Prof. Annarita FELICI
Associate professor, codirector of the Translation Department, head of the Italian Unit
Working languages: Italian, English, French, German, Spanish
+41 (0)22 37 98740
E-mail
Annarita FELICI is Associate Professor of Translation at the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting of the University of Geneva since October 2014, and Co-director of the Translation Department since 2024. In 2008 she completed her PhD in Applied Linguistics at Royal Holloway, University of London with a thesis on the translation of norms in EU legal texts. Her fields of special interest include legal and specialized translation, contrastive linguistics, corpus linguistics, institutional communication, plain language and barrier-free communication. She was previously “Juniorprofessorin” of legal linguistics at the University of Cologne (Germany) and spent over ten years in the UK lecturing translation and Italian as a foreign language. She has also worked as a translator and as translation project manager in the area of linguistic validation and specialized translation.
Selected publications
(2026) With Portioli, E. Institutions facing the challenge of language accessibility: Insights from Switzerland. Lebende Sprachen. DOI 10.1515/les-2026-0011.
(2026) Institutional Translation: Balancing Multilingual Legal Discourse between EU and Switzerland. In T. Drinóczi, G. A. Pennisi & H. Xanthaki (Eds). Language for Legislation and Legislation through Language. New York: Routledge, 95-115.
(2025) With Portioli, E, & Canavese, P. Legal and Linguistic Simplification for Vulnerable People: An Interdisciplinary Training Experience with Law Students. Slovenščina 2.0, 13(2), 102–126. DOI 10.4312/slo2.0.2025.2.102-126.
(2025) CHEU-lex: a parallel multilingual corpus of Swiss and EU legislation. Applied Corpus Linguistics, 5(3), 1-7. DOI 10.1016/j.acorp.2025.100151.
(2023) With Canavese, P., Titus-Brianti, G., & Griebel, C. Plain language at the Swiss Federal Statistical Office: the challenges of terminology when writing for the general public. inTRAlinea. https://www.intralinea.org/print/article_specials/2638.
(2023) With Canavese, P., & Griebel, C. Focus on Text Producers: Plain and Easy Language in the Swiss Multilingual Institutional Context. Fachsprache - Journal of Professional and Scientific Communication, 45(3-4), 106-30. DOI 10.24989/fs.v45i3-4.2047.
(2023) L’ordine delle parole nei testi legislativi svizzeri e dell’Unione europea: uno sguardo interlinguistico. In A. M. De Cesare, A. Ferrari, L. Lala & F. Pecorari (Eds.), Forme della scrittura italiana contemporanea in prospettiva contrastiva. La componente testuale. Florence: Franco Cesati Editore, 117-131.
(2022) Dovere e potere nelle Costituzioni svizzera e italiana. In A. Ferrari, L. Lala & F .Pecorari (Eds.), L’italiano dei testi costituzionali. Alessandria: Edizioni dell’Orso, 83-101.
(2022) With Griebel, C. L’italiano svizzero della previdenza sociale: complessità sintattiche, accessibilità e semplificazioni. In L. Baranzini, M. Casoni & S. Christopher (Eds.), Linguisti in contatto 3. Ricerche di linguistica italiana in Svizzera e sulla Svizzera. Bellinzona: OLSI, 87-103.
(2021) With Griebel, C. „Inhalt des Originalsatzes unklar...” Verständlichkeit und Vereinfachung von Schweizer Verwaltungstexten: Eine empirische Untersuchung im Kontext der Mersprachigkeit. Parallèles, 33(1), 134-156. DOI 10.17462/para.2021.01.09.
(2020) L’italiano dei foglietti illustrativi in Svizzera e in Italia: aspetti testuali in chiave contrastiva intralinguistica. In J. Visconti, M. Manfredini & L. Coveri (Eds.), Linguaggi settoriali e specialistici. Sincronia, diacronia, traduzione e variazione. Atti del XV Congresso SILFI (Genova 28-30 maggio 2018). Milan: Franco Cesati Editore, 383-390.
(2019) [Review A norma di (chi) legge. Peculiarità dell’italiano federale, by J.-L. Egger]. LeGes, 30, 3. https://leges.weblaw.ch/legesissues/2019/3/jean-luc-egger_-a-no_961fe9980d.html
(2019) With Mori, L. Corpora di italiano legislativo a confronto: dall' Unione europea alla Cancelleria svizzera. In B. Moretti, A. Kunz, S. Natale & E. Krakenberger (Eds.), Atti del LII Congresso SLI (Berna 6-8 settembre 2018). Le tendenze dell'italiano contemporaneo rivisitate (pp. 287-304). Milan: Officinaventuno. DOI 10.17469/O2102SLI000017.
(2019) With Griebel, C. The challenge of multilingual ‘plain language' in translation-mediated Swiss administrative communication: a preliminary comparative analysis of insurance leaflets. Translation Spaces, 8(1), 167-191. DOI 10.1075/ts.00017.fel.
(2018) With Griebel, C. La communication administrative dans le contexte plurilingue de la Suisse : Une analyse préliminaire de l'accessibilité linguistique des mémentos de l'AVS et AI. In P. Bouillon, S. Rodríguez & I. Strasly (Eds.), Proceedings of the Second Swiss Conference on Barrier-free Communication, Geneva, 9th to 10th November 2018. Geneva (Switzerland) (pp. 42-46). Geneva: University of Geneva.
(2017) With Titus-Brianti, G. La punteggiatura nei testi legislativi dell'Unione europea. In A. Ferrari, L. Lala & F. Pecorari (Eds.), L'interpunzione oggi (e ieri). L'italiano e altre lingue europee (pp. 167-184). Quaderni della Rassegna. Florence: Franco Cesati Editore.
(2015) Translating EU Legislation from a Lingua Franca: Advantages and Disadvantages. In S. Šarčević (Ed.), Language and Culture in EU Law: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (pp. 123-140). London: Ashgate.
(2013) Human Rights across time and space: a cross-linguistic analysis of performatives in English and Italian. Journal of Applied Linguistics, 23(1), 31-43. DOI 10.1111/ijal.12022.
(2012) Shall ambiguities in EU legislative texts. Comparative Legilinguistics. International Journal of Legal Communication, 10, 51-66. DOI 10.14746/cl.2012.10.04.
(2012) With Pal, Paul. Predicting Translation equivalents and Norm Formulation: A Study on some EU Legislative Features. Journal of Quantitative Linguistics, 19(3), 181–204. DOI 10.1080/09296174.2012.685303.
(2011) With Plowright, R., Wilson, A. & Bradley, C. Diabetes Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire (DTSQ) for Spain and Latin America: are Multiple Language Versions Really Necessary? Patient Reported Outcomes (PRO) Newsletter, 46, 19.
(2010) Multilingualism in EU Law: how promulgation authenticates equality. Comparative Legilinguistics. International Journal of Legal Communication, 2, 153-165. DOI 10.14746/cl.2010.2.13.
(2010) Translating EU law: legal issues and multiple dynamics. Perspectives. Studies in Translatology, 18(2), 95-108. DOI 10.1080/09076761003668289.