Afro-latin linguistic contacts: corpora development and grammatical analysis

• Grant number: 12/01110-1
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Visiting Researcher Grant - International
• Start date: July 01, 2012
• End date: December 31, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Linguistics - Linguistic Theory and Analysis
• Principal Investigator: Juanito Ornelas de Avelar
• Grantee: Juanito Ornelas de Avelar
• Visiting researcher: Laura Álvarez López
• Visiting researcher institution: Stockholm University, Sweden
• Host Institution: Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem (IEL). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Associate Professor Laura Álvarez López will be working with corpora development and analysis with the aim of contributing to the building of the databases of the IEL/Unicamp. These databases include data used by students and researchers who work within Linguistic projects that focus on lexical and morphosyntactical change triggered by the contact between Iberian and African languages. The visiting scholar will be involved in the following activities: a) gathering of data consisting in Brazilian literary representations of the speech of Africans and their descendants during the XIX century; b) transcription of interviews with L2 speakers of Mozambican and Cape-Verdean Portuguese; c) analysis of specific lexical and morphosyntactical phenomena in the corpora that are being prepared; (d) selection and analysis of texts in Spanish that are representative of Afro-Hispanic varieties; (e) gathering, transcription and analysis of advertisements of slaves who had escaped or were offered for sale in 19th century journals in the region of Campinas; (f) consolidation of the NuALa (Center for Afro-Latin Linguistic Studies); and (g) elaboration of a collaborative research project between Unicamp and Stockholm University as well as organization of joint events. The visiting researcher will also participate in thesis juries and conferences and will be teaching a course for post-graduate students - together with Professors Juanito Avelar and Tania Alkmim - on the issue of socio-historical and linguistic aspects with focus on the dynamics of intercultural contacts during the period of formation of Brazilian Portuguese. (AU)