About me

I am a PhD candidate in linguistics at Stockholm University, where I am conducting a research project on discourse markers in contemporary Italian political speech. My analysis focuses on their use in televised political debates (2000–2020), with the aim of describing their contextual functions and pragmatic relevance in interaction management and argumentative structure.

I adopt a qualitative and functional approach, drawing on pragmatics, discourse analysis, and argumentation theory. Inspired by Critical Discourse Analysis, I explore how certain markers participate in the discursive construction of social boundaries and exclusion — a dynamic I refer to analytically as a “grammar of contempt”, to highlight recurring patterns of delegitimation and ideological polarisation. I treat discourse markers as dynamic semiotic devices that not only shape textual cohesion, but also regulate social relations and symbolic boundaries in political interaction.

I am particularly interested in what happens in the microstructures of political language — in those seemingly marginal segments of discourse where a ma, a cioè, or an allora can redefine positions, roles, and legitimacy.

I have presented the results of my research in several academic settings, including my seminar Hate speeches online, delivered as part of the Channels of Digital Scholarship Seminar series (Maison Française d’Oxford); a separate seminar at the Université d’Aix-Marseille; and at the ROMPOL 2024 conference, What place for democratic exchange in digital media spaces?, held at Stockholm University. A forthcoming article — to be published in March 2026 in the Revue nordique des études francophones (Nordic Journal of Francophone Studies) — examines how discourse markers contribute to the construction and spread of offensive discourse in confrontational Italian talk radio.