معرفی
Maria Graziano is an Associate Professor (Docent) and Educational Developer at Lund University Humanities Lab, with additional appointments as Senior Lecturer in Italian Studies at the Centre for Languages and Literature. She is also a researcher with LAMiNATE (Language Acquisition, Multilingualism, and Teaching) and a member of LU Profile Area: Natural and Artificial Cognition.
Her educational background includes a double PhD in Linguistics from SESA (European School of Advanced Studies) at the University 'Suor Orsola Benincasa' (Napoli-Italy) and Université Stendhal (Grenoble-France), following postdoctoral work at the University of Alberta, Canada. She has qualifications as Assistant Professor/Senior Lecturer in Linguistics issued by Conseil National des Universités (CNU) France (2010-2014 and 2018-2022).
Graziano's research focuses on gesture and its relation to spoken language from developmental and crosslinguistic perspectives. Her work examines how gesture development relates to textual and pragmatic abilities, temporal coordination between gesture and speech in bilingual and monolingual speakers, and gesture production in relation to speech fluency. She currently compares spoken and gestural behaviors across cultures, particularly between Italian and Swedish adult speakers, and investigates cohesion in narrative discourse in Italian children.
Her publication record shows a strong focus on gesture-speech relationships, with significant impact as evidenced by 78 citations for her 2018 Frontiers in Psychology article 'When speech stops, gesture stops.' Her recent 2024 article in Frontiers in Communication provides evidence for cultural differences in gesture use between Italians and Swedes.
- Qualified Teaching Practitioner (2025)
- New Society of Letters at Lund (2024)
- Postdoctoral Fellow Research Day - University of Alberta (2011)
- Third prize for poster presentation at the Postdoctoral Fellow Research Day, University of Alberta (2011)
- Scholarship for Short Term Scientific Mission from European Science Foundation (2009)
Graziano coordinates the research platform LAMiNATE (Language Acquisition, Multilingualism and Teaching) since 2020 and previously coordinated the Language Acquisition Seminar (2017-2019). She provides BA supervision and examination at Örebro University, teaches at Kristianstad Högskola and Malmö University, and has taught Italian Studies at Lund University since 2012. She is actively involved in numerous research projects including TEAM: Transdisciplinary Approaches to Learning, Acquisition, Multilingualism (2024-2029), and previously led projects on gesture production and the expression of pragmatic meaning across languages.
She is an active member of the research community with 131 recorded activities including conference participation, public lectures, invited talks, and supervisory roles. Her work demonstrates strong international collaboration, particularly with researchers in Canada, the Netherlands, and across Europe.
