Portuguese

Portuguese Words Spanish Speakers Can't Pronounce

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This video is a good example of how difficult boundaries can be to draw around "language" or "dialect," especially when you're using mutual intelligibility. It shows the similarity and differences between Portuguese and Spanish as Spanish speakers try to pronounce written Portuguese words, evidenced by the commentary of the Spanish speakers, especially "I understand what you're saying, I don't know how you say it." This distinction is especially hard to draw when you take into account the ideology held between and of cultures, and the political investment that may exist in making nations distinct, and this ideology of difference is also demonstrated in the views expressed by the speakers.

Posted by Luna Albertini on April 16, 2018

Tags:
Ideology;
Spanish;
Portuguese;
Phonetics

Code-Switching and Performativity in MMA

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UFC Mixed Martial Arts fighter John Lineker is interviewed following his 07-13-16 victory in the promotion's first event in South Dakota, responding primarily in Portuguese. Lineker code-switches to English at the end of the interview to direct a message to the champion (U.S. mixed martial artist Dominick Cruz) of his weight division. His promise of "coming for" the champion demonstrates a performative illocutionary act: by directing these words to Cruz, he is simultaneously performing the very action of threatening and talking about this action.

Posted by Jill Vesta on July 21, 2016

Tags:
Portuguese;
Code-switching