VALENTINA SERRELI

Valentina Serreli è ricercatrice RTT di lingua e letteratura araba presso il Dipartimento Istituto Italiano di Studi Orientali dell’ Università di Roma La Sapienza da aprile 2025.

Ha conseguito il dottorato di ricerca in Linguistica e Arabistica in cotutela tra l'Università di Sassari e l'Università di Aix-Marseille, IREMAM con una tesi dal titolo Society, languages and ideologies in the oasis of Siwa. Listening to people’s voices. Il lavoro è stato premiato con il Prix de thèse AMU 2016 dall'Università di Aix-Marseille (2017) ed è stato inserito tra i dieci finalisti del Joshua Fishman Award nel 2018.

Tra il 2017 e il 2025 è stata professoressa di arabistica (Juniorprofessorin für Arabistik) presso l'Università di Bayreuth, dove è stata responsabile dei curricula di arabistica e ha tenuto diversi corsi nell’ambito della lingua e della linguistica araba. Durante il suo servizio all'Università di Bayreuth è stata membro del comitato direttivo della Bayreuth International Graduate School in African Studies (BIGSAS), nell’ambito della quale ha partecipato a diverse commissioni di dottorato in qualità di membro, revisore o presidente.

Per tre anni consecutivi (2021, 2022 e 2023) è stata visiting professor all'Università Ca' Foscari di Venezia, dove ha tenuto un corso di sociolinguistica araba.

La sua ricerca si inserisce nell’ambito della lingua e della linguistica araba, della sociolinguistica (ideologie linguistiche, rapporto tra lingua e identità), del multilinguismo e del contatto linguistico, con un particolare focus geografico sull’ arabo in Africa. Dal 2011 conduce regolarmente ricerche sul campo in Egitto (Oasi di Siwa).

È stata PI del progetto “Modernity, Migration and Minorities: Three Case Studies of Arabic in Contact” (2020-2023), finanziato dalla Fondazione tedesca per la ricerca (DFG). Nell'ambito del progetto, ha collaborato con Jonathan Owens (Università di Bayreuth), con il quale ha inoltre co-supervisionato il lavoro di Muhadj Adnan su “Arabic in Transition: Contact-Induced Language Change within the Iraqi and Syrian Diaspora in Germany”.

È tra le fondatrici/i fondatori e le organizzatrici/gli organizzatori di EISA - Winter School of Sociolinguistics in the Arabic-Speaking Context (https://www.eisa.page/eisa), un corso di formazione biennale rivolto a studentesse e studenti di laurea magistrale e dottorato, giunto alla sua seconda edizione:
- EISA 1 (team: A. Barontini, S. Manfredi, V. Serreli e K. Ziamari), tenutasi presso l'Università di Meknes, Marocco, tra il 19-23.02.2024 e finanziata dall'Università franco-tedesca UFA/DFH.
- EISA 2 (team: A. Barontini, T. Bilal Eli, S. Manfredi, A. Naciri Azzouz, V. Serreli e K. Ziamari), che si terrà presso l'Università di Nouakchott, Mauritania, tra il 20 e il 24.10.2025, finanziata dall'Università franco-tedesca UFA/DFH.

Organizzazione di convegni (selezione)
2018 Studientag Arabistik. Perspectives on Arabic Sociolinguistics. Università di Bayreuth.
2021 (con K. Pfadenhauer e S. Rüdiger) Language Contact Through Time and Space’. Università di Bayreuth. https://sites.google.com/view/cotisp2020/cotisp.
2023 International Conference Arabic in Africa: Historical and Sociolinguistic Perspectives. Università di Bayreuth. https://www.arabistik.uni-bayreuth.de/de/Arabic-in-Africa-2023/index.html.
2025 (con Jonathan Owens) International Conference Arabic sociolinguistics and dialectology: Taking stock. Università di Bayreuth.

Partecipazione a convegni (selezione)
05.2024 A study of the PM ma in Cairene Arabic. 15th AIDA International Conference. University of Malta.
09.2024 Microvariation and language hierarchies. A sociolinguistic study in a multilingual setting. 21st International Congress of Linguists (ICL). Adam Mickiewicz University Poznan.
11.2024 Multilingual repertoires and language hierarchies in Siwa (Egypt). Arabic Sociolinguistics and Dialectology: Maġrib, Mašriq and surroundings. University of Bergamo.
01.2025 Pratiques évaluatives et gestion de l'asymétrie épistémique. Regards croisés sur l’évaluation – Formes, fonctions et stratégies en interaction. University of Bayreuth
06.2025 (con V. Schiattarella) Selling authenticity. The linguistic landscape of the hospitality sector in Siwa. International Symposium of Bilingualism (ISB15). Donostia San Sebastian

Pubblicazioni recenti
2024. Schiattarella, V. e Serreli, V. Multifunctional markers in a contact situation. Bass and ġayr in and between Arabic and Berber. Journal of Language Contact 17(4): 795-844. [10.1163/19552629-01704007]
2024. Serreli, V. Language, Society and Ideologies in Multilingual Egypt. Arabic and Berber in the Siwa Oasis. Berlino: De Gruyter Mouton. [10.1515/9783111045351]
2024. Pfadenhauer, K., Rüdiger, S. e Serreli, V. (eds) Global and Local Perspectives on Language Contact. Berlin: Language Science Press. [10.5281/zenodo.10438503]

* * * * * *

Valentina Serreli is an assistant professor of Arabic Studies at ISO Department (Dipartimento Istituto Italiano di Studi Orientali), Sapienza University of Rome since April 2025.

