Academic & Teaching staff

Dr Chiara La Sala

Teaching Fellow

Email

+44 (0) 113 343 3637

Biography

I graduated in 1991 from the University of Rome 'La Sapienza' with a degree in Modern Languages and Literatures (English and German). I took an MA in Applied Linguistics at the University of Salford, and in 2004 completed a PhD at the University of Leeds on 'Attitudes towards the Safeguarding of Minority Languages and Dialects in Modern Italy: the Cases of Sardinia and Sicily'.

I was Lector in Italian at the University of Salford from 1993 to 1995, and joined the University of Leeds in October 1995. I teach Italian language at all levels and Liaison Interpreting to final year students. I have a strong interest in teaching sociolinguistics and I have recently created a new final-year module on 'Minority languages and dialects in Italy from Fascism to the Present'.

Research

I am interested in the relationship between standard Italian and local or regional varieties spoken in Italy and, in particular, in the attitudes of speakers towards actions aimed at safeguarding their local or regional varieties. Another area of interest is online modes of safeguarding regional or local varieties, with particular reference to Sardinian and Sicilian.