LINGUIST List 24.1755
Fri Apr 19 2013
Diss: Socioling/Portuguese: Lopez: 'A língua de Camoês com Iemanjá...'
Editor for this issue: Lili Xia
<lxialinguistlist.org>
Date: 19-Apr-2013
From: Laura Lopez <laura.alvarez
ispla.su.se>
Subject: A língua de Camoês com Iemanjá: forma e funções da linguagem do candomblé
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Institution: Stockholm University
Program: Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2004
Author: Laura Alvarez Lopez
Dissertation Title: A língua de Camoês com Iemanjá: forma e funções da linguagem do candomblé
Dissertation URL:
http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:195220/FULLTEXT01
Linguistic Field(s):
Sociolinguistics
Subject Language(s):
Portuguese (por)
Dissertation Director:
Jan Anward
Lars Fant
Dissertation Abstract:
The present thesis addresses the relationship between the structureand social functions of language through the study of an Afro-BrazilianPortuguese speech community. The adopted methodological,analytical, and theoretical standpoints have their origin in linguisticanthropology, social psychology of language and discourse analysis. Aset of data was collected during extensive fieldwork in Salvador(Brazil), and consists of recordings of informal conversations with andbetween followers of Candomblé, an Afro-Brazilian religion.
Focusing on the communicative process in a specific communicativesetting, the linguistic analyses illustrate the relationship betweenlanguage and identity by examining theway in which expressions ofAfrican origin function as identity markers. In order to connect suchAfricanisms used by Candomblé followers in their everyday speech withthe linguistic attitudes and ideologies found in Brazilian societythroughout history, an interdisciplinary approach was called for andfactors that affect the speech community’s ethnolinguistic vitality wereexplored. Linguistic attitudes and ideologies that have influenced groupvitality were analyzed in the socio-political context (or macro-context).At the same time, the purpose was to understand communication withinthe sacred space of Candomblé by examining issues such as changesin linguistic forms and functions in the communicative situation (ormicrocontext).
Apart from revealing patterns of communication in Candomblécommunities, the results of the analyses show how linguistic changessuch as re-Africanization are triggered by changes of attitudes insociety. These changes affect speakers’ identities and language usewithin speech communities.
Page Updated: 19-Apr-2013