The research group Linguistic Variation in Catalan is interested in Catalan morphology, syntax and semantics, with a diachronic and synchronic vision. In particular, the group’s studies aim to describe the variation of the Catalan language and to explain the processes of linguistic change of languages, especially in the Romance context, using the methodology of corpus linguistics. Researchers are interested in processes of grammaticalisation, lexicalisation, analogy and reanalysis, semantic change, subjectivation, etc. They apply several theoretical approaches, especially cognitive-based ones, i.e. Cognitive Grammar, Conceptual Integration Theory, Prototype Theory, Construct Grammar, Natural Morphology, etc.
Deteriorating environmental conditions, mainly caused by human activities, are a major health risk. Pollution, environmental degradation, deforestation and biodiversity loss are not only affecting ecosystems and climate, but also have serious consequences on the production of safe and quality food and on the population.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the safety of the food we consume and the environment where we live in has become a top priority for consumers and public authorities alike. The Research Group on Food and Environmental Safety (SAMA-UV) is dedicated to research in environmental and food sciences and provides state-of-the-art technology and analytical services for the determination of contaminants and natural compounds, focusing its activities in the areas of environmental health, food quality and safety as well as risk assessment and human exposure studies. The pollutants with which the research group works and for which it has advanced analytical methodology include both regulated and emerging pollutants and their degradation products (ex. pesticides, drugs of abuse, human and veterinarian medicines, perfluorinated compounds, flame retardants, etc…).
The results of this activity has enabled the research group to interact and collaborate with other national and European teams researching similar topics through the attendance and paper presentation at numerous international meetings and conferences and articles in scientific journals. As a whole, the research activity carried out has generated 15 book chapters and more than 180 publications in international CSI journals with a high impact rate such as Analytical Chemistry, TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry, Journal of Chromatography, Analytica Chimica Acta, Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, Food Chemistry, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, etc.
The group’s research is mainly funded through research projects within the framework of grants for R&D projects at both regional and national level, and also within the framework of various integrated actions with the cooperation of other research groups in the European Union. The group also has collaborations and agreements with companies in the food and environmental sector.
Studies of literary texts written in French, focusing mainly on their reception in other cultural spheres and their mediation with them. Translations of French literary texts into Spanish and the study of translations, between the two languages and in both directions, from the perspective of reception and mediation.
Studies of genres, themes, motifs and topics of Greek literature of the Hellenistic and imperial periods, including the literature of the end of the classical period that serves as a bridge to Alexandrian literature, and with special interest in the texts of dramatic genres. Translation, both into Catalan and Spanish, of texts from these periods, with special interest in those authors and works that constitute a source for the fragmentary literature of earlier periods. Translation is understood as a process of dissemination of the text, which includes numerous notes and is the final result of a long and meticulous process of philological and literary study.
The research group works on the dialogue between the different representative arts and literature through the semiotic and cultural transmission of literary topoi from and towards the Anglo-Saxon tradition. The group’s research focuses on the study of different cultural practices from the perspective of intertextuality, intermediality, semiotics, reception and adaptation. The period of study covers from the Middle Ages to the present day, with an exhaustive analysis of the creation map, transmission and influence of cultural, artistic and literary heritage in the Anglo-Saxon tradition. The group also works on investigating the impact of the objects of cultural consumption considered in contemporary societies. To this end, it carries out advisory and consultancy work for cultural agents, companies related to the performing arts, film, television and digital industries, as well as companies in the publishing industry and cultural centres interested in the production, conservation, teaching and dissemination of cultural products related to or originating from the Anglo-Saxon tradition.
The group's research attempts to relate and take into account three aspects that are often studied separately but which are inextricably linked to each other: rhetoric, humanism and the Classical Tradition. Rhetoric, as a legacy of Greco-Latin culture and as the central axis of education; humanism as a movement that tries to recover and restore the classical legacy, in which rhetoric is included and which shapes a new creative and creative attitude towards knowledge based on this restoration; and the Classical Tradition not only understood as the survival of references, themes, motifs or characters of Greco-Latin literature, but also of the specific procedures how this survival is produced. Thus, the research activity has as objectives: The study, edition and translation of technical treatises on Neo-Latin rhetoric and other literary productions in Latin from the 15th to the 19th century. The survival of elements of classical literature in Neo-Latin literature and in vulgar literature throughout Europe and the procedures that have made this possible.