Research

Bonta receives Fulbright grant to study Sri Lanka language dialect

ALTOONA, Pa. — Steven Bonta, instructor in Spanish at Penn State Altoona, has been selected to receive a 2014-15 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Grant to Sri Lanka. 

Bonta will travel during the first half of 2015 to begin documentation of Sri Lanka Gypsy Telugu, a dialect of the Telugu language. This language, otherwise spoken on the Indian mainland, is used by several thousand Sri Lankans belonging to the Kuravar caste, informally known as gypsies. Many of its speakers still live an itinerant lifestyle and make their living snake-charming and fortune-telling. This dialect is endangered, and has not been studied in any depth.

The Fulbright Program, America's flagship international educational exchange program, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Last Updated July 28, 2017