In August 1985 two small-scale Gaelic Units were opened by Strathclyde and Highland Regional Councils, situated within urban primary schools in Glasgow and Inverness respectively. Their purpose was to develop the use of Gaelic as a medium of education for children to the majority of whom it is not the mother tongue - creating a new, protected and prestigious domain for the language in contexts where its speakers are nowadays scattered and its use almost entirely confined to isolated intra-familial exchange. Evidence suggests that the establishment of these Units has already had political, cultural and educational repercussions far in excess of their direct effect on the lives of the individual city-dwelling families involved. ii. This thesis describes developments in Scottish Gaelic primary-school education during the period 1985-1989, places them in their historical, socio-linguistic and educational contexts, and attempts to extrapolate from the findings some pointers of practical utility for future development. Though due attention is paid to comparative evidence from other countries the central thesis is firmly rooted within Scottish experience, for the following reasons: (a) there has been a general dearth of recorded data relating specifically to Scottish Gaelic education, a situation which must be urgently addressed in support of present initiatives and to facilitate future development; and (b) circumstances have given the researcher access to unusually detailed local evidence, both longitudinal and latitudinal, prior to and during the period under discussion, as will be seen below (iii). iii. Throughout the 1980's the researcher has been personally involved in the promotion of Gaelic in education - observing (and hopefully assisting) is progress from within as activist, teacher and, latterly, education officer. Such pragmatic experience has inevitably amplified the response to available published data, given direction and purpose to the research methods employed, and inspired further lines of enquiry since formally embarking on the research. iv. The researcher trained and gained experience as a secondary school teacher in the 1960's, then, in preparation to embarking upon this study, attended a full-time Primary Conversion Course at Jordanhill College of Education, Glasgow. This provided invaluable theoretic and practical experience of modern methodology and classroom organisation, as did serving a teaching apprenticeship (1985-86) within Sir John Maxwell Primary, Glasgow, host school to the newly opened Gaelic Unit. Throughout 1986-88 (the first two years of the present part-time research) a close relationship was maintained with the Gaelic Unit, including regular service as supply teacher. Working closely with the children during this period allowed observation - informal but in depth (perhaps, one might argue, in greater depth than formal assessment procedures would have allowed) - of children's general progress since the inception of the Unit. It should nevertheless be noted that it is not within the remit of this thesis to assess the educational and/or linguistic success of this or any other Gaelic Unit, except in the most general terms: the close relationship with Sir John Maxwell Gaelic Unit might render objectivity difficult, if not impossible, for the foreseeable future. v. At national level the researcher has gained first-hand experience of almost a decade of Gaelic initiatives as active Patron of Comhairle nan Sgoiltean Araich (the Gaelic Play-group Association) and, since 1988, in the full-time employ of Comunn na G`aidhlig (the official Gaelic language promotion agency) as Education Officer with a national remit covering all aspects of Gaelic education. The relationship with Sir John Maxwell Gaelic Unit has continued, though in less depth, and to it has been added access to similar Gaelic Units throughout Scotland, attendance at national primary Gaelic INSET courses, constant dialogue with parents, teachers, educationists and officials throughout Scotland and beyond, participation in planning-meetings concerned with inter-authority resource production, linguistic and educational philosophy and funding, and in meetings with parents, activists and officials to review present measures and extend their remit. vi. Awareness of the international dimension was heightened and given focus by attendance (1986-87) of Glasgow University's Multicultural Education course and through the ongoing input provided by seminars and conferences on various aspects of education, language and culture - a process which has continued throughout the duration of the research period. vii. Though much of the above experience cannot be used as an explicit source of specified data, its cumulative influence cannot be dismissed as wholly impressionistic or subjective for the purposes of this thesis: it is implicit within case-studies, personal observation and analysis, etc., amplified by published comparative and historical sources where appropriate. Further original evidence has been established using the following methods:vii.i questionnaires: two separately designed and administered questionnaires were circulated and analysed as follows: vii.i.i to Gaelic speakers and learners aged 16+ throughout Scotland, to establish their awareness of recent Gaelic initiatives and their attitudes towards them, and vii.i.ii to the families of all children currently attending Gaelic Primary Units in Scotland, to establish the extent of linguistic usage and exposure in the child's present extra-mural environment.vii.ii interviews: in-depth personal interviews were conducted to establish detailed follow-up to data emerging from questionnaires; findings are both (a) incorporated into the text and (b) separately presented as case studies, both for descriptive and for comparative purposes. Although such data does not pretend to be scientifically controlled it contains much that is of interest, especially taken in conjunction with questionnaire results. Two different types of case-study are presented: vii.ii.i school studies: using classroom observation, in conjunction with the comments of parents and practitioners involved in Gaelic-medium education, to define and illustrate key aspects of representative urban Gaelic Primary Units, contrasting these with observations made in rural situations and in Wales and Northern Ireland andviii.ii family studies: using longitudinal observation, in conjunction with interviews with parents, to describe and illustrate educational affect in terms of the consumer.

