Peculiarities of Brasilian Portuguese in registers of 19th Century Grammars

Abstract

According to Alfredo Bosi, “Brazil, like all countries egressing from the colonial system, was a nation in search of identity.”. Poets and fictionists framed in the Romantic ideology themes drawn from nature, the social environment, and the Brazilian historical context. There remained the challenge of language, a fundamental feature of nationality. Criticized, but persistent, José de Alencar sought in the native source the means of renovation of literary expression. Dictionaries recorded the ample contribution of indigenous and African languages. Grammarians, on the other hand, hardly dared, and in general only indirectly provided information about Brazilian usage. This is the subject of the present article, illustrated with examples from three grammars of the period.