Prof. Dr. Helen Engemann is a Junior Professor at the Department of English, School of Humanities, University of Mannheim. Her research focuses on multilingualism, language acquisition, and cognitive aspects of bilingualism. She is affiliated with the Research Team JP Multilingualism and is a member of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft (DGfS), European Second Language Association (EUROSLA), and International Association for the Study of Child Language (IASCL). Her work investigates how language structures influence cognitive processes, particularly in bilingual children and heritage speakers. Key topics include motion event constructions, crosslinguistic influence, and syntactic packaging in multilingual environments. Recent studies explore language change mechanisms in Italian heritage speakers and the impact of typological factors on memory and event encoding. Publications span prestigious journals like Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism , Journal of Child Language , and Bilingualism: Language and Cognition . Her research bridges linguistics, psychology, and education, addressing both theoretical and applied questions in multilingual development.
Francisco Matte Bon is a full Professor of Spanish and Translation at the Faculty of Interpreting and Translation, Free University of International Studies of Rome (UNINT), where he has served as Dean and Rector. Previously, he held academic roles at the University of Salerno (2002-2007), the University of Bologna (as Associate Professor from 2000), and institutions in Germany, France, and Spain. His research focuses on communicative grammar, language teaching, and contrastive analysis, with a particular emphasis on the relationship between linguistic systems and real-world usage. Education: Studied Modern Languages and Linguistics in Paris His work includes foundational texts like Gramática comunicativa del español and co-authorship of the Uno and Due communicative Italian courses. He has directed university language centers and organized international conferences, leading a research group on utterance grammar. His recent publications explore metalinguistic operations, cyclicity principles, and pragmatic strategies in Spanish-Italian interactions. Scientific awards and honors are not explicitly mentioned in the provided text. Matte Bon has conducted over 150 seminars and conferences across 18 countries, contributing extensively to teacher training and communicative language methodologies.
Dr Mary Baltazani is a Postdoctoral Researcher in Phonetics at the University of Oxford's Faculty of Linguistics, Philology & Phonetics, affiliated with the Phonetics Lab and Language & Brain Lab. Her research focuses on the interface between phonetics, phonology, and pragmatics, with special attention to intonation, Greek dialects, and sociophonetics. She leads and collaborates on projects examining language contact effects on intonation (e.g., Greek in Cyprus, Cretan Greek under Venetian influence) and the compositional nature of intonational meaning. Education: PhD in Linguistics from UCLA (2002), M.A. in Linguistics (UCLA), and academic positions at institutions including UCL, University College London, and the University of Ioannina. She has organized major conferences like BAAP 2014 and contributed to the creation of educational materials on Greek dialects through projects like VOCALECT. Research Interests : Intonation and pragmatics in Greek Historical and dialectal phonetics Language contact in the Eastern Mediterranean Prosodic typology and socioprosodic variation Current/Recent Projects: Greek in Contact (ESRC-funded): Examines Turkish and Italian influences on Greek intonation. Components of Intonation (British Academy): Investigates whether intonation's meaning is holistic or compositional. Grants include ESRC, British Academy, and NSRF European Regional Development Fund awards. Publications span encyclopedic entries, journal articles, and conference proceedings on topics like Cypriot Arabic prosody, Greek dialectal vowel systems, and historical phonetic change.
Arianna Maiorani is a Reader in Linguistics and Multimodality at Loughborough University since 2008. She holds an MA in Modern Languages and Literatures from the University of Rome "La Sapienza" and a PhD in Cultural Sciences from the International School of High Studies of the San Carlo Foundation. Her career includes teaching at the University of Bologna and Rome’s La Sapienza, alongside a distinguished background as a professional ballet dancer, teacher, and choreographer. She is fluent in Italian, English, French, and Spanish, and has worked as a translator for international publishers. Her research focuses on multimodal discourse analysis, dance semiotics, and interdisciplinary approaches to communication. Key areas include kinesemiotics, functional grammar of dance movement, and the application of semiotic frameworks to analyze embodied communication. She has pioneered work on how choreography and movement convey meaning, blending linguistic theory with artistic practice. Publications explore topics like ballet as a communicative form, materiality in discourse analysis, and spatial dimensions across disciplines. Her 1996 children’s book Il Manuale della Giovane Ballerina remains a cherished resource in dance education. Maiorani’s work bridges arts, linguistics, and technology, addressing contemporary challenges in multimodal communication analysis.
