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Lab's History

The SOPA-Lab ( Laboratory of Sign and Oral languages in Psycholinguistics and Acquisition ) was approved by the congregation of the Faculdade de Letras of the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro on March 28, 2017, coordinated by Professor Marília Lott.

 

The name of the laboratory came from a discussion process in which several possibilities were raised based on the key terms: Language Acquisition, Psycholinguistics, Sign Languages and Oral Languages. Initially, we thought of LALOS, a name that appeared at the first Semana de Letras-Libras/UFRJ in 2015. In 2016 , at the suggestion of Professor Daniela Cid, the name SOPA emerged.

The term was quickly embraced as it brought a much-loved reference from Professor Miriam Lemle's linguistics classes.

 

Professor Lemle always warned us that language and the mind/brain were not a "soup" in which everything was mixed together without structure. The mention of this speech by the professor was recorded in the opening of volume 07 number 02 of the Linguíʃtica Magazine by professor Aniela Improta França in 2011.

"After the initial impact and popularity of the Connectionist Model, belief in localizationism cooled and gave way to an approach that viewed the brain as an equipotent whole. Linguist Miriam Lemle, Professor Emeritus at UFRJ, refers to this probably mistaken approach, which lasted for almost 100 years, as the “brain-soup” approach. This is a playful image that serves well to illustrate the idea that the content of the brain came to be described as a practically homogeneous whole, with few modular specificities, which would mean that the location of the lesions would be practically irrelevant." (FRANÇA, 2011, p. II, our emphasis)


That's how, on October 17, 2016, the creation of the "Laboratory of Sign and Oral Languages in Language Acquisition and Psycholinguistics - SOPA, coordinated by Marília Uchoa", was approved at a meeting of the Department of Letters-Libras held in the PACC Room of the Faculty of Letters of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. The SOPA-Lab was also approved at the 530th ORDINARY SESSION OF THE CONGREGATION , HELD UNDER THE PRESIDENCY OF THE DIRECTOR, PROFESSOR. DOCTOR ELEONORA ZILLER CAMENIETZKI, MARCH 28, 2017 , AT 2:20 PM, IN THE PROFESSOR CARLOS TANNUS ROOM, D-110, FACULTY OF LETTERS BUILDING, ILHA DA CIDADE UNIVERSITÁRIA, RIO DE JANEIRO, lines 198-200). The anniversary of SOPA-Lab is then celebrated on the day of the congregation's approval on 3/28 .

In 2021, professors Marília Lott and Daniela Cid, co-coordinators of SOPA-Lab at the time, became permanent members of the Postgraduate Program in Linguistics - PPGLIN/UFRJ . In February of that same year, the SOPA-Lab logo was kindly created by interpreter Rafael Monteiro.

In July 2022, Clarissa Guerretta created the sign in libras for SOPA-Lab.

In the video above Professor Marília says  "SOPA-Lab whose sign in libras is as shown (sign is presented).

Our group undertakes actions on the following topics:

(i) linguistic development in children acquiring sign and oral languages in neurotypical contexts or not;

(ii) learning at later stages;

(iii) literacy associated with early stages of writing system learning;

(iv) linguistic policy that supports language diversity preservation;

 

(v) studies on adult competence.

To meet us in person, you must go to room D-21 (cable car room) in block D, 3rd floor, of the Faculdade de Letras, UFRJ, where we share the space with LAPEX. See our schedule to find out the days when we have activities.

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Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro

Laboratório de línguas de Sinais e Orais em Psicolinguística e Aquisição - SOPA-LAB

Faculdade de Letras da UFRJ
Av. Horácio de Macedo, 2151
Cidade Universitária – CEP 21941-917
Rio de Janeiro – RJ

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© 2025 pela Equipe SOPA-Lab.

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