Rona's seminal work (1965) gave an account of the presence of varieties of Portuguese in the north and opened the way to numerous subsequent investigations that have discussed about (a) possible denominations (fronterizo, Dialectos Portugueses del Uruguay (DPU), Portugués Uruguayo) as well as different (b) typological classifications (bilingual or mixed dialect, dialect within a pre-pidgin continuum, a continuum of dialectal diffusion between rural Uruguayan Portuguese and urban Brazilian Portuguese). All these studies, as most sociolinguistic studies of the first and second wave, rely on macro-social categories when studying the linguistic production of speakers, but sometimes these categories are (just) the tip of the iceberg when it comes to understanding the linguistic behaviour speakers exhibit. By not only focussing on the classical categories above mentioned, it is possible to obtain a clearer picture of the choice speakers make, especially in language contact situations like the case of the border between Uruguay and Brazil. Therefore, the aim is to present a new method that makes it possible to contrast whether origins or interactions are more relevant for understanding the speaker’s behaviour of a rural and urban part of the northern department of Uruguay, Artigas. The method proposed relies on a model in the form of a genealogical tree that considers the paternal and maternal origins of the members of the Artigas corpus CLARU, as well as their descendants and their relationship with other interlocutors. The qualitative analysis of each of the subjects offers the possibility to create groups of “types of speakers” with the aim of using each of these groups as a social variable. These variables will be correlated with linguistic variables from CLARU on both a morphosyntactic and lexical level. In short, it is a methodological proposal that arises from the need to establish variables that are more adapted to those of a specific speech community.

Profile: I was born in Madrid, where I lived with my family until the age of eighteen, when I took the Abitur (German entrance exam) at the German School in Madrid. I moved to Heidelberg (Germany), where I began a degree in translation in the same languages that have accompanied me since childhood (Spanish, German and English). Once I finished my basic studies, I decided to continue my education in Heidelberg and did a master's degree in Ibero-American studies, which brought me into real contact with the Portuguese language and the world of linguistics itself. I was fascinated by the Brazilian variety, and I guess that was the beginning of the path I am on today. I became interested in the Luso-Spanish "raya", in the contact zones between Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil, in the learning of Portuguese as a foreign language by Spanish speakers (and v.v.), in literature and music written in "portuñol" and, thus, one day I ended up submitting my idea for a doctoral thesis project.

Apart from the fieldwork I conducted in Uruguay, researching and teaching at the University of Zurich, I love sports. I mainly swim and run, and I enjoy "small challenges" like (half) marathons or triathlons. I have been doing horse riding since I am eight years old, which definitely is my passion! In 2021 I started to do capoeira and I love it because it brings together a good combination of movement, rhythm, and music (in Portuguese!).