She obtained a PhD in Linguistics and Arabic Studies in cotutelle between the University of Sassari and the University of Aix-Marseille, IREMAM with a dissertation titled Society, languages and ideologies in the oasis of Siwa. Listening to people’s voices. The work was awarded the Prix de thèse AMU 2016 by the University of Aix-Marseille (2017) and was shortlisted among the ten finalists of the Joshua Fishman Award in 2018.

Between 2017 and 2025 she was assistant professor of Arabic Studies (Juniorprofessorin für Arabistik) at the University of Bayreuth, where she was responsible for Arabic Studies major and minor curricula and taught a variety courses in the field of Arabic language and linguistics. During her service at the University of Bayreuth she has been a senior member and a member of the steering committee of the Bayreuth International Graduate School in African Studies (BIGSAS). She has also participated to the PhD committee (as member, reviewer or president of) for many BIGSAS doctoral candidates.

For three years (2021, 2022 and 2023) she has been a visiting professor at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, where she taught a course in Arabic sociolinguistics.

Her research interests are: Arabic Language and Linguistics; Sociolinguistics, Language ideologies, Language and Identity; Multilingualism and Language contact; Arabic in Africa. She has conducted field research in Egypt (Siwa Oasis) since 2011.

She has been a PI in the project “Modernity, Migration and Minorities: Three Case Studies of Arabic in Contact” (2020-2023) funded by the German Research foundation (DFG). In the framework of the project, she collaborated with Jonathan Owens (University of Bayreuth) and they co-supervised the work of Muhadj Adnan about „Arabic in Transition: Contact-Induced Language Change within the Iraqi and Syrian Diaspora in Germany."

Together with an internationally based team she organizes the EISA : Winter School of Sociolinguistics in the Arabic-Speaking Context (https://www.eisa.page/eisa), a biannual even who has reached its second edition:
- EISA 1 (with A. Barontini, S. Manfredi and K. Ziamari), held at the University of Meknes, Morocco between 19-23.02.2024, funded by the Franco-German University UFA/DFH.
- EISA 2 (with A. Barontini, T. Bilal Eli, S. Manfredi, A. Naciri Azzouz, and K. Ziamari), to be held at the University of Nouakchott, Mauritania, between 20-24.10.2025, funded by the Franco-German University UFA/DFH.

Workshops and conferences organized (selection)
2018 Studientag Arabistik. Perspectives on Arabic Sociolinguistics. University of Bayreuth.
2021 (with K. Pfadenhauer and S. Rüdiger) Language Contact Through Time and Space’. University of Bayreuth. https://sites.google.com/view/cotisp2020/cotisp.
2023 International Conference Arabic in Africa: Historical and Sociolinguistic Perspectives. University of Bayreuth. https://www.arabistik.uni-bayreuth.de/de/Arabic-in-Africa-2023/index.html.
2025 (with Jonathan Owens) International Conference Arabic sociolinguistics and dialectology: Taking stock. University of Bayreuth (forthcoming, July 2025).

Talks (selection)
05.2024 A study of the PM ma in Cairene Arabic. 15th AIDA International Conference. University of Malta.
09.2024 Microvariation and language hierarchies. A sociolinguistic study in a multilingual setting. 21st International Congress of Linguists (ICL). Adam Mickiewicz University Poznan.
11.2024 Multilingual repertoires and language hierarchies in Siwa (Egypt). Arabic Sociolinguistics and Dialectology: Maġrib, Mašriq and surroundings. University of Bergamo.
01.2025 Pratiques évaluatives et gestion de l'asymétrie épistémique. Regards croisés sur l’évaluation – Formes, fonctions et stratégies en interaction. University of Bayreuth
06.2025 (with V. Schiattarella) Selling authenticity. The linguistic landscape of the hospitality sector in Siwa. International Symposium of Bilingualism (ISB15). Donostia San Sebastian

Recent publications

2024. Schiattarella, V. and Serreli, V. Multifunctional markers in a contact situation. Bass and ġayr in and between Arabic and Berber. Journal of Language Contact 17(4): 795-844. [10.1163/19552629-01704007]
2024. Serreli, V. Language, Society and Ideologies in Multilingual Egypt. Arabic and Berber in the Siwa Oasis. Berlino: De Gruyter Mouton. [10.1515/9783111045351]
2024. Pfadenhauer, K., Rüdiger, S. e Serreli, V. (eds) Global and Local Perspectives on Language Contact. Berlin: Language Science Press. [10.5281/zenodo.10438503]