Justin Pinta awarded Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship

Justin Pinta, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at The Ohio State University, has been awarded the prestigious Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA) Fellowship by the U.S. Department of Education, International and Foreign Language Education (IFLE) office. Doctoral candidates can engage in full-time dissertation research abroad in modern foreign languages and area studies through the DDRA grant. Nationwide across all disciplines only 90 Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowships were awarded.

Pinta will conduct research for his dissertation in Argentina for six months examining the topic Minority Language Resilience in Corrientes Argentina. 

Pinta's project addresses why some peoples abandon their native language in favor of another, and why others maintain their language even in the face of hostile sociocultural conditions. Via an interdisciplinary approach to these and similar questions, he will investigate the transmission and educational presence of Correntinean Guarani, a distinct variety of Guarani spoken by perhaps 200,000 people in the Argentine province of Corrientes. Its survival to the present day makes it a valuable example of minority language resilience, and that it is a rare case of an indigenous language in the Americas whose speakers identify as ethnically non-indigenous makes its resilience perhaps more remarkable in a country largely scornful of any cultural ties to indigeneity.

Pinta will address two primary questions: (1) How and why has Correntinean Guarani been maintained in the face of centuries of ideological hostility? (2) How is the local education system affecting language use in the province? The case of Correntinean Guarani has implications for our understanding of minority language maintenance, language planning, the role of language in the identity of marginalized minority groups, and the interaction of language and societal factors.

Pinta earned his Bachelor of Science from Millikin University (2010) and Master of Arts from University of North Carolina (2013). His faculty advisor is Anna Babel.

The Office of International Affairs administers the Fulbright-Hays program for Ohio State, and grant competitions are held annually. Doctoral candidates interested in applying for the award must contact Fulbright-Hays program director, Joanna Kukielka-Blaser.