Prof. Dr. Sandro Sessarego – Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies

Prof. Dr. Sandro Sessarego

University of Texas at Austin
Spanish and Portuguese Languages

External Senior Fellow (Alexander von Humboldt Fellow)
May 2023 – August 2024

Last Update: 08.11.2024

Curriculum Vitae

I am an Associate Professor of Linguistics in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Texas at Austin and a member of the Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice. I work primarily in the fields of contact linguistics, sociolinguistics and syntax. The linguistic study of the Afro-Latino Vernaculars of the Americas (ALVAs) —the languages that developed in Latin America from the contact of African languages, Spanish and Portuguese in colonial times— and the sociohistorical analysis of their evolution have formed the main themes of my research program for the past fifteen years or so. In particular, my investigation combines linguistic, sociohistorical, legal and anthropological insights to cast light on the nature and origins of these contact varieties. My current interests also lie in the areas of legal history, human rights and language policy. My research aims at examining the status of unofficial languages to understand how language policy may have a social impact on ethnic and racial minorities, with a focus on speakers of Afro-Latino Vernaculars, Afro-American Vernacular English, creoles, indigenous languages, immigrants’ varieties and other unofficial languages.

Selected Publications

Sessarego, S. (2021). Interfaces and Domains of Contact-Driven Restructuring: Aspects of Afro-Hispanic Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sessarego, S. (2019). Language Contact and the Making of an Afro-Hispanic Vernacular: Variation and Change in the Colombian Chocó. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sessarego, S. (2015). Afro-Peruvian Spanish: Spanish Slavery and the Legacy of Spanish Creoles. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Sessarego, S. (2014). The Afro-Bolivian Spanish Determiner Phrase: A Microparametric Account. Columbus, OH: The Ohio State University Press.
Sessarego, S. (2013). Chota Valley Spanish. Madrid/Frankfurt: Iberoamericana and Vervuert.

FRIAS Project

Afro-Veracruz Spanish and the Afro-Hispanic Language Atlas

Exploring creole studies from a linguistic, sociohistorical and legal perspective, this project advances our knowledge of the subject by offering a cohesive approach in order to provide new theoretical insights into language contact, language variation and language change. In particular, it compares the legal system regulating black slavery during colonial times in Veracruz, Mexico with the systems implemented by other European colonial powers in the Americas, to cast light on the nature and origin of Afro-Veracruz Spanish (AVS) and its implications for creole genesis. In addition, this project will build the first open-access Afro-Hispanic language Atlas that will remain freely available to the public to be used in teaching and learning about linguistic and cultural diversity.