Daria Motta

Daria Motta is an Associate Professor of Italian Linguistics at the Department of Humanities, University of Catania, with a strong affiliation to the Special Teaching Structure of Foreign Languages and Literatures in Ragusa. She holds a formal academic position in the scientific disciplinary sector L-FIL-LET/12 and is actively engaged in research, teaching, and academic service. Her work bridges philology, sociolinguistics, and language pedagogy, with a particular emphasis on Italian literary and linguistic history.

Her research interests span Italian linguistics, historical and sociolinguistic analysis of spoken and written language, pragmatics in literature and media, dubbing studies, Italian as a second language (L2), and corpus-based philological research. She has extensively studied 19th- and 20th-century authors like Giovanni Verga and Vitaliano Brancati, focusing on the representation of spoken language in literary texts. Her work also explores language teaching methodologies, multilingualism in migrant literature, and the role of media in shaping linguistic norms.

The trends in her recent publications reveal a consistent focus on linguistic variation, historical pragmatics, and the intersection of language with literature and media. She frequently analyzes how language functions in narrative, theatrical, and audiovisual contexts, particularly through the lens of realism and sociocultural change. Her scholarly output combines philological rigor with sociolinguistic insight, contributing to both literary studies and applied linguistics.

• Member of the editorial board of «Annali della Fondazione Verga» (since 2012)
• Member of the editorial board of «Bollettino - Centro di Studi Filologici e Linguistici Siciliani» (since 2012)
• Member of ASLI (Associazione per la Storia della Lingua Italiana) and ASLI-Scuola
• Anonymous reviewer for journals such as «Italiano linguaDue» and «L’italiano a scuola»
• Referee for doctoral projects at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”

Daria Motta has supervised numerous master’s theses and mentored students through formal tutoring programs. She has played key institutional roles, including serving as a delegate for continuing education and school relations, coordinator for LIS interpreting services, and contact person for placement activities. She has also been involved in research projects funded by the University of Catania and national PRIN grants, focusing on language teaching, historical corpora, and textual analysis. Her leadership in academic events and research groups underscores her active engagement in the scholarly community.

She has contributed to various research groups, including the PIACERI and Prometeo projects at the University of Catania, and has led her own research initiatives on literary dialogue and 17th-century language invention. She has also participated in major national projects like the Corpus of Reference for a New Vocabulary of Modern and Contemporary Italian under the Accademia della Crusca.