Asimmetrie nella codifica dell’informazione deittica: italiano vs russo

This paper aims to analyze, through a contrastive approach, the asymmetries between Italian and Russian in the encoding of deictic reference. Some complex and divergent instances of deictic anchoring are discussed in relation to the notion of deictic center (or zero-point, in Lyons' terms, 1977). Different types of asymmetry can be identified according to structural and functional criteria: a) overcoding vs undercoding of deictic information (e.g., Italian tra and dopo versus Russian čerez; b) different internal articulation of the deictic reference (such as in the sequence of tenses, which is governed by mood and tense in Italian and solely by tense in Russian); c) the adoption of a different perspective in the deictic conceptualization of space, time and person (as in conversive predicates). All these types of asymmetry seem to affect learners’ acquisition of L2. For this reason, a systematic analysis of errors committed in deictic reference can be a useful tool for second-language teaching.