In a time of profound environmental and social transformation, universities are called upon to rethink their teaching methods and tools. The workshop “UNI…verso nuove metodologie” aims to foster a space for reflection and dialogue on the conscious use of technology in language and linguistics education, with a special focus on ecological sustainability, social inclusion, and digital accessibility.

Through theoretical insights and practical experiences, this event explores how educational innovation can serve as a lever for more inclusive, responsible, and future-oriented language training.

Date: May 6
Venue: University of Catania – Monastero dei Benedettini, Piazza Dante
Hybrid format: Online participation will be soon available

This initiative is part of the PRIN 2022 project: The eco-friendly flexible teaching Model (EFFTMod), which surveys existing practices to build a network of good teaching practices.

More information: https://sites.google.com/view/efftmod-prin

We are pleased to announce the publication of the first special issue of the TSLL, “Empathy and the Aesthetics of Language” with the contribution of Renata Gambino, Grazia Pulvirenti, Samuel Rashe and Taylor Enoch.

https://utpress.utexas.edu/journals/texas-studies-in-literature-and-language/

Call for Papers: International workshop

Multimodal language: theoretical perspectives and research methods

Catania, 13-14 March 

The investigation of linguistic communication in natural contexts cannot ignore that human language is an inherently multimodal system. Indeed, the interaction between the vocal and the other bodily modalities is articulated within closely cooperating semiotic subsystems, dynamically completing each other into a coherent message (McNeill 1992; Kendon 2014; Capirci et al. 2022). Within a perspective that sees language as a form of cooperative action, the vocal and the gestural components – along with gaze and facial expressions – coordinate in a clearly interdependent way. This happens both at the level of expression and at the level of content, with the different modalities interacting on the semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic level (see McNeill 1992, Kendon 2004, Loehr 2012, Volterra et al. 2017, among many others).
Differently from the first generation of scholars in multimodality, whose first and essential need was to build terminologies and methods of analysis that could highlights the specifics of each modality, the foremost theoretical challenge in contemporary research is to explore theories and methodologies that could describe how these modalities interact in forming organized structures (Trujillo & Holler 2023). This requires, obviously, new categories and new descriptions, together with a move away from mere quantifications of occurrences towards other variables. It therefore becomes necessary to give greater consideration to the qualitative aspects of each component and the way in which they are deployed in the flow of discourse.
A growing number of scholars in linguistics, psychology and related disciplines is at work to demonstrate the various levels on which the link between modalities is manifested in language production and comprehension by means of cross-linguistic comparisons (see Özyürek 2021 for a review), developmental studies (Capirci et al. 2011; Graziano 2014; Volterra et al. 2018), evolutionary theories (Levinson & Holler 2014) and neuroscientific investigation (Kelly et al. 2010; Hagoort & Özyürek 2024).

For all these reasons, this workshop aims to bring together the growing scientific community that is interested in studying the relationship between linguistic modalities in spoken and signed languages from different theoretical perspectives and thanks to the use of different technologies and methodologies. The aim is to discuss the need to move from a logocentric view on language to an intrinsically multimodal perspective, the only one capable of fully restoring the complexity of language as it unfolds within the communicative event.
Contributions may concern (but are not limited to) all the themes proposed in the following theme, all concerning both vocal and sign languages:

● multimodality and models of language
● language acquisition in a multimodal perspective
● contrastive linguistic analysis in a multimodal perspective
● multimodality and discourse genres
● multimodality and communicative contexts
● multimodality and prosody
● multimodality and syntactic structure
● multimodality and information structure
● multimodality and semantics
● multimodality and pragmatics
● methods and tools for multimodal annotation
Keynote speaker
Asli Özyürek (Radboud University Nijmegen, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics)
Maria Graziano (Lund University)

Submission guidelines
We invite submissions for oral presentations. Presentations may deal with empirical research, methodological issues or theoretical challenges. Abstracts must be written in English and have a maximum length of 600 words (figures and bibliography excluded). The proposals must be sent to the address emanuela.campisi@unict.it in open format (doc, docx, rtf, odf – not in pdf), in an anonymous form, and contain a separate file with the name, surname and affiliation of the authors and email address of corresponding author. Please note that, given the format of the workshop, we are forced to accept a limited number of submissions.

