How do grammatical patterns emerge, stabilise and change through use and interaction?
I study spoken language as cooperative action, focusing on the interplay between grammar, prosody and the organisation of interaction.
Linguist · University of Bologna
I study how the grammars of the world’s languages take shape in use, as speakers interact, negotiate knowledge and build meaning together.
My University of Bologna profile provides the institutional record of my academic work. This website complements it by organising projects, publications, resources, and activities around the questions that connect them, making the different parts of my work easier to navigate.
Research
Current research directions
Three research directions currently bring much of my work together, without exhausting the questions and collaborations represented across this website. At their centre is a shared concern: how grammar takes shape across languages, in use and through interaction.
How do the world’s languages organise variation and grammatical possibility?
Cross-linguistic typology and sociolinguistic variation reveal recurrent patterns and unexpected solutions in the ways languages organise alternatives.
How do speakers build categories, meanings and shared understanding in interaction?
I examine how categories and meanings are assembled locally, reshaped through context, and negotiated as speakers manage knowledge and expectations together.
Across these directions
Data, resources and methods
I develop corpora and annotations that preserve variation, document analytical choices, and make naturally occurring language data accessible for further research.
Contact
caterina.mauri (at) unibo.it
Department of Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
University of Bologna · Via Cartoleria 5, Bologna