Perceptions of Emilia-Romagna: a cross-linguistic analysis of keywords in English and French travel literature

This paper reports a cross-linguistic keyword analysis of travel literature in English and French describing the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. Using a multi-corpus design, this study identifies the lexical items that distinguish representations of Emilia-Romagna from those of other Italian regions and examines convergences and divergences across languages. Keywords were extracted using the ratio of relative frequencies, log-likelihood and a dispersion criterion, and were ranked by frequency to identify the most specific and commonly used items. Qualitative categorization was then undertaken based on the analysis of their distributional profiles. Results show a broadly convergent cross-linguistic representation of the region defined by its artistic heritage, religious traditions, and historical figures, with some differences in lexical salience. Comparison with travel writing on other Italian regions confirms Emilia-Romagna’s distinctive profile and cultural influence, particularly with respect to its pictorial tradition.