Italian Discourse: A Cultural Semantic Analysis

(Hardback)

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Description

Using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage methodology, Gian Marco Farese presents a comprehensive analysis of the most important Italian cultural keywords and cultural scripts which foreign learners and cultural outsiders need to know to become linguistically and culturally proficient in Italian. Farese focuses on the words and speech practices that are used most frequently in Italian discourse and that are uniquely Italian: both untranslatable into other languages and reflective of salient aspects of Italian culture and society. Italian Discourse: A Cultural Semantic Analysis sheds light on ways in which the Italian language is related to Italians character, values, and way of thinking, and it does so in contrastive perspective with English. Each chapter focuses on a cultural keyword, putting it into cultural context and tracing the term through a series of written texts including novels, plays, poems, and songs. Italian Discourse will be an important resource for anyone interested in Italian studies and Italian linguistics, as well as in semantics, cultural studies, sociology, linguistic anthropology, cognitive linguistics, intercultural communication, and translation.

Reviews

This book is a bold and original attempt to see Italian culture in the mirror of Italian cultural key words and associated "cultural scripts." I know of no other "language and culture" book which would be similarly rich in fresh observations and insights grounded in a careful analysis of word meanings. This highly readable and enjoyable book is a priceless resource for Italian language learners and an eye-opener for Italians themselves. It also provides an invaluable model for exploring cultural semantics of other languages and for teaching culture through language.--Anna Wierzbicka, Australian National University
This is a courageous book. It shows how something as elusive as 'national character' can be subjected to empirical analysis, using a universal theory of communication to define Cultural Keywords of one specific culture. Using close logical argument, it skips nimbly through a minefield, avoiding the dangers of generalization and stereotype. This book sets a high standard of scientific rigor for any future conversation on the topic. Personally, I have been learning Italian for nearly fifty years and I loved this investigation by a native Italian speaker who writes in English to help me understand things I had intuited but never grasped so clearly before.--John Kinder, University of Western Australia

Author Bio

Gian Marco Farese is research associate in linguistics at the Smith Institute for Political Economy and Philosophy at Chapman University and honorary lecturer in linguistics at Australian National University.