Research Interests

My current research interests include: the linguistics of humor, especially texts longer, larger, and/or more complex than jokes, irony and sarcasm, pragmatics (Neo-Gricean theory of implicature, the link between the theory of action and implicature, rationality, and non-cooperative modes of communication, including lies, humor, and covert communication).

I am also working on different side projects, which include

• the maintenance of Italian in NE Ohio. I am currently collecting data concerning all aspects of the use of Italian (and its dialects) in the greater Youngstown area.
• computational humor, with my friends at ITC/IRST in Trento, Italy,
• the pedagogy of linguistics (especially grammar) and the significance of linguistic knowledge in the training of future teachers. See a symposium Steve Brown and I organized a few years ago, here.
• the application of cognitive linguistics to humor research and to the teaching of grammar,
• a companion reader for Understanding Language: Structure, Interaction, Variation. (which I coauthored with Steve Brown).