2025 collection (published to date)
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2025 collection (published to date)
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Collection Contents
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Variation in Language Acquisition
More LessThis volume, resulting from the fifth edition of the conference series Variation in Language Acquisition (ViLA), brings together research at the intersection of language acquisition and sociolinguistics. Work within the ViLA tradition explores how learners—from preschoolers to adult second-language users— produce, perceive, and evaluate socially meaningful language variation. Divided in two main parts, the contributions to this volume highlight a rich diversity of linguistic settings, methodological approaches, and learner profiles. Where Part I focuses on the acquisition of variation in children from age three to adolescence, Part II shifts the focus to the role of linguistic input and exposure in the acquisition process. Both parts showcase a broad methodological spectrum, from observational and experimental studies to qualitative and mixed-methods research. By deepening our understanding of the interplay between social context and linguistic development, the chapters in this volume both consolidate and inspire the growing research field of developmental sociolinguistics.
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Vagueness as an Implicitating Persuasive Strategy
More LessThe book presents an integrated model of vagueness as an implicit and persuasive strategy, pervasive in everyday language use and public discourse. It considers three macro-dimensions of the phenomenon: linguistic-theoretical, psychological, and social-discursive.
It shows how vagueness can be strategically employed to elude recipients’ critical evaluation of intended contents, to deresponsibilize the source and make their arguments unchallengeable.
It explores the semiotic, semantic, pragmatic and psycholinguistic nature of vagueness, and looks at its use in contemporary public (with a focus on Italian) discourse.
It also delves into under-explored aspects of the phenomenon such as: the continuum of intentionality in the use of vague expressions; the evolutionary significance of vagueness; its implicitating and persuasive functions; the phenomenon of vagueness by implicature; the interaction between vague expressions and context precisation; the cognitive functioning of vague expressions; the use of vagueness in contemporary persuasive vs. non-persuasive text types; gender-based differences in the use of vagueness in public discourse.
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