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The Allusionist

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A PODCAST ABOUT LANGUAGE
BY HELEN ZALTZMAN

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The Allusionist

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Allusionist 172. A Brief History of Brazilian Portuguese

March 9, 2023 The Allusionist

MP3 • APPLE PODCASTS • RSS • STITCHER • GOOGLE • TRANSCRIPT

"The myths, or the received wisdom, about Portuguese language in Brazil is that, of course we know we speak a very different version of the language, but this has always been explained to us as maybe perhaps a defect of sorts?" says linguist and translator Caetano Galindo, author of Latim em Pó, a history of Brazilian Portuguese. "You look deeper into things and you find you have to wrap your mind around a very different reality.” 

Content note: this episode discusses the enslavement of African people.

EXTRA MATERIALS:

  • Caetano features in the new documentary Nossa pátria está onde somos amados (Our Country is the Place where We Are Loved) which is rather beautiful.

  • He would also like to direct your attention to the album Lingua by Tom Zé.

  • Listen to Caetano Veloso’s song ‘Lingua’.

  • Caetano (Galindo not Veloso) has appeared on the show before, talking about translating the Memory Palace in One To Another. It’s very charming.

  • More Brazillusionists, you say? Listen to the Lacuna episode, about Brazilian journalists printing fake recipes so the public knew they’d been censored.

Support the show at theallusionist.org/donate and as well as keeping this independent podcast going, you also get behind-the-scenes glimpses about every episode, fortnightly livestreams, and the delightful Allusioverse Discord community with their disco kettles and knitted octopus tentacles.

YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
locorestive, (Lamb) adj: staying in one place.
[Humorously modelled on locomotive, from Latin restare, to stay still.]

CREDITS:

  • Caetano Galindo is a professor of historical linguistics and translator of many things including James Joyce’s and David Foster Wallace’s work, and the Memory Palace. He is the author of the new book Latim em Pó, about the history of Brazilian Portuguese. Find his work at caetanowgalindo.art.

  • This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. The original Allusionist music is by Martin Austwick. Download his songs at palebirdmusic.com and listen to his podcasts Song By Song and Neutrino Watch.

  • Find the Allusionist at youtube.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/helenzaltzman and instagram.com/allusionistshow.

Back in two weeks with a new episode. The renaming series will continue in a few episodes’ time! - HZ.

In episodes Tags words, language, linguistics, education, society & culture, arts, literature, lexicon, vocabulary, history, telling other stories, Caetano Galindo, Brazil, Brasileiro, Brazilian, Portuguese, Portugal, Black history, slavery, enslaved African people, Transatlantic slave trade, slave owners, white supremacy, indigenous languages, línguas gerais, lingua franca, oppressed languages, South America, Latin, colonisation, Nheengatu, Caetano Veloso, ladino, locorestive
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