Important dates
Submission deadline: 20th December 2024
Notification of acceptance: 13th January 2025
Registration deadline: 13th February 2025

Registration fees (including coffee breaks, a lunch and social dinner on March 13th)
100 euros (permanent staff)
60 euros (students and fixed-term researchers)

Registration fees (without the social dinner)
60 euros (permanent staff)
20 euros (students and fixed-term researchers)

Scientific committee
• Federico Albano Leoni (Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II)
• Emanuela Campisi (Università di Catania)
• Olga Capirci (ISTC-CNR)
• Luisa Corona (Università degli Studi dell’Aquila)
• Francesco Cutugno (Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II)
• Renata Gambino (Università degli Studi di Catania)
• Massimo Moneglia (Università degli Studi di Firenze)
• Alessandro Panunzi (Università degli Studi di Firenze)
• Tommaso Raso (UFMG)
• Loredana Schettino (Libera Università di Bolzano)
• Anita Slonimska (Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, University of Amsterdam)
• Virginia Volterra (ISTC-CNR)

Organising committee
• Emanuela Campisi (Università di Catania)
• Alessandro Panunzi (Università degli Studi di Firenze)

At the convergence of human studies, biocultural and neuroscientific research, this book offers unprecedented insights into the interpretation of literary texts. It presents the neurohermeneutics of suspicion—a bold, innovative approach illuminating the intricate bond between literature and the human mind. Embracing ambiguity as a hallmark of literature, readers are encouraged to adopt a suspicious stance to unearth the complex, multilayered and dynamic nature of literary texts, thereby fully engaging their imagination and their embodied, emotional and imaginative faculties. Our exploration navigates the crossroads of language, thought, culture, and biology, delving into hidden layers of meaning within literary texts. This transformative exploration not only redefines literary scholarship but also offers lay readers a dynamic, immersive reading experience. Ultimately, this book aims to ignite curiosity, suspense, and surprise, transforming the act of reading into a creative and engaging journey through the depths of the human mind and aesthetic experiences.

 Info about the Book

«Un uomo perbene. Tormentato, curioso.
Che ha voluto vivere in proprio, conoscendo le miserie dell’Umanità,
ha scelto di amarne la poesia e l’incanto.»

***

«A respectable man. Tormented, curious.
Who wanted to live on his own. Knowing the miseries of Humanity,
he chose to love its poetry and enchantment»

 15th September – 15th November 2024

The NewHums Research Centre kindly invites everyone to join the 4th and last edition of

 NOOC Collaborative and Research Methodology

What is this NOOC

This course (NOOC) is part of the training proposal by the project Erasmus+, “European network in D-flexible teaching (ENID-Teach)”, PROJECT NUMBER – 2021-1-ES01-KA220-HED-000027551, KA220-HED – Cooperation partnerships in higher education, coordinated by UNED – Spain. The main goal of the project is to provide digital training to university lecturers about specific teaching and research methodologies, which can be used and improved introducing digital tools and environments.

This course, produced by University of Catania, introduces participants to the Collaborative and Research Methodology and how digital tools can improve the teaching practice. The course will present the theory of collaborative teaching and research as based on three main theoretical pillars: constructivism, distributed cognition and computer supported collaborative learning. It will also introduce some digital tools to be used to enrich the teaching practice.

More Info about ENID Teach

We warmly invite European educators to enhance their teaching toolkit by participating in our free training programme on “Flexible and Innovative Methodologies.“

]]> https://www.neurohumanitiestudies.eu/enid-teach-nooc-collaborative-and-research-methodology/feed/ 0 https://www.neurohumanitiestudies.eu/cognitive-futures-2024-university-of-catania/ https://www.neurohumanitiestudies.eu/cognitive-futures-2024-university-of-catania/#comments Tue, 24 Oct 2023 11:07:28 +0000 NeuroHumanitieStudies http://www.neurohumanitiestudies.eu/?p=2217

Deadline: 15th January 2024

10 years Cognitive Futures in The Arts and Humanities

From 4E to 5E Cognition: about Emotions

June 3-5, 2024 – Aesthetic Emotions

10 years ago the series of Cognitive Future conferences started in Bangor, moved to Durham, Oxford, Stony Brook, Kent, Mainz and was held online (instead of in Osnabrück) during pandemic emergency. The war prevented its taking place in St. Petersburg. This year it took place in Warsaw; in 2024 it will be Catania – with a ten-year anniversary.The focus will be on the latest epistemic paradigm of 4E Cognition and invite all interested scholars to reflect about the opportunity to enlarge this paradigm to 5E Cognition, including Emotions as part of any cognitive process.The selection committee will, as always, be open to suggestions from all ranges of research into cognitive perspectives in the arts and humanities. We seek to address and challenge empirical and theoretical approaches to the topic of Emotion and Cognition and hope to enlarge our perspectives to other fields of research like the Study of Emotions in relation to Moving Images and Immersive Technologies, but also the Emotional components in Cultural Evolution; the Archeology of Emotions; etc.

Topics

Topics are not limited to the ones we wish to suggest here: