Sabina Fontana

Sabina Fontana is associate professor of Linguistics and Glottology. After having graduated in Foreign Languages and Literature at the University of Catania, she won a grant for attending master in philosophy abroad. She obtained the Diploma in Social  Science in Deaf Studies at the University of Bristol and the Mphil in Foreign Languages teaching at the University of Bologna. She taught languages and methodologies in training courses and workshops for  teachers and support teachers. She has worked as advisor in the field of linguistic education and sign language for schools, the National Deaf Association, the Enel, and non profit organizations. In 1997, she has founded, with the funding of the local council of Ragusa, the service of social secretariat and interpreting for deaf people. Some years later, in cooperation with the Province of Ragusa, she founded the school support service for deaf pupils and the relay service. At the same time, she worked as mediator/interpreter in local and international settings. In 2007, she obtained the PhD in philosophy of Language and Mind at the University of Palermo and she started to teach as a contract professor  semiotics, linguistics, theory of language at the University of Catania and Semantics at University Suor Orsola Benincasa, in Naples. In 2017 she became associate professor of  Linguistics and Philosophy of Language. In december 2011 she became assistant professor of linguistics.  In 2017, she has been habilitated as associate professor in linguistics (L-LIN/01) and in Philosophy of Language (M-FIL/05).

She is author of many publications, among which three volumes: Linguaggio e Multimodalità (ETS, 2009),  Tradurre lingue dei segni (Mucchi, 2013) Descrivere lingue dei segni. Una prospettiva sociosemiotica e cognitiva, with other authors (Il Mulino). She is co-director of the series Intelligere: mediating between identity and alterity with the editor Agorà, Lugano. She has participated to several research project at the national and the international level.

Within this department, she is responsible of dealing with the special needs of students with disabilities and learning difficulties for the CINAP. She is also in charge of the Third Mission.