Acknowledgements

My heartfelt gratitude goes to lecturers at Sapienza University of Rome for always pushing me forward, especially Professor Margherita Dore for her advice and suggestions. I would also express my gratitude to Professor Giorgio Mariani and Professor Karl Hele for their insights and suggestions. I would like to express my gratitude to the authors for their enthusiasm and collaboration, which has made this book thought-provoking. I would also like to extend my thanks to all the anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback and invaluable comments, which have contributed to shaping the volume in its current form. Also, I would like to thank Professor Martin Dege, Anke de Looper, Susan Hendriks and Ymke Verploegen, and all the staff at John Benjamins for their support and the editorial work throughout the whole process. Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Luca Valleriani for his constant support and encouragement.