Keynote speakers
Jan CHOVANEC is Professor of English linguistics at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, specializing in discourse analysis and socio-pragmatics. He has done research on the discursive processes of identity construction as well as humour in diverse media contexts. His current research deals with authenticity and identity stylisation. He is the author and co-editor of a number of publications and special issues, including The Dynamics of Interactional Humour (Benjamins, 2018, with Villy Tsakona), Experiencing Digital Discourses: Multimodality, Engagement, Activisim (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025, with Camilla Vásquez) and Humor as Resemiotization (2025, specialissue of Punctum, with Villy Tsakona).
Cecilia Mihaela POPESCU is Professor of Comparative Romance Linguistics and Pragmatics at the University of Craiova, Romania, and, since 2024, a Senior Researcher at the “Iorgu Iordan – Alexandru Rosetti” Institute of Linguistics of the Romanian Academy. Her doctoral research focused on a comparative analysis of the expression of potentiality and irrealis in Latin, French, and Romanian. Her research interests encompass major areas of Romance linguistics, with a particular focus on (i) the diachronic and typological evolution of morphosyntactic structures from Latin to the Romance languages, with special attention to the semantics of verbal systems (tenses and moods); (ii) processes of lexical transfer, semantic reconfiguration, and language contact; and (iii) discourse organization and pragmatic markers in Romance varieties. From 2016 to 2022, she served on the Board of the International Society of Romance Linguistics (Société de Linguistique Romane).
Roberto MERLO is Professor of Romanian Language and Literature at the University of Turin. His research spans both literary and linguistic studies. In linguistics, he focuses on the history of the Romanian language between East and West and on the specificities of Romanian within the Romance domain, addressing questions of Romanian historical lexicology and morphology, language contact, and heritage Romanian in Italy. He has edited scholarly volumes and critical editions, serves on the scientific boards of specialist journals and book series, and was Secretary (2019–2022) and President (2023–2025) of the Associazione Italiana di Romenistica (AIR).
