FEATURED NEOLOGISM:

“Synthetic meat” is the most popular designation for cultured meat, used both by media and, more surpisingly, in academic publications on this topic. The term underlines in a derogative manner the engeneering aspect in the production of this food which, by way of contrast, is made up by a cell culture and not, as the derogative connotation implies, by other processes of biochemical synthesys.

My research focuses on lexicology from both theoretical and acquisitional perspectives, with particular attention to the role of dictionaries in second language (L2) learning and to the optimization of lexicographic resources for the description of phraseological units.

My research interests also extend to specialised lexicons, with particular reference to the language of food and its legal and commercial dimensions. In this area, I investigate how industries conduct surveys in social psychology to identify the most effective naming strategies for different types of novel foods, with the aim of optimising marketing choices and positively influencing consumer acceptance and sales. Brand names and commercial strategies have a strong potential to shape language through the creation of neologisms, which can rapidly evolve into widely used common terms.