Stefano Quaglia is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Romance Studies , University of Graz. His research focuses on syntax and its interfaces with morphology and semantics , using Italian as a comparative framework within and beyond Romance languages. Email: stefano.quaglia@uni-graz.at Office: Room 003303056, Merangasse 70/III, Graz, Austria Consultation Hours: Wednesday, 3:30-4:30 p.m. Research interests include: Spatial expressions and functional sentence structure Long-distance dependencies Language contact phenomena Particle verbs and clausal organization Wh-movement and information structure Cross-linguistic syntactic analysis Recent publications highlight empirical and theoretical work on verbal theme vowels , Slavic prefix ordering , and L3 transfer dynamics . His studies integrate synchronic analysis with diachronic and contact linguistics frameworks. Articles demonstrate trends in: Syntax-morphology interfaces : Allomorphy, prefix stacking, particle systems Comparative Romance-Slavic analysis : Extraction patterns, convergence phenomena Language acquisition : CLI effects in bilingual/multilingual contexts Prosodic constraints : Stress and phrasing in particle verbs Information structure : Wh-questions in Romance
Francesca Cupelloni is a Researcher in Italian Linguistics (LIFI-01/A) at the Department of Modern Literature and Culture , Sapienza University of Rome. Qualified as an Associate Professor in 2023, she graduated in History of the Italian Language (2017) and earned her PhD (2020) at Sapienza, supervised by Luca Serianni . She has held scholarships at Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, and been a visiting scholar at the University of Lausanne (2019). Her research focuses on Italian language history (early centuries), lexicography , and gastronomic vocabulary , particularly 14th-15th-century Florentine and Middle Latin/vernacular gastronomic terms. She contributes to projects like the digital Autographs of Italian Writers ( www.autografi.net ), editing Lorenzo de' Medici's autograph letters with linguistic commentary, and collaborated on the PRIN 2017 AtLiTeG project. Recent publications include articles in VoSLIG. Historical Vocabulary of the Italian Gastronomy Language (2024), studies on Antonio Pucci's Danteisms, Leopardi's lexical borrowings, and historical syntax in Lorenzo de' Medici's epistles. She serves on the scientific committees of journals Interpres and Dante , and collaborates with the Germanisms section of the Lessico Etimologico Italiano (LEI) .
Lucia Busso is a Researcher at Aston University, affiliated with the Research Centre for the Humanities and the Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics within the College of Business and Social Sciences. Her research focuses on usage-based models of language, corpus linguistics, cognitive linguistics, and experimental methods applied to forensic and sociolinguistic contexts. She holds a PhD in Linguistics from Università di Pisa (2015–2018), awarded in 2019. Her work spans topics such as valency coercion in Italian, construction grammar, forensic linguistic analysis, and corpus-driven studies of media representation. Key areas include analyzing power dynamics in online communities, legal-lay language differences, and metaphorical discourse in pandemic reporting. She contributes to interdisciplinary projects, including the development of specialized corpora like CorIELLS and the Aston Forensic Linguistic Databank (FOLD). Busso’s research highlights the intersection of cognitive and corpus-based approaches, with recent studies emphasizing forensic applications, gender-based violence representation, and sociolinguistic patterns in Italian and English. Her methodologies integrate computational tools, experimental psychology, and qualitative discourse analysis. Her articles reflect a commitment to advancing linguistic theory while addressing real-world issues like media framing, legal language, and anonymous communication dynamics. She actively engages in public outreach, such as the CorpusCast podcast episode on forensic linguistics.
Michael Kenstowicz is a Professor of Linguistics at MIT, leading the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy. As Graduate Program Director, he oversees academic programs and student development. His research focuses on phonology, phonetics, and the study of African and East Asian languages. He holds a Ph.D. in Lithuanian Phonology from the University of Illinois (1971). Key research interests include vowel harmony systems, tonal phonology, and loanword adaptation. Notable work examines Chukotko-Kamchatkan vowel harmony, Mandarin tone evolution, and Korean pitch accent systems. He collaborates extensively with scholars like Chiyuki Ito and Youngah Do, producing foundational studies in generative phonology and cross-linguistic analysis. Recent publications (2024) explore vowel harmony in diverse languages, tone sandhi in Mandarin dialects, and theoretical contributions to generative phonology. His work bridges laboratory phonology with formal theory, emphasizing empirical and experimental methods. Ph.D. Advisor: Multiple advisees in phonology and phonetics Grants: Not explicitly listed in text Lab affiliations: MIT Phonology Circle
Thomas Rainsford is a Lecturer at the University of Stuttgart's Institute of Linguistics, Division of Romance Linguistics. His research focuses on historical Romance linguistics, particularly phonological change, morpho-syntax, and corpus development. He holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and has held positions at ENS de Lyon and as a British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Oxford. Research interests center on: Diachronic evolution of French, Occitan, and Italian Prosodic changes and phonological annotation Lexical and morpho-syntactic aspects of motion events Historical corpus development with multi-layer annotation Publications demonstrate consistent focus on: Historical phonology and orthographic systems Syntactic change in medieval Gallo-Romance languages Corpus linguistics methodologies Computational approaches to historical texts Awards include the British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellowship. Current research involves leading a DFG-funded project examining motion events in French and Italian through lexical and syntactic change analysis. Developed the Old Gallo-Romance Corpus (OGR) with specialized phonological and metrical annotation layers.
