Gabriella ALFIERI

Full Professor of Italian linguistics [L-FIL-LET/12]

Gabriella Alfieri is a full professor at University of Catania. She is a member of Accademia della Crusca and President of The Scientific Committee of Fondazione Verga and President of Scientific Committee for the National Edition of G. Verga’s Writings. Since 2023 she coordinates as P.I. the PRIN project "ARDIPS" (Digital Archive of Spoken-Written Italian), ranked among the first in the ministerial ranking.

She is a member of the editorial committee of leading scientific reviews and directs the "Annali" of Fondazione Verga.

Her research activity has been on the History of Italian as a language of literature (Lettera e figura nella scrittura dei «Malavoglia», Firenze, Accademia della Crusca, 1983), of popular fiction (La lingua di consumo, in L. Serianni - P. Trifone, Storia della lingua italiana, 2, Torino, Einaudi, 1994), or as target language in Sicily from the XVI century (La Sicilia, in F. Bruni, L'italiano nelle regioni, Torino, Utet, 1992-1994), and recently as language of the media (with I. Bonomi, Lingua italiana e televisione, Roma, Carocci, 2012), Verga, Roma, Salerno, 2016; I «vestigi dei nomi». L'identità di Catania tra storia e mito, Palermo, Centro di Studi Filologici e Linguistici Siciliani, 2016, «Il potente fantasma». La lingua come “valore” nazionale nel primo Romanticismo, in «Moderna», 2018. She recently studies the authors of European realism with the method of comparative stylistics.

She has directed a research team in Catania that studied television language in national projects (PRIN 2006 e 2008) and worked about Vocabolario dinamico dell’italiano moderno (PRIN 2015,  P.I. - C. Marazzini); she now works to Vi.Ver (Vocabolario dell'italiano dei veristi). Since 2023 he has coordinated as P.I. the PRIN project 'ARDIPS' (Digital Archive of Spoken-Written Italian), ranked among the first in the ministerial ranking. She was awarded the Nicola Zingarelli Prize 2023, for the special section 'Non omnia possumus omnes', concerning personalities who have distinguished themselves during the year for particular scientific works, for scientific studies of considerable prestige, for works of strong moral and educational commitment.

Since September 2017 to September 2019 she was appointed, as a delegate by The Rector of the University of Catania, President of CLA (Linguistic Center of Ateneo).

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Last edit: 03/28/2021

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My research activity has been mainly on the History of Italian as a language of literature, of popular fiction and of common use, and recently as language of the media. From a methodological point of view I have based my research on philologically correct texts and on documents taken from other carefully chosen sources (RAI databases and TV and radio programmes). To provide some focus, my production can be divided into five streams:

1) historical, stylistic and philological aspects of literary Italian of the XIX century;

2) times and ways in which the Italian language expanded, both in a regional and national perspective, from the XVI century to the contemporary age;

3) social and cultural history of non-literary Italian and of the Italian of popular fiction from the XVIII century to nowadays; historical lexicography;

4) broadcast language: the Italian language spoken on radio and television;

5) textual linguistics and writing;

6) comparative stylistics.

As for her educational activities, in international contexts I have given some specialist lessons on Italian as a language used in the show business and in the media (1995-’98 CLIC of the University for foreigners in Perugia; week of the Italian language in the world organised by the Accademia della Crusca: Innsbruck e Salisburgo 2002, Malta 2003]. I have also given some lectures in specialist courses for graduated people in Italian and foreign Universities, among which the Catholic University of Sydney, the University of Malta, the University of Geneva and the University of Belo Horizonte (Brazil).

Since the Academic Year 2002-2003 she has been coordinating a Master, which she founded, at the University of Catania in Professional Writing. Theory and techniques; it is the first Italian Master on written communication, which also gives particular attention to the audiovisual communication.

Since June 2011 (confirmed 2016 and 2021) I was appointed President of The Scientific Committee of Fondazione Verga and President of Scientific Committee for the National Edition of Giovanni Verga’s Writings.

Since 2011: Member of the Accademia della Crusca