Blend In linguistics, a blend is a particular type of compound, which is formed with the use of at least one clipped form. In Italian, examples of this are the English loanwords “smog” and “brunch”. This process of word formation is spreading to endogenous words in Italian, e.g. “apericena” (aperitivo + cena). This neologism has not been very successful, but it is interesting, because it is made up of patrimonial words. The first phase, which leads to a blend formation, is the clipping process, it can be of three types. One type is fore clipping, which consists in breaking a word and eliminating its first part, an example is “workaholic”. Semantically, the clipped form “holic” gathers in itself the value of the form, from which it derives (alcoholic). In this case, “aholic” takes on the meaning of something, which is done to excess. We can find further examples in the special language of fashion, which is full of blends, for instance “shoeaholic” or “shopaholic”.

Vygotskij and his theories Lev Vygotskij was born in Russia in 1896, initially he was committed to literature, but shortly afterwards he devoted himself to psychology. He died at the age of 38, so his theories remained incomplete. Vjgotskij made significant contributions to the research of the relationship between child development and learning. According to Vigotskji the learning process is not neutral, on the contrary it is influenced by the historical, cultural, and social context. Moreover, it affects the individual and his life. A cardinal concept promoted by him, is that of the “zone of proximal development” in acronym “ZPD”. Following the ZPD theory, a child can solve a problem, only if it is calibrated to his level of understanding; instead if he is supported by a teacher, he manages to solve problems even with higher difficulties, than those foreseen by his stage.

Gothic novel In the late 18th century the Gothic novel appeared, it is characterized by the taste of strange, its favorite setting is darkness, terror and horror play a great role in it and it privileges stereotyped characters. An example of Gothic novel is Frankenstein, although Frankenstein's characters, unlike other Gothic characters, are not flat, as they are unforeseeable. In the Gothic novel you are likely to find supernatural beings, like ghosts or monsters. This kind of novel counteracts Defoe's and Richardson's novels, because it refuses rationalism and serenity. On the contrary we find disillusionment with Enlightenment. The background of the Gothic novel is social inequality, at that time industrialization changed people's life and brought new social problems; Gothic novel authors sheltered in a fictional world to escape reality's problems.

Comment on the “Ode on a Grecian Urn” Today I read a poem by John Keats, entitled “Ode on a Grecian Urn”. Although Keats was a Romantic poet, this ode does not contain typical Romantic themes, such as ordinary people’s lives or nature; instead the ode celebrates immortality, reached through art. We can draw a parallel with Shakespeare, who believed that art was the only alternative to death and the only possible immortality. Art however is not able to describe and give life to the urn, it is the poet, through his imagination, who tells us the story of the urn. In this poem the author describes two scenes: the former is that of a boy, who tries to kiss a maid, during a feast; in the background there are musicians, who play tambourines and wind instruments. In the latter there is a priest conducting a heifer to sacrifice. All these events will remain fixed forever in that moment, and they are placed far away in space and time. This evokes the “Negative capability”, namely the ability to experience uncertainties and doubts, without looking for fact and reason. As a matter of fact, in these lines there are mysterious and unknown situations. The poet cannot rely on his certainties, he has to call on his imagination.