Curriculum Vitae
Carla Vergaro is Associate Professor - certified for Full Professorship position - of English Language and Linguistics. Her main research interests lie in pragmatic linguistics, rhetoric, text and discourse analysis, cognitive semantics, and contrastive linguistics.
She pursued her undergraduate and graduate education at the University of Rome La Sapienza and Roma Tre, respectively.
She was visiting fellow at the University of Edinburgh, Birmingham, and Michigan - Ann Arbor.
In the academic year 2001-2002 she was granted a Fulbright Fellowship from the University of Berkeley, California, sponsored by John R. Searle, Chair of Philosophy.
In the academic year 2013-2014 she was visiting professor on invitation from Hans-Jörg Schmid – Chair of Modern English Linguistics – at the Ludwig-Maximilians Universität in Munich, under the CAS Excellence Initiative. In June 2016, she obtained a second CAS fellowship, on invitation from Hans-Jörg Schimd.
She was member of the Panel of the European Doctorate in English Linguistics, University of León, Spain.
She was the scientific coordinator of a research project on contrastive rhetoric financed by the Italian Ministry of Higher Education.
She was the co-founder and vice-director (2006-2010) of the University of Perugia Language Center.
Publications
Monographs
[1] Vergaro, Carla (2018), English illocutionary shell nouns. Bern: Peter Lang. 322 pages. ISBN 9783034330695.
[2] Vergaro, Carla (2005), “Dear Sirs … con la presente ci pregiamo di…”. Il genere business letter in italiano e inglese. Roma: Aracne. 248 pages. ISBN 88-548-0133-X.
Edited Translations
[3] Vergaro, Carla (2015) (ed.), Un modello di carità cristiana [John Winthrop, A Modell of Christian Charity]. Perugia: Morlacchi UP. 110 pages. ISBN 978-88-6074-719-8.
Edited Volumes
[4] Vergaro, Carla (2018) (ed.), Cognitive perspectives on genre. Special Issue of Pragmatics & Cognition 25(3). Amsterdam: Benjamins. ISSN 0929-0907.
[5] Vergaro, Carla (2008) (ed.), Dynamics of language contact in the twenty first century. Perugia: Guerra. 272 pages. ISBN 978-88-557-0131-0.
[6] Vergaro, Carla (2002) (ed.), Verso quale CLA? La ridefinizione dei ruoli dei centri linguistici d’ateneo nella prospettiva dei nuovi ordinamenti didattici. Napoli: ESI. 218 pages. ISBN 88-495-0569-8.
Articles
[7] Vergaro, Carla (2022), Ways of committing oneself: On the complementation of commissive nouns in Ghanaian English. Under review. (A)
[8] Vergaro, Carla (2022), “The first blessing reads…”: Declarative shell nouns in Ghanaian English. Under review (A)
[9] Vergaro, Carla (2022), Syntagmatic conformity: Blessings and curses in Winthrop’s Christian Charitie. Language and Literature. DOI: 10.1177/09639470221090378 (A)
[10] Vergaro, Carla (2020), Graded Salience and construal: The case of illocutionary shell-noun complementation patterns. Lingue e Linguaggio. 19(2), 191–222. (A)
[11] Vergaro, Carla (2020), The contribution of metadiscourse to the illocutionary logic of Winthrop’s A Modell of Christian Charitiy. English Studies. DOI: 10.1080/0013838X.2020.1851075 (A)
[12] Vergaro, Carla (2018), Introduction. Special Issue of Pragmatics & Cognition 25(3), 417–429. (A)
[13] Vergaro, Carla (2018), A cognitive framework for understanding genre: The Entrenchment-and-Conventionalization Model. Special Issue of Pragmatics & Cognition 25(3), 430–458. (A)
[14] Vergaro, Carla (2018), “’And the rabbi begins the benediction…’: Declarative shell nouns in English”. English Studies 99(8), 817–835. (A)
[15] Vergaro, Carla (2018), Collexeme analysis of English illocutionary shell nouns, Colletta, Stefano (ed.), Studies in the Humanities, Universitas Studiorum,73–98.