The rationale for this study was to extend the knowledge about creative thinking among children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) by investigating the effects of creativity training upon concept mapping complexity. To verify whether the CoRT Thinking Lessons can enhance creative ability and improve concept map complexity, a Pretest-Posttest Control Group Design was used in this study. Sixty four students who are fourth and fifth graders (age 9-10 years) and classified as having ADHD participated in the investigation. In order to ensure that concept mapping is a familiar technique to all participants, they all were given a training session in concept mapping. Next to that, they were asked to complete a concept map and Torrance tests of creative thinking (TTCT) as a pre-test measure. After that, they were assigned to either experimental or control group, each group consisted of thirty two students. The experimental group was given creativity training (20 hours of CoRT thinking lessons during ten weeks) and the control group received no creativity training. Finally, all sixty four participants completed a second concept map and the TTCT as a post-test measure. Data collected from participants were analyzed via the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient, the t test for two independent samples, and the paired-sample t test. Results of the analysis indicated that participants who received creativity training developed significantly more complex concept maps than those participants who received no such creativity training. Thus, creativity training enhances both concept mapping complexity and creative ability of students with ADHD as measured by the TTCT. Implications for practice include recommendation for teachers to design and establish educational activities and environments in which creative abilities of children with ADHD can be develop.

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La tesi di Dottorato espone i risultati dell’analisi condotta su alcune tipologie di canto profano a due parti, osservate nella tradizione orale di specifiche aree rurali: le espressioni diafoniche oggetto di indagine sono state individuate in diverse regioni, prevalentemente nell’Italia centro-meridionale e in Sicilia, con alcune propaggini nell’Italia nord-orientale e in alcune aree europee abitate da minoranze italiane (Istria slovena e croata). I documenti analizzati sono stati reperiti grazie alla ricerca sul campo e rintracciati anche nelle pubblicazioni discografiche, nei cataloghi dei più importanti archivi pubblici e privati italiani. Sono stati definiti i caratteri formali dei repertori e l’indagine realizzata ha inoltre condotto a una mappatura attestante la presenza di repertori vocali simili in diverse sub-aree della Penisola, confermando la estesa diffusione di pratiche diafoniche tradizionali in Italia. Sulla base di analogie e ricorrenze è stato rilevato che le espressioni diafoniche italiane possono essere attribuite a una remota tradizione comune: sebbene le peculiarità relative a ciascun repertorio siano in molti casi abbastanza marcate, le connotazioni strutturali e i modi performativi che distinguono tali repertori pare vogliano indicare di essere di fronte a testimonianze di una tradizione musicale arcaica, in cui è possibile individuare procedure e attitudini diafoniche simili e condivise. L’ultima parte dell’indagine espone alcune riflessioni emerse dal confronto tra le forme diafoniche analizzate e repertori polifonici conservati nella tradizione scritta, prendendo come punto di partenza gli studi di Nino Pirrotta: ne emergono considerazioni per l’individuazione e l’analisi di possibili comuni occorrenze all’interno di pratiche performative localmente convergenti, pur se subordinate a modi di trasmissione diversi (tradizione scritta e non scritta della musica).

Il lavoro di tesi si è incentrato sull’analisi dei frammenti di manoscritti ebraici medievali rinvenuti in alcuni archivi e biblioteche dell’area emiliano-romagnola ossia, come è noto, la regione italiana che vanta il maggior numero di frammenti rinvenuti; ben 6.000 frammenti sui circa 10.000 censiti sino ad oggi in tutta l’Italia, vale a dire un numero pari al 60% del totale. Nello specifico è stato esaminato il materiale pergamenaceo ebraico conservato in Archivi e Biblioteche delle città di Cesena, Faenza ed Imola, per un totale di 230 frammenti ebraici. Ho, quindi, proceduto all’identificazione di tutti i frammenti che, se dal punto di vista testuale ci documentano parti delle principali opere ebraiche diffuse nel Medioevo, sotto l’aspetto paleografico ci attestano le tre principali tradizioni scrittorie ebraiche utilizzate in Occidente, ossia: quella italiana, la sefardita e quella ashkenazita, oltre che ad alcuni rari esempi di grafia sefardita di tipo provenzale, una tipologia rara, se si considera che fra i quasi 10.000 frammenti finora scoperti in Italia, il numero di quelli vergati in questa grafia è davvero piccolo. Successivamente ho preso in esame le caratteristiche codicologiche e paleografiche dei frammenti, in particolar modo quelle relative a rigatura, foratura, mise en page e alle varianti grafiche individuali dello scriba, fra cui abbreviazioni, segni grafici di riempimento e resa del tetragramma sacro del nome di Dio, elementi che mi hanno consentito di identificare i frammenti smembrati da uno stesso manoscritto. Ciò ha permesso di individuare ben 80 manoscritti dai quali furono smembrati i 230 frammenti ebraici rinvenuti. Infine, sulla base dei dati raccolti, è stato realizzato un catalogo di tutti i frammenti, all’interno del quale i frammenti sono stati ricomposti per manoscritto. A loro volta, i vari manoscritti, suddivisi per soggetto, sono stati ordinati per secolo, dal più antico al più recente, in base alla grafia in cui sono vergati, ossia: Italiana, Sefardita (Provenzale) o Ashkenazita e per stile: quadrata, semicorsiva e corsiva. A motivo, poi, di nuovi ritrovamenti in diverse località italiane, mi sono dedicata ad un aggiornamento della mia ricerca compiuta per la tesi di Laurea, pubblicata nel 2004, sui frammenti talmudici e midrashici scoperti negli archivi e nelle biblioteche italiani; un genere di letteratura i cui rinvenimenti, per vari motivi, sono estremamente rari. In quell’occasione furono catalogati 475 frammenti talmudici, appartenenti a 151 manoscritti diversi, databili su base paleografica tra i secc. X e XV, e 54 frammenti midrashici appartenenti ad 8 manoscritti databili tra i secc. XII e XV. Ad oggi, dopo 4 anni, sono stati scoperti 21 nuovi frammenti talmudici ed un nuovo frammento midrashico. Nello specifico di questi 21 frammenti: 17 contengono parti tratte dal Talmud babilonese e 4 dal Sefer ha-Halakot di Alfasi (un noto compendio talmudico); mentre il frammento midrashico, rinvenuto presso la Sezione di Archivio di Stato di Foligno, contiene una parte del Midrash haggadah a Deuteronomio, costituendo pertanto già di per se stesso un rinvenimento molto importante. Questo frammento, ad una prima analisi, sembrerebbe completare alcune lacune del Midrash Haggadah ai cinque libri della Torah pubblicato a Vienna nel 1894 da S. Buber sulla base del solo manoscritto esistente che, tuttavia, presentava delle lacune, come riferisce lo stesso autore nella prefazione all’opera.

