“FOR LINGUISTIC EDUCATION TO BE MORE REALISTIC, DISCARD OBSOLETE RULES THAT ARE NO LONGER PART OF SPEAKERS' LINGUISTIC INTUITION”

INTERVIEW WITH MARCOS BAGNO

Abstract

Among students of Letters, it is not uncommon to dream of dedicating oneself to writing, especially literary writing, and being able to turn this activity into a paid profession. Marcos Bagno is undoubtedly one of the most distinguished individuals in this field for his written production: author, co-author, and/or editor of more than fifty books, including theoretical works, popular science books, and literary works; and translator of at least 120 books from Spanish, French, Italian, and English into Portuguese, he is possibly the Brazilian linguist whose works are the most widely disseminated and read in specialized circles.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Portuguese Language from the Federal University of Pernambuco (1991), a Master’s degree in Linguistics from the Federal University of Pernambuco (1995), and a Ph.D. in Philology and Portuguese Language from the University of São Paulo (2000). He currently serves as an Associate Professor at the Institute of Letters at the University of Brasília (UnB). According to his curriculum on the Lattes Platform, he “[h]as experience in the field of Linguistics, with an emphasis on Translation, Sociolinguistics, and teaching, working mainly on the following topics: French/Portuguese translation practice, Portuguese teaching, sociology of language, language policy, traditional grammar, and Brazilian Portuguese.” More recently, he has also started to focus on linguistic historiography.