Franco GATTI is an Associate Professor at the Department of Asian and North African Studies, Ca' Foscari University of Venice. His research focuses on Chinese and Southeast Asian languages and literatures, with particular emphasis on classical Taoist literature, modern Chinese linguistic studies, and business language applications. He teaches courses in advanced Chinese language for business and academic contexts. GATTI is fluent in Italian, Chinese, English, and has basic Japanese proficiency. Research & Publications Specializes in Tang Dynasty literature, Taoist texts, and cross-cultural communication strategies. Authored/co-edited works on classical Chinese poetry, linguistic corpora, and cultural studies. Contributes to editorial boards of Annals of Ca' Foscari, Oriental Series and Sinica venetiana . Teaching & Engagement Teaches Chinese language courses with a focus on business and professional communication. Supervises students in language studies and literary analysis. Notable Works 2022: Analyzed Buxuci poetry of Wei Qumou. 2020: Co-edited linguistic research on modern Chinese. 2015: Studied narrative techniques in the Xuanshi zhi .
Marco Maggini is a Full Professor in the Department of Information Engineering and Mathematics at the University of Siena, a position he has held since joining the university in 1996. His academic career spans over 25 years with foundational expertise in computer engineering and artificial intelligence, focusing on theoretical and applied machine learning research. His educational background includes: Laurea degree (cum laude) in Electronics Engineering from the University of Florence (1991) Ph.D. in Computer Engineering and Control Systems from the University of Florence (1995) Prof. Maggini's research encompasses machine learning, neural networks, kernel machines, and the integration of symbolic and sub-symbolic knowledge systems. He extends these foundations into practical applications including web mining, search engine technology, pattern recognition, natural language processing, and computer vision. This interdisciplinary approach bridges theoretical computer science with real-world implementation challenges across multiple domains. Analysis of his 15 most recent publications (2023-2025) reveals a dominant focus on multilingual NLP applications, particularly educational puzzle generation for low-resource languages (Italian, Arabic, Persian, Turkish) using LLMs. His work demonstrates consistent innovation in named entity recognition, commonsense reasoning evaluation, and cross-lingual adaptation techniques. Secondary research threads include medical imaging segmentation, molecular property prediction, and AI security vulnerabilities, reflecting his broad technical mastery across computer vision, bioinformatics, and adversarial machine learning. No specific scientific awards were mentioned in the provided documentation, though his editorial roles indicate peer recognition within the academic community. While student mentoring details are absent from the source material, his position as Full Professor and leadership of SAILab imply active graduate supervision. His extensive publication record (120+ papers) and editorial service suggest significant research grant involvement, though specific funding sources remain undocumented. He directs the Siena Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (SAILab), which serves as an interdisciplinary hub for advancing machine learning theory and applications. The lab's current projects emphasize educational technology, multilingual NLP systems, and the integration of symbolic reasoning with neural architectures, maintaining strong industry and international academic collaborations.
Marcela Depiante is a Professor of Spanish in the Department of Languages at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, affiliated with the College of Arts and Sciences. She holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Connecticut (2000), an M.A. in Linguistics from the University of Maryland (1993), and a B.A. in Psychology with Linguistics concentration from the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her research focuses on Romance Linguistics, particularly comparative syntax and morphology between Spanish and English. Key interests include ellipsis and anaphora phenomena, syntax-semantics of adpositions, bilingualism, L1 attrition, and the syntax of Heritage Spanish in the U.S. Notable work includes studies on null complement anaphora, non-canonical agreement patterns, and stranded prepositions in Spanish. Recent presentations include discussions on Spanish 'parecer' complement structures (2023), locative constructions in Argentine Spanish (2023), and hyper-raising phenomena (2022). Her publications appear in venues like Oxford Handbook of Ellipsis and Hispanic Linguistics Symposium proceedings. She collaborates frequently with Adolfo Ausín on syntactic analysis projects. Teaching responsibilities include Spanish linguistics courses (e.g., Span 491, 492), advanced grammar, and translation. Her work bridges formal syntax with sociolinguistic aspects of language variation and attrition.
