This chapter reports a case study examining a corpus of English texts used to promote tourist facilities and local products on the web, in a perspective that identifies as luxury and refinement in the typical aspects of Salento not only the quality of the food, the beauty of the landscapes and of the tourist accommodation facilities, but also the amount of time required to fully enjoy them, the local traditions and the exclusivity of the whole experience. This chapter focuses on those conceptual, metaphorical and linguistic aspects that refer to the notions of “slowness”, “tradition” and “exclusivity” found in the total experience enjoyed by the tourist, highlighting the best examples of product advertising and explaining the persuasive intent of the linguistic devices which can make them competitive in international contexts. Within the same perspective of international competition, the role of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) is examined, as it is considered here as a communicative (explanatory and persuasive) tool among non-native English speakers. Thus, its main aim is to enable communication through its conceptual and emotional leverage effects, which are manifested in the cognitive and communicative aspects of the message.

La comprensione degli eventi nelle diverse culture avviene in modi differenti, poiché ogni cultura concettualizza e, successivamente, verbalizza in modi differenti tali eventi. Nel caso in cui la verbalizzazione sia richiesta in lingua straniera, l’individuo coinvolto, nella maggior parte dei casi, opera la concettualizzazione secondo le modalità della L1 e li verbalizza nella L2, trasferendo molto spesso elementi concettualizzati in L1 nella verbalizzazione in L2. L’ipotesi di ricerca che giustifica questo studio è rappresentata dalla possibilità di individuare in quale misura il grado di automazione influisca sulla performance generale, ovvero, non solo sulla qualità linguistica, ma anche su quella concettuale e il miglioramento delle performances comunicative in L2 nei loro molteplici aspetti grazie alla ripetizione del compito assegnato (Bygate , Afflerbach 1995) (Ericsson, Simon 1984) (van Someren, Barnard, Sandberg 1994) (Cohen, Hosenfeld 1996, 1999, 2001).

This work analyzes how Italian students learn and manage their L2 English skills in Specialized Discourse and general Language. In particular, their cognitive strategies of meaning construction through problem solving and sensemaking are investigated through the think aloud technique. This strategic behaviour is meant as a competence necessary to overcome the difficulties due to the incomplete linguistic competence and learners need to be aware of its use to fulfil communicaative tasks.

This monograph deals with the analytical work to be carried out at all levels of language, along with reflections of cultural nature that are associated with the reformulation and the drafting of a translation.