The winds of change are buffeting Alfa

By Roberto Gomes Camacho, Editor of Alfa – Revista de Linguística, São José do Rio Preto, São Paulo, Brasil.

In 2012, Alfa celebrated 50 years of staying power as an academic journal, achieving an enviably all-inclusive academic approach to preserving its receptiveness to contributions from all the areas of study in the fields of linguistic research. Its “advanced age” did not imply, however, stagnation and an aversion to change. On the contrary, by continuing on this sustained path, issue number 1,which introduced volume 58 in 2014, also brought about an innovation in both frequency, which changed from twice yearly to four times a year, as well as in journal content, which, quantitatively speaking, was increased to include a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 10 articles per issue.

Another relevant change is that the journal ceased to be published in both printed and digital forms from 2014. In addition to saving resources, electronic publishing represented a powerful mechanism for democratization by facilitating the access to information for a theoretically unlimited public, which is a feature comprehensively ensured by indexers such as SciELO.

Nevertheless, it is still necessary to widen the scope of Alfa’s activities in the direction of its internationalization. Studies conducted by the Editorial Executive expect that the process of internationalization will occur firstly by disseminating the research results in Portuguese to other researchers outside of Brazil who simply are unaware of the Brazilian research output in linguistics. Secondly, it will also occur with the increase in original submissions by researchers outside of Brazil that study Portuguese from a typological or descriptive perspective, or as applied to teaching.

The first important measure to take to inaugurate this new path for the journal is to begin to publish bilingual editions in Portuguese and English. This editorial innovation will begin with the first issue of Volume 59, 2015.

Articles in Alfa Volume 58 can be found at:

MARINHO, J.H.C., and CUNHA, G.X. A construção da cadeia referencial em textos de estudantes universitários. Alfa, rev. linguíst. (São José Rio Preto). 2014, vol. 58, nº 1, pp. 11-33 [viewed November 13th 2014]. ISSN 1981-5794. DOI: 10.1590/S1981-57942014000100001. Available from: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1981-57942014000100001&lng=pt&nrm=iso

ROZENFELD, C.C.F. Fóruns online na formação crítico-reflexiva de professores de línguas estrangeiras: uma representação do pensamento crítico em fases na/pela linguagem. Alfa, rev. linguíst. (São José Rio Preto). 2014, vol. 58, nº 1, pp. 35-62 [viewed November 13th 2014]. ISSN 1981-5794. DOI: 10.1590/S1981-57942014000100002. Available from: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1981-57942014000100002&lng=pt&nrm=iso.

ROCHA, L.F.M. Autocitação fictiva em português europeu e brasileiro. Alfa, rev. linguíst. (São José Rio Preto). 2014, vol. 58, nº 1, pp. 63-92 [viewed November 13th 2014]. ISSN 1981-5794. DOI: 10.1590/S1981-57942014000100003. Available from: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1981-57942014000100003&lng=pt&nrm=iso.

CINTRA, M.R. A relação entre gênero e expressão verbal: uma abordagem discursiva para a manifestação da futuridade. Alfa, rev. linguíst. (São José Rio Preto). 2014, vol. 58, nº 1, pp. 93-114. [viewed November 13th 2014]. ISSN 1981-5794. DOI: 10.1590/S1981-57942014000100004. Available from: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1981-57942014000100004&lng=pt&nrm=iso.

SCHRODER, U.A. A abordagem cognitiva da metáfora em perspectiva pragmática nos séculos dezoito e dezenove: as contribuições de Lambert e Wegener a discussões atuais. Alfa, rev. linguíst. (São José Rio Preto). 2014, vol. 58, nº 1, pp. 115-136. [viewed November 13th 2014]. ISSN 1981-5794. DOI: 10.1590/S1981-57942014000100005. Available from: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1981-57942014000100005&lng=pt&nrm=iso.

MODESTO, M. Internalismo e externalismo em linguística e a neurociência da linguagem. Alfa, rev. linguíst. (São José Rio Preto). 2014, vol. 58, nº 1, pp. 137-164 [viewed November 13th 2014]. ISSN 1981-5794. DOI: 10.1590/S1981-57942014000100006. Available from: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1981-57942014000100006&lng=pt&nrm=iso.

GONCALVES, C.A.V., and ALMEIDA, M.L.L. Morfologia Construcional: principais ideias, aplicação ao português e extensões necessárias. Alfa, rev. linguíst. (São José Rio Preto). 2014, vol. 58, nº 1, pp. 165-193. [viewed November 13th 2014]. ISSN 1981-5794. DOI: 10.1590/S1981-57942014000100007. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1981-57942014000100007.

MEDEIROS, B.R., and MARTINS, M.V.M. Uma proposta de modelamento da percepção da entoação do português brasileiro. Alfa, rev. linguíst. (São José Rio Preto). 2014, vol. 58, nº 1, pp. 195-213 [viewed November 13th 2014]. ISSN 1981-5794. DOI: 10.1590/S1981-57942014000100008. Available from: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1981-57942014000100008&lng=pt&nrm=iso.

MIRANDA, F.B. Da classificação de obras lexicográficas e seus problemas: proposta de uma taxonomia. Alfa, rev. linguíst. (São José Rio Preto). 2014, vol. 58, nº 1, pp. 215-231 [viewed November 13th 2014]. ISSN 1981-5794. DOI: 10.1590/S1981-57942014000100009. Available from: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1981-57942014000100009&lng=pt&nrm=iso.

External link

Alfa: Revista de Linguística – <http://www.scielo.br/alfa/>

Translated from the original in Portuguese by Nicholas Cop Consulting.