[16] Vergaro, Carla (2017), “’That is conjecture’. On English assertive shell nouns”, in Arigne, Viviane and Christiane Migette (eds.), Theorization and Representations in Linguistics, Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars, 217–240.
[17] Vergaro, Carla (2017), Come fare le cose con i testi: A Modell of Christian Charity di John Winthrop, L’Analisi Linguistica e Letteraria 1, 99–116. (A)
[18] Vergaro, Carla (2017), Logica illocutoria e azione in A Modell of Christian Charity di John Winthrop. In Vallone, Mirella (ed.), Faith in Literature. Religione, cultura e identità negli Stati Uniti d’America, Perugia: Morlacchi UP, 19–37.
[19] Vergaro, Carla and Hans-Jörg Schmid (2017), Do the meanings of abstract nouns correlate with the meaning of their complementation patterns? A case study on English commissive shell nouns, Pragmatics & Cognition 24(1), 91–118. (A)
[20] Sandford, Jodi L., Vergaro, Carla, Mastrofini, and Yhara M. Formisano (2016), The syntax-semantics interface in English manner of speaking, Lingue e Linguaggio XV/2, 141–167. (A)
[21] Neiderhiser, Justine, Kelley, Patrick, Kennedy, Kohlee, Swales, John and Carla Vergaro (2016), “Notice the similarities between the two sets ...”. Imperative usage in a corpus of upper-level student papers, Applied Linguistics 37/2, 198–218. (A)
[22] Vergaro, Carla (2015), Introduzione. In Vergaro, Carla (ed.), Un modello di carità cristiana [John Winthrop, A Model of Christian Charity]. Perugia: Morlacchi UP, 9–49.
[23] Vergaro, Carla (2015), Ways of asserting. English assertive nouns between linguistics and the philosophy of language, Journal of Pragmatics 84, 1–17. (A)
[24] Iacobini, Claudio and Carla Vergaro (2014), The role of inference in motion event encoding / decoding: A cross-linguistic inquiry into English and Italian, Lingue e Linguaggio 13(1), 211–240. (A)
[25] Vergaro, Carla, Sandford, Jodi L., Mastrofini, Roberta and Yhara M. Formisano (2014), “Hollering from across the yard”: Fictive path in manner of speaking events, Language and Cognition 6(3), 408–426.
[26] Vergaro, Carla (2014), “Struggle though I may…”: Inverted though concessive constructions in English, English Studies 95(5), 557–576. (A)
[27] Vergaro, Carla (2012), On rhetorical typology: Evidence from the translation of ‘path’, in Dalziel, Fiona, Sara Gesuato and Maria Teresa Musacchio (eds.), A lifetime of English studies. Essays in honour of Carol Taylor Torsello, Padova: Il Poligrafo, 83–93. ISBN 978-88-7115-767-2
[28] Iacobini, Claudio and Carla Vergaro (2012), Manner of motion verbs: Semantic distinctions and interlingual comparisons, in Ferreri, Silvana (ed.), Atti del XLIV Congresso Internazionale di Studi della SLI, Roma: Bulzoni, 71–87. ISBN 978-88-7870-655-2
[29] Vergaro, Carla (2011), Linguistics as a window on rhetoric and rhetorical typology, in Frascarelli, Mara (ed.), Structures and meanings: Cross-theoretical perspectives, Parigi/Torino: L’Harmattan, 198–217. ISBN 978-88-7892-183-2
[30] Vergaro, Carla (2011), Referential, vague or impersonal? Pronominal reference and identity, in Kitis, Eliza, Nikolaos Lavidas, Nina Topintzi and Tasos Tsangalidis (eds.), Selected Papers from the 19th International Symposium on Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, Thessaloniki: Monochromia Publishing, 469–479. ISBN 978-960-243-675-2
[31] Vergaro, Carla (2011), Shades of impersonality: Rhetorical positioning in the academic writing of Italian students of English, Linguistics and Education 22(2), 118–132. (A)
[32] Vergaro, Carla (2008), The influence of English on the use of Italian subject pronouns, in Vergaro, Carla (ed.), Dynamics of language contact in the twenty-first century. Conversarii. Studi Linguistici Vol. II, Perugia: Guerra, 221-253. ISBN 978-88-557-0131-0
[33] Vergaro, Carla (2008), Introduction, in Vergaro, Carla (ed.), Dynamics of language contact in the twenty-first century. Conversarii. Studi Linguistici Vol. II, Perugia: Guerra, 7–15. ISBN 978-88-557-0131-0
[34] Vergaro, Carla (2008), Generic competence and rhetorical interference in learning English as a second language, Annali della Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia 3. Studi Linguistici e Letterari Vol. XLIII, 209–227. ISBN 978-88-548-1463-9
[35] Vergaro, Carla (2008), On the pragmatics of concessive constructions in Italian and English business letter discourse, Multilingua 27(3), 255–283.
