Simone De Cia

Dr. Simone De Cia is a Lecturer in Linguistics in the Department of Linguistics and English Language at The University of Manchester. Her research specializes in the syntax-pragmatics interface, focusing on information structure and morpho-syntactic variation across North Eastern Italian Dialects (NEIDs).

Her work examines linguistic phenomena including contrast realization, residual V2 word order, expletive subjects, wh-in-situ structures, and object-past participle agreement patterns. Current research investigates the influence of information structure on Romance agreement systems and the morpho-syntactic properties of auxiliaries across NEIDs.

Dr. De Cia also conducts sociolinguistic research on language vitality and endangerment, particularly focusing on Friulian and Bergamasco dialects. Her work on COVID-19's impact on language endangerment provides important insights into pandemic-era sociolinguistic challenges. She employs diverse methodologies including formal syntactic analysis, dialect comparison, and sociolinguistic fieldwork.

Recent publications demonstrate her expertise in microparametric variation within northern Italian dialects and theoretical approaches to information structure. She maintains active research collaborations and has presented her work at international linguistics conferences including the Cambridge Italian Dialects Syntax and Morphology Meeting.