Isabel Velázquez, Harold E. Spencer Professor of Spanish in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, earned a Fulbright award to conduct research in São Paulo, Brazil from August to December of this year.
The award is a one-semester grant to teach and conduct research at the Universidade de Campinas (UNICAMP), one of Brazil's premier research universities. She will research the sociolinguistic experience and perceptions of and about speakers of Venezuelan Spanish, recently settled in the non-metropolitan region of the state of São Paulo.
"As of 2019, an estimated 100,000 Venezuelans lived in Brazil as a consequence of an unprecedented humanitarian crisis," Velázquez said. "Venezuelans represent around 22% of all native speakers of Spanish in Brazil. In coming years, this will create educational needs that go beyond teaching Spanish as a foreign language. Understanding this experience is crucial for their successful integration to Brazilian society."
She will be working with members of Laboratório Variação, Identidade, Estilo e Mudança (VARIEM), which studies language variation, led by Dr. Livia Oushiro of the Institute of Language Studies.
