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Dictionaries, synonymies and usage labels
108-122Views:292The extraordinary richness of the Italian language is not always adequately enhanced by dictionaries. In the era of the digitization of the dictionary, while outdated some definitional procedures continue to survive. Present or past participles that also have adjective functions (e.g. nascente) are sometimes defined with the formula “In the meanings of the verb”. The nouns indicating quality, condition or status (e.g. ordinariness) are often defined with the formula “being + basic adjective (ordinary)”. These definitions, whose informative value is practically zero, certainly do not help to the reader. The structure of a dictionary of synonyms is completely different, which must try to guide the reader in the maze of possible lexical alternatives with the aim of helping him to find the most suitable terms to express the different nuances of the same concept. The search for semantic equivalences thus becomes a discovery of the relevant differences that exist between one word and another. Of essential importance in this regard is the function of the usage labels: the distinction between basic words, words of high use, words of high availability and common words, very useful in many areas, is not of great help for a writer interested in information stylistic. The classification by frequency bands does not warn us e.g. that volto is of higher register than faccia, autovettura is of more formal register than macchina, cinematografo in the sense of ‘cinema hall’ is antiquated compared to cinema
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The Last Mother: From Enrico Pau’s L’accabadora (2015) to Valeria Golino’s Miele (2013)
85-95Views:264L'accabadora, is a Sardinian term deriving from the Spanish word 'acabar' which means to finish or complete. It refers to a female figure in Sardinian popular tradition, 'the last mother', an angel of mercy who assists the terminally ill in leaving the world. In this paper I explore variations of this female figure in two contemporary films. Enrico Pau's film L'accabadora set in pre- and World War II Sardinia, revolves around a protagonist (Annetta) who is a direct descendant of this Sardinian tradition. The second film, Valerio Golino's Miele, proposes what might be considered a contemporary variant of the Sardinian folk figure. While the tabu subject of euthanasia certainly forms the backdrop to the films, what is foregrounded is the isolation and alienation of the female protagonists who carry out care-giving roles tied to death. Torn between the conviction that the tasks they perform as “last mothers” console or provide final moments of serenity to the dying and an intangible discomfort with their execution of the task, they remain seemingly haunted by their roles, exhibiting an unease that arises from societal discomfort with administering death and a profession that requires that they direct their care to the dying rather than to the living. The representation of the films’ protagonists, their framing and the construction of the journeys they undertake, turn both films into narratives of self-discovery, motivated by encounters with others and otherness, and visually configured by the physical mobility across transformed geo-political landscapes that is central to the films.
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«In piedi, guardando dal finestrino». Memoria, parola, corpo nell’immaginario ferroviario di Leonardo Sciascia
73-84Views:53A disruptive and recurring image in Italian novels and novellas, starting from the mid-nineteenth century, the train assumes, in the work of Leonardo Sciascia, a peculiar function, not simply thematic. Linked to the indelible memory of the first journey of his childhood, the train soon becomes, for the writer from Racalmuto, a topos to resort to for the representation of some of the literary motifs dearest to him: the exercise of memory, the power of the word, the joy of bodies. Through the textual findings considered most significant, the contribution intends to offer a representative exemplification of the arguments proposed.