In an era of globalization and European standardization, dialect, patois, and linguistic pastiche are marks of identity, of individual and regional nature. Paraphrasing the words of Luigi Pirandello, one tends to use the standard national language to express the concept, while one opts to use one’s regional dialect to express the feeling. The literary tradition has always accepted language mixing. Linguists and literary critics have studied this phenomenon from different perspectives. No in-depth treatment, however, has been offered so far as to the causes, conditions, consequences, and limits of language mixing from both the linguistic and literary points of view. The aim of this book is to start to fill this lack of analysis. Through a plurality of literary subjects, perspectives, and linguistic environments, this publication provides an overview of the linguistic and cultural contributions which underline, in turn, the importance of dialect use and conservation. This book recognizes the international and topical scope of interest in the academia and the public at large both through the contributions made by the authors of the respective essays, who come from various parts of the world and from a wide range of disciplines, and also through the international and topical importance of the perspectives offered by these contributions. Contributors offer analysis of selected literary and cinematic works which reveal the intricate interweaving of morphosyntax, semantics, and pragmatics of various dialects, Italian, French, English, and other languages that contribute to invented codes, which, in turn, provide material for the construction of invented worlds. This publication is a must for all literary scholars, linguists, and for all students of foreign languages, linguistic and literary studies. It is a unique collection of perspectives and topics of interest to all language and literature aficionados.

In Language Creativity: A Semiotic Perspective, Simone Casini aims to frame the concept of creativity within a linguistic dimension by developing a theoretical reflection with constant references to contact languages and to the educational plan. Semiotic creativity abandons the condition of the linguistic property inter pares and rises to the rank of theoretical and first principle by which languages define themselves, function and interact in the negotiation of meaning in relation to the social uses. Casini considers creativity as a premise for the rule changing of boundaries of meaning and creation of language and meaning. The work progresses starting from the historical-critical concept of creativity, discussing the most philosophical and linguistic theories in the North American and European context.

The use of Academic Podcasting Technology and MALL (Mobile Assisted Language Learning) is reshaping teaching and learning by supporting, expanding, and enhancing course content, learning activities, and teacher-student interactions. Academic Podcasting and Mobile Assisted Language Learning: Applications and Outcomes shares innovative and pedagogically effective ways to improve foreign language education by identifying the instructional uses and benefits of academic podcasting technology and MALL in foreign language acquisition. These include instructional uses, students? perceived learning gains, how instructors can use/have used the technology (successes and challenges), study abroad experiences with the technology, pedagogical impact, and economic perspectives on its use.

Sicilian Elements in Andrea Camilleri’s Narrative Language examines Camilleri’s unique linguistic repertoire and techniques over his career as a novelist. It focuses on the intensification of Sicilian linguistic features in Camilleri’s narrative works, in particular features pertaining to the domains of sounds and grammar, since these have been marginalized in linguistic-centered research on the evolution of Camilleri’s narrative language and remain overall understudied. Through a systematic comparative analysis of the distribution patterns of selected Sicilian features in a selection of Camilleri’s historical novels and novels of the Montalbano series, the author identifies the individual features that have become most widespread and the lexical items that are targeted with highest frequency and consistency. The results of the analysis show that in the earlier novels, Sicilian features are rather sparse and can be attributed to linguistic situational functionality; that is, they function as indices of salient, distinctive aspects of topics, settings, events/situations, and characters. Conversely, in the latest novels, Sicilian elements pervade the entire novels and the texts are written almost entirely in Camilleri’s own Sicilian, vigatese, so that Sicilian is stripped of any linguistic situational functionality.

This volume investigates how teaching practices can address the changing status of literature in the French classroom. Focusing on how women writing in French are changing the face of French Studies, opening the canon to not only new approaches to gender but to genre, expanding interdisciplinary studies and aiding scholars to rethink the teaching of literature, each chapter provides concrete strategies useful to a wide variety of classrooms and institutional contexts. Essays address how to bring French Studies and women’s and gender studies into the twenty-first century through intersections of autobiography, gender issues and technology; ways to introduce beginning and intermediate students to the rich diversity of women writing in French; strategies for teaching postcolonial writing and literary theory; and interdisciplinary approaches to expand our student audiences in the United States, Canada, or abroad. In short, revisiting how we teach, why we teach, and what we teach through the prism of women’s texts and lives while raising issues that affect cisgender women of the Hexagon, queer and other-gendered women, immigrants and residents of the postcolony attracts more openly diverse students. Whether new to the profession or seasoned educators, faculty will find new ideas to invigorate and diversify their pedagogical approaches.

This book reviews the authenticity of certain Street Food specialties from the viewpoint of food chemists. At present, the food market clearly shows the predominance of fast-food operators in many Western countries. However, the concomitant presence of the traditional lifestyle model known as the Mediterranean Diet in Europe has also been increasingly adopted in many countries, in some cases with unforeseen effects such as offering Mediterranean-like foods for out-of-home consumption. This commercial strategy also includes the so-called Street Food, which is marketed as a variation on Mediterranean foods. One of the best known versions of Street Food products can be found in Sicily, Italy, and particularly in its largest city, Palermo. Because of certain authenticity issues, the Italian National Council of Research Chemists has issued four procedural guidelines for various Palermo specialties with the aim of attaining the traditional specialty guaranteed status in accordance with European Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012. The first chapter of the book provides a brief introduction to the general concept of Street Foods. The remaining four chapters describe four food specialties – Arancina, Sfincionello, Pane ca meusa, and Pane e panelle – typically produced in Palermo, with particular reference to their chemical composition, identification of raw materials from a chemical viewpoint, permissible cooking and preparation procedures (with chemical explanations), preservation, and storage. The book offers a unique guide to Street Food authenticity, and can also serve as a reference work for other traditional/historical products.

British culture has changed almost beyond recognition since 1956. Angry young men have been displaced by Yuppies, Elvis by the Spice Girls, and meat and two veg by continental cuisine. What is more, as the death of Diana, Princess of Wales showed, the British are now more famous for a trembling lower lip than a stiff upper one. This volume, the last in the series, examines the transformations in literature and culture over the last forty years. An introductory essay provides a context for the following chapters by arguing that although there have been significant changes in British life, there are also profound continuities. It also discusses the rise of 'theory' and its impact on the humanities. Each essay in the volume concentrates on a facet of British culture over the last half century from painting to poetry, from the seriousness of the novel to the postmodern ironies of the computing age. What we get from this selection is not only an informed history of the relations between literature and culture but also a lively sense of cultural change, not least of which is the new found relationship between literature and other arts which ushers us into the new millennium.