Università della Svizzera italiana

The semiotics of migrants’ food : between codes and experience

Greco, Sara

In: Semiotica, 2016, no. 211, p. 59–80

This paper sets out to analyze cultural semiotics of migrants’ food and culinary practices. Moving from the perspective of the Tartu school of semiotics, which views culture both as a grammar (a set of codes) and as a set of texts, food can be characterized as a specific cultural element where grammar and text (code and experience) are woven together. International migrants live one or more...

Università della Svizzera italiana

Adding a temporal dimension to the analysis of argumentative discourse : justified reframing as a means of turning a single-issue discussion into a complex argumentative discussion

Greco, Sara ; Schär, Rebecca ; Pollaroli, Chiara ; Mercuri, Chiara

In: Discourse Studies, 2018, vol. 20, no. 6, p. 1-17

This paper seeks to extend existing models of argumentation by considering an important dimension of real-life argumentative discourse: how complex argumentative discussions evolve over time. We define a complex argumentative discussion as a multi-issue discussion, in which the different issues are interrelated in the form of a hierarchy. We claim that justified reframing might be used to...

Università della Svizzera italiana

Contextual frames and their argumentative implications : A case study in media argumentation

Greco Morasso, Sara

In: Discourse studies, 2012, vol. 14, no. 2, p. 197-216

On the basis of a case-study based on the argumentative analysis of news in the press, this paper introduces and discusses strategic manoeuvring with contextual frames. Drawing on the linguistic notion of frame, I introduce the concept of contextual frame to refer to the news context, i.e. the background against which a certain event is presented as a piece of news. I argue that newspapers and...

Università della Svizzera italiana

Invoking the authority of feelings as a strategic maneuver in family mealtime conversations

Bova, Antonio ; Arcidiacono, Francesco

In: Journal of community & applied social psychology, 2013, vol. 23, no. 3, p. 206-224

This paper is centred on family conversations and focuses on the conditions that allow a specific strategic maneuver, the invocation of the authority, to be an effective argumentative strategy when used by parents to convince their children to accept rules and prescriptions. Within a corpus of argumentative sequences selected from 30 video-recordings of family mealtime conversations, an...

Università della Svizzera italiana

Do journalists' opinions affect news selection in a low-key conflict? : Newspaper coverage of the discussion of smoking bans in Switzerland

Schulz, Peter J. ; Hartung, Uwe ; Fiordelli, Maddalena

In: Journalism and mass communication quarterly, 2012, vol. 89, no. 3, p. 414-430

This quantitative content analysis applies the theory of instrumental actualization to Swiss newspaper coverage of smoking bans in public places. The theory holds that journalists' opinions affect news selection; it is studied here for the weighting and evaluation of arguments in news stories. The editorial stance of newspapers was related to the weighting of argumentative fields and the...

Università della Svizzera italiana

Functions of “why” questions asked by children in family conversations

Bova, Antonio

In: Procedia: social and behavioral sciences, 2011, vol. 30, p. 776-782

This study focuses on children's speech and, more particularly, analyzes the functions of children's “why” questions asked during family conversations at home. Within a data corpus composed of video recordings of family dinnertime interactions, sequences in which children ask “why” questions during family conversations are presented and qualitatively analyzed. The results show the...

Università della Svizzera italiana

Argumentative strategies for conflict management and resolution in Italian and Swiss families

Arcidiacono, Francesco ; Bova, Antonio

In: Procedia: social and behavioral sciences, 2011, vol. 30, p. 1385–1389

This study aims to analyze how family members engage themselves in resolving differences of opinion during everyday interactions. In particular, we focus on the argumentative strategies used by parents during dinner conversations at home with their children. Within a data corpus based on video-recordings of family dinnertime interactions, two different excerpts of argumentative discussions...