College of Humanities

Dr. Josefina Bittar: How Guaraní-Spanish societal bilingualism challenges contact research

Thursday, April 21, 2022 - 7:00pm

Location:
Zoom: Meeting ID: 865 5653 7051 Password: lingtalk
Cost:
Free

The Department of Linguistics/TESL Presents
Dr. Josefina Bittar, University of California, Santa Cruz 

Guaraní and Spanish are languages that belong to different families, with dissimilar linguistic systems. Colonization placed these two languages together in a small country in Latin America: Paraguay. Furthermore, the rather isolated character of the location, and the social dynamics among colonizers and indigenous peoples made Guaraní (and not just Spanish) the language spoken by the majority of the population. This unique scenario makes Paraguay a prime setting to study language contact phenomena. In this presentation, Dr. Bittar will discuss characteristics of Guaraní-Spanish bilingualism in Paraguay, the challenges of documenting linguistic practices in the country, and the broader impact of language contact research for bilingual communities.

ZOOM:

Meeting ID: 865 5653 7051 

Password: lingtalk