[36] Vergaro, Carla (2008), Retorica del testo e apprendimento dell’inglese per scopi specialistici, in Lorenzi, Franco (ed.), Microlingue scientifico-professionali e bisogni formativi del terzo millennio. Conversarii. Studi Linguistici Vol. I, Perugia: Guerra, 99–107. ISBN 88-7715-915-4
[37] Vergaro, Carla (2008), Competenza dei generi e interferenza linguistica nell’apprendimento dell’inglese come L2, in Lorenzi, Franco (ed.), Microlingue scientifico-professionali e bisogni formativi del terzo millennio. Conversarii. Studi Linguistici Vol. I, Perugia: Guerra, 39–50. ISBN 88-7715-915-4
[38] Vergaro, Carla (2008), Concession in English business discourse, TextandTalk 28(1), 97–119. (A)
[39] Vergaro, Carla (2007), On the pragmatics of hortatory subjunctive in Italian”, Łódź Papers in Pragmatics 3, 37–60.
[40] Vergaro, Carla (2005), Dear Sirs, I hope you will find this information useful: Discourse strategies in Italian and English For Your Information letters, Discourse Studies 7(1), 109–135. (A)
[41] Vergaro, Carla (2004), Discourse strategies of Italian and English sales promotion letters, English for Specific Purposes 23(2), 181–207. (A)
[42] Vergaro, Carla (2004), Percorsi di apprendimento dell’Italiano L2 nella Scuola dell’Infanzia, Annali della Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia dell’Università di Perugia, vol. XXXVIII, 211–228.
[43] Vergaro, Carla (2002), “Dear Sirs, what would you do if you were in our position?” Discourse strategies in Italian and English money chasing letters, Journal of Pragmatics 34(9), 1211–1233. (A)
[44] Vergaro, Carla (2002), L’approccio genre-based nell’insegnamento delle lingue per scopi specialistici (LSP) all’interno del CLA, in Vergaro, Carla (ed.), Verso quale CLA? La ridefinizione dei ruoli dei centri linguistici d’ateneo nella prospettiva dei nuovi ordinamenti didattici. Napoli: ESI, 183–217. ISBN 88-495-0569-8
[45] Vergaro, Carla (2002), Introduzione, in Vergaro, Carla (ed.), Verso quale CLA? La ridefinizione dei ruoli dei centri linguistici d’ateneo nella prospettiva dei nuovi ordinamenti didattici. Napoli: ESI, 7–13. ISBN 88-495-0569-8
[46] Boylan, Patrick, Micarelli, Alessandro and Carla Vergaro (2000), A Constructivist Case-based Approach to Writing Effective Business Letters in English, in Howarth, Peter and Rupert Herington (eds.), EAP Learning Technologies. Leeds: Leeds University Press, 51–60. ISBN 0853162123
[47] Boylan, Patrick, Micarelli, Alessandro, Sciarrone, Filippo and Carla Vergaro (1999), Metacognition in Epistolary Rhetoric: A Case-Based System for Writing Effective Business Letters in a Foreign Language, in Lajoie, Susanne P. and Martial Vivet (eds.), Artificial Intelligence in Education. Amsterdam: IOS Press, 305–312. ISBN 90-519-9452-4
[48] Vergaro, Carla (1998), Nuove tecnologie e didattica delle lingue, in Serra Borneto, Carlo (ed.), C’era una volta il metodo. Roma: Carocci, 305–324. ISBN 978-88-430-1515-3
[49] Giardini, Francesca and Carla Vergaro (1998), Learning Itineraries: Getting Students to Use CALL Software Optimally, in Jager, Sack, John Nerbonne, and Arthur Van Essen (eds.), Language Teaching and Language Technology. Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger, 187–199. ISBN 90-265-1514-6
