Associate Member

Valentina Colasanti is an Assistant Professor in Linguistics at Trinity College Dublin. Her research profile is situated within both theoretical linguistics and Romance linguistics (especially the Italo-Romance sub-family of languages). Most of her publications involve applying generative linguistic theory to syntactic and semantic phenomena from Italo-Romance.

In 2019, her interests broadened into the study of phenomena expressed within the visual modality, i.e. gesture. Such phenomena have been almost entirely overlooked in theoretical syntax and in Romance linguistics more generally. Her work in this area adopts a purely formal approach, drawing empirically from the gesture-rich languages of Southern Italy in particular. In 2020, she established the Gestural Grammar Lab (GestuGram Lab) at Trinity College Dublin after successfully competing for funding streams. She is currently directing the lab, which so far comprises two PhD students, one lab manager, five research assistants (postgraduate and undergraduate), and two fieldworkers.