Our Research

This research project aims at developing an online, interactive pedagogical word game focusing on the neologisms created by the Mozambican writer, Mia Couto, Portuguese speaking writer who explores the plasticity of the words and the literary stylistics’ in a very creative way. Lexicon is the most innovative component of the language, as it has an open inventory that accompanies and adapts to the changes that occur naturally in spoken language. In this project we want to highlight the particularities of the variant of Portuguese spoken in Mozambique, the culture, and the richness of the vocabulary present in Mia Couto’s fiction to develop an e-learning resource that will be both interactive and functional, and delivered in a self-managed mode online, embedded into the Decolonised Dictionary of the Portuguese Language website (https://decolonisedictionarypt.com).

Reflecting on the work of Mia Couto implies keeping two main notions in mind: orality and post-colonialism, since these are the two themes that are continuously present in his work, visible at the level of the language. By analysing the lexical innovation, one of the distinctive marks of Couto’s work, our aim is to to develop a word game where the player is meant to find the words involved in the amalgam process, its meaning and the most accurate translation into English.

This research project aims at developing an online, interactive, pedagogical word game focusing on the influence of Arab dominion, present in Portugal from the 8th century when Arabs ruled the region for around 500 years. Through the analysis of Portuguese vocabulary of Arabic origin and showing the positive impact of Islamic heritage on culture and the sciences in Portugal, it is our objective to develop an e-learning resource that will be both interactive and functional, and delivered in a self-managed mode online, that will be integrated as a stand-alone online resource, embedded in the Decolonised Dictionary of the Portuguese Language website (https://decolonisedictionarypt.com). This dictionary proposes an understanding of the Portuguese language as a dynamic transnational linguistic and cultural system, in all its varieties, from standard European and Brazilian to those in the so-called Lusophone world (Cabo Verde, EastTimor, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, São Tomé e Príncipe, Macau), including territorial variants such as those found in Galicia and Goa and languages that diachronically formed the Portuguese linguistic superstratum, such as Arabic and Sephardic language, the ladino, which introduced a new culture and way of thinking. It aims at supporting the work of translators and researchers, as well as offering online resources that will support students in their understanding of the language all over the world; thus it offers its content translated into English. Besides being a lexicographical product, that brings together glossaries and vocabularies representative of the written Portuguese language, this dictionary also integrates a component of pedagogical games which is the main focus of the proposed project.

The traces of the Portuguese Islamic past are patent in architecture, music and language. Although the physical remains are fewer than in neighbouring Spain, the intangible influence of those centuries is vast. By analysing the vocabulary of Arabic origin and designing a word game, we intend to lift the veil of ideological colonisation to which Islamic culture was subjected in Portugal, resulting in the erasure from collective memory through the progressive Christianisation of the nation and later spread of nationalist ideology during the dictatorship that ruled Portugal until 1974. Recent years have seen a renewal of the interest in Portugal’s Arab legacy and a move by scholars and public authorities seeking to re-assess the influence of Arab rule and contribute to the history of Orientalism in the Iberian Peninsula.