Discussions, bitter controversies, and swearwords of all kinds:

an extended debate about the language of Brazil

Abstract

In this article, we analyze the sociopolitical and historical meanings of the linguistic controversies framed by the context that followed the passing of the 1946 Federal Constitution. This constitution outlined, in article 35, the Transitional Frameworks Act, that a Commission of professors, writers, and journalists be formed to speak on designating the language spoken in Brazil. Despite this Commission’s conclusive report as to maintaining the name “Portuguese” as that of the national language, this discussion persisted in the following years and took up space in the political sphere. In order to understand how extensive this debate was, we focused on Bill 756, presented to the Chamber of Deputies by Altamirando Requião on September 30th, 1947, with the aim of making the so-called Brazilian language official. We contend that the argument among intellectuals, here and overseas, with opposing groups manifesting views either for or against the name of “Portuguese language”, never attempted to acknowledge the languages socially classed as minorities. In this sense one finds that the persistence of this debate, as a discussion that is both the product of and produced by the ruling classes, functioned as a key instrument to legitimize a national political elite. This elite had sufficient authority to produce a new authoritative discourse on language, thus forging a linguistic identity compatible with their own interests. This is an interdisciplinary analysis based on sociolinguistics and historical annotations in dialogue with the theories of Pierre Bourdieu (1989, 2008).