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In the present thesis, I discuss the role of orality in translation, taking into account the problems arising while translating Russian folk epics. I investigate the meaning of orality in the context of folkloristic translation, trying to define a concept of oral poetry, and exploring its consequences for translation. In the first chapter, I try to identify the main differences between written literature and oral modes of expression, with special reference to folklore. Oral verbal art is performed, sung or recited, and based on a vital and dynamic interrelation between kinesics, sound, speech and gestures. According to Muhawi (2006), performance provides an interpretive frame enabling a correct interpretation of the message conveyed beyond the literal meaning. Transposing certain performance elements into print is one of the most controversial problems in folklore studies. However, formulas and formal stylistic devices may be rendered in transcription, building a bridge between oral and written elements. In the translation of oral poetry in transcription, this interconnection between orality and literacy might be emphasized, thus creating a hybrid dimension where oral and literary features coexist. In the second chapter, I introduce and describe the genre of Russian folk epics, transmitted orally, and transcribed between the 19th and 20th centuries, from a historical, linguistic and stylistic point of view. In the third and fourth chapters, I explore the issue of translation of Russian oral poetry. I first analyse existing Italian translations of Russian epics, and then present and discuss my own translation, based on a philological, scholarly approach. Thus, in my translation, which is followed by a rich commentary, I try to focus on the rendering of formulas as one of the most relevant aspects of Russian epics. At the same time, oral devices combine with literary features, thus creating a sort of frozen orality.

Questo lavoro affronta la traduzione della letteratura per l'infanzia. La prima parte teorica si divide tra l'analisi di cosa si intenda per traduzione per l'infanzia, quali siano le problematiche e le particolarità che la caratterizzano, e un'analisi delle specificità della traduzione dal russo all'italiano, con un approfondimento della letteratura russa contemporanea per l’infanzia. La seconda parte, pratica, analizza le traduzioni della stessa dottoranda per calare in esempi pratici le possibilità teoriche analizzate nella prima parte. Vengono affrontati brani dei maggiori scrittori contemporanei, come G. Oster, M. Moskvina, M. Borodickaja, Ju. Nečiporenko e altri. Caratteristiche fondanti la letteratura per l’infanzia sono l’interazione tra parola e immagine, il ruolo della lettura a voce alta e l’importanza del suono, i nomi parlanti, il doppio destinatario, l’adattamento, il rispetto dei canoni morali e estetici imposti dalla società, il carattere pedagogico. Gli aspetti teorici esaminati sono il traduttore come lettore e la ricerca di un equivalente funzionale come strategia traduttiva. This thesis is about translation of children’s literature. In the first section, I explore the meanings of translating for children, and which are its issues and peculiarities; the specificities in translation from Russian into Italian; the background of contemporary Russian Children’s Literature (G. Oster, M. Moskvina, M. Boroditskaya, Yu. Nechiporenko). In the second part I analyze my translations, in order to give some practical examples of the theoretical strategies I explored in the first section. Relevant characteristic of children’s literature are: its pedagogical character, interaction between word and image, double addressee, the importance of reading aloud, adaptation, respect of moral and aesthetic canons imposed by the society. The theoretical aspects examined in this thesis involve the issue of the translator seen as reader, and the search of functional equivalents as dominant translation strategy.