Maria Grazia Busà - Associate Professor

Office Address    Dip. Studi Linguistici e Letterari (DISLL)
  Pal. Borgherini - via B. Pellegrino, 26 - 35137 Padova
Telephone    049-8274957
Email    mariagrazia.busa@unipd.it
  Research Interests
My research focuses on second-language speech and communication, and is aimed at understanding how foreign accent, L2 prosody, and non-verbal language affect intelligibility in interactions with or between second-language speakers. I’m particularly interested in investigating how speakers’ use of non-native speech and non-verbal language in the L2 leads to pragmatic failure. I’m also interested in public speaking and in developing teaching methods for speaking in public based on research on human communication and non-verbal language. I have carried out extensive research investigating the acoustic, perceptual and aerodynamic characteristics of sound patterns in a variety of languages as part of a goal to explore variation in speech and its relation to linguistic sound change.

  Research projects
I'm currently working with Federica Cavicchio on a project investigating the alignment of gestures and intonational boundaries in L2, and with Alice Cravotta on the effects of the use of gestures on voice and prosody.

  Selected publications

Polyanskaya, L., Ordin, M., and Busà, M.G. (2016). Relative Salience of Speech Rhythm and Speech Rate on Perceived Foreign Accent in a Second Language, Language and Speech , 1-23. eISSN: 17566053 | ISSN: 00238309.
Busà, M.G. (2015). Teaching learners to communicate effectively in the L2: Integrating body language in the students’ syllabus, Lingue e Linguaggi, 15, 83-98. ISSN 2239-0367, e-ISSN 2239-0359.
Busà, M.G. (2015). From aerodynamically constrained sequences to sound change: A study of sibilant and rhotic sequences in Italian. In: M. G. Busà, S. Gesuato (a cura di), Lingue e Contesti. Studi in Onore di Alberto M. Mioni, Padova: Cleup, 213-227. ISBN: 9788867870806.
Busà, M.G. and Stella, A. (2015). The acquisition of English L2 prosody by Italian native speakers: experimental data and pedagogical implications. Proceedings of the 6th Annual Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching (PSLLT) Conference, Santa Barbara, California, Sept. 2014, 15-26. ISSN 2380-9566.
Busà, M.G. (2013). Introducing the Language of the News: A student's guide. London: Routledge. ISBN: 0415637295.