BAROTTO ALESSANDRA

Cognitive linguistics and categorization processes. I am interested in the ways in which speakers construct and communicate categories in discourse (ad hoc categories). More specifically, during my PhD, I examined the use of certain exemplifying markers in Japanese as linguistic strategies to construct, reshape, and contextualize conceptual categories.

Exemplification as a cognitive and linguistic tool. I am interested in the process of exemplification as a cognitive heuristic that enables the understanding and processing of complex and abstract concepts through concrete, easily analyzable material. I am also interested in the linguistic use of exemplification to perform a range of communicative functions, from hedging to the intensification of negation. During my PhD, using a corpus-driven methodology, I analyzed the different discursive functions of four exemplifying markers in Japanese, thereby outlining the functional space of exemplification.

Typological linguistics. I am interested in typological linguistics as an analytical tool for studying linguistic phenomena by highlighting potential universal tendencies, also integrating a cognitive and functionalist perspective. More specifically, in my MA thesis I examined several phenomena of split ergativity and alignment change (from accusative to ergative, and subsequently from ergative to accusative) found in a sample of Eastern Neo-Aramaic dialects, adopting a typological approach to describe and identify alignment types and patterns of diachronic change.