University of Arizona Professor to Lecture on Language, Culture at Uruguayan-Brazilian Border

Ana Maria Carvalho

Ana Maria Carvalho, Professor of Portuguese and Spanish Linguistics at the University of Arizona

The Language and Culture Series in partnership with the Latin American and Latino Studies Program at the U of A will host a public lecture by Ana Maria Carvalho, a professor of Portuguese and Spanish linguistics at the University of Arizona. She will speak about "Debordering, Rebordering, and the Exclusion of Minority Dialects: The Case of Portuguese in Uruguay" at 5 p.m., Thursday, October 7, in the Gearhart Auditorium (GEAR 026).

Carvalho's sociolinguistic research is based on the Uruguayan-Brazilian border, where one finds a large population of speakers of Uruguayan Portuguese, representing a typical case where the movement of national boundaries produced bilingual linguistic minorities. In her talk, she will discuss the role that border configurations and hegemonic ideologies play on the formation of border dialects and examine, among other things, the recent inclusion of standard Brazilian Portuguese in public signage, soundscape and the classroom in urban border communities in Uruguay, domains where Spanish was the only code conventionally used.

This event is part of the new Language and Culture Series, which has been created to celebrate and share language, culture, customs and more with the campus and our surrounding community. The series contributes to the university's commitment to its diversity and inclusion priorities and generally aligns with the recognized spring and fall heritage months through November 2021. While the events are free and open to the public, participating U of A students can download a virtual passport on the series website to track their attendance at events. Upon completing events, students will be entered to win various prizes, including e-gift cards to Walmart and Amazon and Language and Culture Series T-shirts.