Language speakers, language grammars, language lives: A linguist’s approach to indigenous languages

Join the Center for Latin American Studies as we host Dr. Bruno Estigarribia, Professor of Spanish & Hispanic Linguistics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, for a lecture on indigenous languages. Dr. Estigarribia will reflect on his work writing A Grammar of  Paraguayan Guarani, published by UCL Press in 2020. You can find an abstract for his talk and Dr. Estigarribia’s bio below.

If you cannot join us in person, please register below to receive the Zoom link. Zoom registration required.

Abstract

Every scientific enterprise has, as we know, far-reaching implications beyond its own somewhat circumscribed conclusions. Linguistic research intersects on the one hand with issues of language identity and language ownership, and on the other hand with political issues and language planning. I plan to share with you in this talk part of my work on the grammar of Guarani, informed by my studies of its five centuries long contact with Spanish, and how even a “purely scientific” description of the language needs to come terms with these larger issues.