Immigration paths: storytelling surname

• Grant number: 19/20331-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): April 01, 2020
• Effective date (End): December 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Linguistics - Historical Linguistics
• Principal Investigator: Mário Eduardo Viaro
• Grantee: Letícia Santos Rodrigues
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 22/03722-6 - Immigration Paths: Storytelling Surname, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

Onomastic is, by definition, the Linguistic Science dedicated to the study of proper names, considering their origins, processes of formation, organization in the lexicon of languages and in society. This study, based on the theoretical principles of Cognitive Linguistics, turns to Anthroponymy - which deals with the names of people - in particular, to the surnames. In the Portuguese tradition, surnames are the elements after the first name, and when they are combined with the first name, they turn into an orthonym - full civil name, required by law. From the reflection on the great immigration flow observed in Brazil since the opening of the ports, in 1808, but much more intensely from 1850 (peaking in 1880), this research seeks to analyze the surnames of the Portuguese - the second largest group of immigrants in Brazil, according to the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística - who registered at the Hospedaria de Imigrantes do Brás (the largest immigrant hostel in Brazil, later known as the "Hospedaria de Imigrantes de São Paulo") in the early years of its activity - between 1887 and 1890 - in order to better understand the influences arising from this process and how it is part of the Brazilian onomastic framework. The corpus consists of: a) records of the registrations completed by immigrants who, at the time, searched the Hospedaria, made available by the Museu da Imigração (also on digital platform); and b) by the analysis of various corpora, such as the list of approved in university entrance exams, public tenders, etc., all in the public domain and after the 2000s. The result of these analyzes will be gathered in order to compose a dictionary of the Portuguese surnames in use in Brazil, thus going through concepts of lexicon, Etymology, Philology and Historical Linguistics. (AU)