[50] Vergaro, Carla (1994), Computer-Assisted Language Learning: Bibliografia ragionata, LEND 2, 88–92. (A)
Translations
[51] Vergaro, Carla (2011), The Rope, trans. La corda. In Sandford, Jodi L. (ed.), A While Back. Sarà stato il succo di carota. Racconti di Clark Sandford, Perugia: Morlacchi Editore, 175–179. ISBN 978-88-607-4415-9
[52] Vergaro, Carla (2011), Run Off, trans. Il ballottaggio. In Sandford, Jodi L. (ed.), A While Back. Sarà stato il succo di carota. Racconti di Clark Sandford, Perugia: Morlacchi Editore, 219–227. ISBN 978-88-607-4415-9
Prefaces
[53] Vergaro, Carla (2013), Preface to Classi di verbi inglesi tra pesantezza e leggerezza by Roberta Mastrofini (Roma, Aracne, 2013), 7–8.
Reviews in Academic Journals
[54] Vergaro, Carla (2011), Review of Uguale ma diverso. Il mito dell’equivalenza nella traduzione by Francesca Ervas (Macerata, Quodlibet, 2008), Journal of Pragmatics 43/12, 3095–3097. (A)
[55] Vergaro, Carla (2010), Review of Etnopragmatica by Alessandro Duranti (Roma, Carocci, 2007), Journal of Pragmatics 42/3, 875–878. (A)
[56] Vergaro, Carla (2008), Review of Detto non detto. Le forme della comunicazione implicita by Marina Sbisà (Bari, Laterza, 2007), Studies in Communication Sciences 2, 391–397.
[57] Vergaro, Carla (2007), Review of Linguistic Identities through Translation by Maria Sidiropoulou (Amsterdam-New York, Rodopi, 2004), Journal of Pragmatics 39, 2075–2079. (A)
[58] Vergaro, Carla (2006), Review of Foul-letter Films. Taboo Language in Movies by Gabriele Azzaro (Roma, Aracne, 2005), Mots, Palabras, Words 7, 95–98.
Presentations at Conferences
1997 Language Teaching and Language Technology, Groningen (co-author Francesca Giardini, University of Roma Tre).
1999 BALEAP99, Leeds.
2000 Contrastive Semantics and Pragmatics, Cambridge.
2003 IPrA 2003, 8th International Pragmatics Association Conference, Toronto.
2003 L’interferenza come fenomeno linguistico e culturale, Perugia.
2004 International conference on Language, Politeness and Gender: The pragmatic roots, Helsinki.
2005 Microlingue scientifico-professionali e bisogni formativi nel terzo millennio, Perugia.
2006 Language contact in times of globalization, Groningen.
2007 ELLSSAC - Structures across Languages and Cultures, Belgrade.
2008 XVth International Congress of Applied Linguistics: Multilingualism. Issues and Challenges, Essen.
2009 19th International Symposium on Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, Thessaloniki.
2009 Fifth Conference on Rhetoric and Discourse, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
2010 XLIV International Conference of the Italian Linguistics Society, Viterbo (co-author Claudio Iacobini, University of Salerno).
2010 Fourth International Conference on Intercultural Pragmatics, Madrid (co-author Claudio Iacobini, University of Salerno).
2011 Translata 2011, Innsbruck.
2011 AFLiCo IV. Cognitive Linguistics and Typology: Language Diversity, Variation and Change, Lyon (co-author Claudio Iacobini, University of Salerno).