Rena Torres Cacoullos is a Liberal Arts Professor of Spanish and Linguistics at Pennsylvania State University, serving as Interim Head of the Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese starting July 2025. She holds a PhD in Hispanic Linguistics from the University of New Mexico. Her research focuses on language variation, grammaticalization, and bilingualism, particularly in Spanish-English contact contexts. Key contributions include studies on code-switching constraints and the Variable Equivalence hypothesis, challenging assumptions about grammatical convergence in bilingual communities. Her work combines quantitative corpus analysis with sociolinguistic theory, emphasizing prosodic boundaries in code-switching and structural priming effects. She has authored influential books such as Bilingualism in the Community and edited volumes like The Routledge Handbook of Spanish Syntax . Professional activities include grants analyzing bilingual clause structure and computational metrics for intonation-based code-switching analysis.
Dr. Scott Annett is an Affiliated Lecturer in the Italian Department of the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics at the University of Cambridge, as well as an Affiliated Lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity. He also serves as a College Lecturer at Robinson College. His academic work bridges Italian literature, theology, and literary studies with a particular focus on Dante and Samuel Beckett. Dr. Annett specializes in the writing of Dante and Samuel Beckett, with current research extending to Primo Levi and the relationships between literature and theology. His scholarly interests span multiple literary traditions and periods, with particular expertise in: Samuel Beckett's poetics and prose Dante studies and medieval Italian literature Shakespearean literature Primo Levi's writings Literature and theological discourse Autobiography and self-representation in Italian culture Dr. Annett's recent publications demonstrate a consistent focus on the intersection of literary form and philosophical/theological concerns, particularly examining how Dante's work resonates in later literary traditions including Beckett's modernist writing. His scholarship combines close textual analysis with broader theoretical frameworks, showing particular interest in syntax, narrative structure, and intertextual relationships across centuries of literary production. As an educator, Dr. Annett teaches across multiple departments and papers, including ITA3 (Italian Texts and Contexts), ITB2 (Translation from Italian), and IT4 (Autobiography and Self-Representation in Italian Culture) for the Italian program, as well as Religious Themes in Literature (B13) for Divinity and Early Medieval Literature for English. He also supervises Year Abroad and Optional Dissertations on Italian topics.
Rainier Grutman is a Full Professor of French and Translation Studies at the University of Ottawa, holding a cross-appointment in the Department of French and the School of Translation & Interpretation within the Faculty of Arts. Trained in Romance philology and Comparative Literature at Namur, Leuven, and Madrid universities, he completed his Ph.D. in French Studies at the University of Montreal in 1994. In 2022, he was elected to the prestigious Academy of Europe (Academia Europaea), class of 'Humanities,' section 'Literary and Theatrical Studies.' His educational background includes: Ph.D. in French Studies from Université de Montréal (1994) Romance and Hispanic philology from Universidad Complutense de Madrid (1989) M. Phil. in French and Romance Literatures from KU Leuven (1988) Teacher certification for upper-level high school from KU Leuven (1988) B. Phil. in French and Romance Literatures from Université de Namur (1986) Grutman's research primarily focuses on multilingualism in literature, self-translation, and translation studies, with particular attention to bilingual writers and multilingual texts. His work spans comparative literature, sociolinguistics, and postcolonial theory, examining how language functions within literary contexts across different cultural settings including Belgium, Canada, Spain, and Italy. He has made significant contributions to understanding how writers navigate multiple languages in their creative work and how these multilingual texts are translated and received by diverse audiences. His scholarly output reveals a consistent focus on self-translation as both a literary phenomenon and cultural practice. His research demonstrates how self-translation functions as a negotiation between languages and cultures, often revealing power dynamics between linguistic communities. Grutman's work frequently examines the intersection of language, identity, and power in literary contexts, with particular attention to how writers position themselves within multilingual frameworks. His most recent publications (2020-2024) continue this trajectory with studies on code-switching in literature, multilingual readership, and transatlantic self-translation practices. His major scholarly recognitions include: Gabrielle-Roy prize for Canadian literary criticism (for 'Des langues qui résonnent') Election to the Academy of Europe (Academia Europaea) in 2022 Grutman has supervised numerous graduate students and collaborated extensively with scholars internationally. His work has been supported by various research grants that have enabled him to explore multilingual writing across different cultural contexts. He has edited special journal issues and co-authored significant reference works in translation studies, including the French version of H. Van Gorp's 'Lexicon van literaire termen' and the comprehensive 'Histoire de la littérature belge.' His teaching at the University of Ottawa includes advanced courses on literary poetics, intertextuality, sociocriticism, and comparative literature with a focus on multilingual writing and self-translation. He maintains active research collaborations with institutions in Belgium, Spain, and Italy, reflecting his international scholarly network and the transnational nature of his research interests in multilingual literature and translation.
