Marta DONAZZANView profile
Associate Professor
Marta Donazzan is a tenured Associate Professor at the University of Nantes, where she works in the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Cultures (FLCE). She is a researcher at LLING (Linguistic Laboratory of Nantes, UMR 6310), a joint research unit of the University of Nantes and CNRS. Since January 2022, she has served as Deputy Director of LLING, having previously served as interim Director from September to December 2021. Her academic affiliations include: University of Nantes, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Cultures LLING (Linguistic Laboratory of Nantes), UMR 6310 CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) IRL 2034 Worlds in Transition/Mundos em transição, CNRS-Universidade de São Paulo Dr. Donazzan specializes in formal linguistics with a focus on the interface between semantics, syntax, and pragmatics. Her research aims to connect specific language phenomena to general linguistic laws through comparative analysis. She is particularly interested in understanding the ontology of natural language and how languages express definiteness, countability, and reference in both nominal and verbal domains. Her studies employ both qualitative analysis of elicited data and quantitative analysis of language corpora. Her research spans multiple languages including Romance varieties, Mandarin Chinese, and Karitiana, examining language variation at both macro and micro levels. This comparative approach helps shed light on the relationship between functional categories and semantic interpretation across different linguistic systems. Dr. Donazzan has received research funding for several projects including: TAME-INTER: New approaches to the syntax and semantics of TAME across languages (2023-2025), funded by CNRS Nominal and verbal events in Romance causative constructions (2018-2021), funded by DFG Delimiting and identifying events (DelimitEvent) (2014-2018), funded by Fédération Typologie et Universaux du Langage Semantic variation. Event plurality in Chinese and Karitiana (2012), funded by CNPq, Brazil As an educator, Dr. Donazzan teaches general linguistics and English linguistics courses focusing on syntax and semantics. She serves as co-responsible for L2 English LLCeR and represents the English department on the FLCE's commission for transfer and validation of acquired knowledge. She also participates in doctoral thesis grant award juries through the ECLIS Doctoral School Council. Dr. Donazzan is actively involved in the academic community, serving as a member of the Scientific Council of the Faculty of Arts and Languages and participating in international collaborations, particularly with the University of São Paulo.