2012 First International Conference of the American Pragmatics Association, University of North Carolina, Charlotte.
2013 BALEAP2013, Nottingham (co-author John M. Swales, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor).
2013 19th Symposium on Languages for Special Purposes, Vienna (co-author Justine Neiderhiser, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor).
2013 CRAL13, Third International Conference on Meaning Construction and Meaning Comprehension, Logroño (co-authors Jodi L. Sandford, Roberta Mastrofini and Yhara M. Formisano, University of Perugia).
2013 Space and Motion across Languages and Applications, Zaragoza (co-author Claudio Iacobini, University of Salerno).
2014 Third International Conference of the International Society for the Linguistics of English (ISLE3), Zürich.
2015 Second International Conference on Metalinguistic Discourses, Sorbonne Paris Cité.
2016 Fourth International Conference of the International Society for the Linguistics of English (ISLE4), Poznan (co-author Hans-Jörg Schmid, LMU Munich).
2016 Faith in Literature, Seminario annuale dell’Associazione Italiana di Studi Nordamericani (AISNA), Perugia.
2016 XIV CercleS International Conference, University of Calabria, Poster presentation (co-author Elvira Lato, University of Perugia).
2017 XXVIII AIA Conference, Pisa (co-author Hans-Jörg Schmid, LMU Munich).
2018 Fifth International Conference of the International Society for the Linguistics of English (ISLE5), University College London.
2019 Eighth Biennal International Conference on the Linguistics of Contemporary English (8BICLCE), University of Bamberg.
2019 Keynote Speaker. Università di Firenze.
2020 On genre. University of Leiden. Invited speaker.
Colloquia/Lectures at Other Universities
1998 University of Edinburgh, Department of Applied Linguistics. Title: Learning Itineraries. Getting students to use CALL software optimally.
2000 University of Birmingham, Center for Advanced Research in English. Title: On business letter rhetoric.
2002 University of California, Berkeley, Department of Linguistics. Title: Rhetorical discourse patterns in Italian and English business letters. A contrastive analysis.
2004 University of Roma Tre, Department of Linguistics. Title: On the notion of genre.
2012 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Department of English (April) and English Language Institute (October). Title: “Notice the similarities between the two sets…”: Imperative usage in a corpus of upper-level student papers (co-authors John M. Swales and Justine Neiderhiser).
2014 Ludwig-Maximilians Universität, Munich, Department of English and American Studies. Title: English assertive nouns: A corpus-based study of allegation and claim.
2014 University of Trieste, Centro Interdipartimentale Mente e Linguaggio. Title: Assertive nouns. Linguistics and the philosophy of language.
2015 University of Roma Quattro, CLIL lecture series. Title: Salience in linguistics and second language acquisition.
2018 University of Roma Quattro, CLIL lecture series. Title: Salience in linguistics and second language acquisition.
Editorial activities
- Associate Editor of Pragmatics and Cognition, Benjamins, ISSN 0929-0907, ERIH PLUS.
- Member of the Editorial Board of Concordia Discors vs Discordia Concors, Stefan Cel Mare University Press, ISSN 2065-4057, ERIH PLUS.
Refereeing Activity
- Member of GEV 10 (National Committee for the Assessment of Research in Italian Universities).
- Journal manuscript reviewing for Journal of Pragmatics, English for Specific Purposes, Applied Linguistics, TESL Journal Canada, Linguistics and Education, InTRAlinea: Journal of Translation Studies, Pragmatics, Folia Linguistica, Languages in Contrast.
Ph.D. Commitments
2018-
Member of the Ph.D. Program in Linguistics, University of Rome “Sapienza” and University of Roma Tre.
2011-2014
Member of the Ph.D. Program in Cultures and Languages, University of Perugia, Université Paris Nanterre La Défense, and ISPE Bucarest.
2007-2010
Member of the Ph.D. Program in Philology and Linguistics, University of Perugia and University for Foreigners of Perugia, Italy.