COORDINATOR:
Laura Álvarez López, Associate professor, Department of Romance Studies and Classics, Stockholm University, Sweden.
MAIN FOREIGN PARTNERS:
Magdalena Coll, Associate Professor at the Department of Psycho- and Sociolinguistics, Universidad de la República, Uruguay.
Tânia Alkmim, Associate Professor at the Dept. of Linguistics, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Brazil.
THE PROJECT:
The general aim of the project is to increase the current knowledge of intercultural encounters and their impact on the dynamics of language and culture by studying language change in socio-cultural contexts where speakers of Portuguese, Spanish and African languages have lived side by side. An innovative aspect is the integration of the study of varieties of Iberian languages in the Americas and in Africa. The project’s participants will be sharing a set of diverse data from different regions and periods of time and will have access to a broad and original corpus, including data from L2 varieties of Portuguese in Africa, i.e. varieties of about which there are very few earlier studies. Participants will also search for new sources and new methods of analysis in order to take theoretical discussions forward and generalize results to other contexts.
MAIN OBJECTIVES: To make a specific contribution to the vast theme of intercultural encounters and their impact on the dynamics of language/culture.
SUB-GOALS: Deepen the articulation of the various disciplines involved in the study of Afro-Latin communities.
- Search for additional historical and linguistic data from Afro-Latin communities.
- Systemize, organize, preserve and make different kind of sources and data available on-line.
- Analyze and contrast data from different regions and periods in time.
- Find adequate methods to analyze linguistic data, and to articulate and compare this data, in order to explain linguistic changes and make a difference between characteristics due to universal mechanisms in L2 acquisition and to the impact of African languages.
- Discuss the mechanisms behind changes in order to be able to generalize our results.
- Establish a lasting cooperation between the 3 institutions involved.
EXPECTED OUTCOMES (apart from the advances on a scientific level)
Development of: long-term exchange programs for researchers, teachers and students between Stockholm University, Universidad de la República and Universidade Estadual de Campinas; joint publications, joint international on-line courses, a web site with resources for researchers in this field of studies and others who might be interested, translation of a Swedish Ph. D. thesis to Portuguese for publication in Brazil, an application for funding to build and on-line database with lexical Africanisms.
PARTICIPANTS:
Stockholm University: Laura Álvarez López (Associate Professor), Thomas Johnen (Guest Professor), Mikael Parkvall (Assistant Professor), Anna Jon-And (Post-doctoral researcher), Ylva Tillquist (graduate student), Veronica Olofsson (graduate student).
Universidad de la República: Magdalena Coll (Associate Professor), Virginia Bertolotti (Assistant Professor), Alejandra Rivero (graduate student), Amparo Fernández (graduate student).
Universidade Estadual de Campinas: Tania Alkmim (Associate Professor), Juanito Avelar (Assistant Professor), Lilian do Rocio Borba (Ph. D.), Rodolfo Ilari (Professor emeritus).
Related projects:
AFRO-LATIN LINGUISTIC CONTACT: CORPORA DEVELOPMENT AND GRAMMATICAL ANALYSIS (July-December 2012)
Events:
DINÂMICAS AFRO-LATINAS: LÍNGUA(S) E HISTÓRIA(S)
CONTATOS AFRO-LATINOS: PERSPECTIVAS HISTÓRICO-LINGUÍSTICAS
For more information about the network’s activities please contact: Laura Álvarez López