episodes taken from 10 tv shows in English language.
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Books by Davide Mastrantonio
Papers by Davide Mastrantonio
As some constituency tests clearly show, such participles neither fall under the definition of “attributive” participles, nor under the “circumstantial” function: they rather behave as modifiers of the verbal phrase. Within the frame of secondary predication studies, the participles under consideration can be counted among the “depictives”. Depictive predicative participles recur very often in the language of cookbooks and recipes: therefore we use such texts as a source for our purpose.
As some constituency tests clearly show, such participles neither fall under the definition of “attributive” participles, nor under the “circumstantial” function: they rather behave as modifiers of the verbal phrase. Within the frame of secondary predication studies, the participles under consideration can be counted among the “depictives”. Depictive predicative participles recur very often in the language of cookbooks and recipes: therefore we use such texts as a source for our purpose.