Is a “new portuguese” being produced? A discourse analysis of documents issued by the CPLPuments

• Main Authors: Vera Lucia de Albuquerque Sant'Anna, Diego Barbosa da Silva
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: Universidade Federal Fluminense 2012-06-01
• Series: Gragoatá
• Subjects: política linguística; CPLP; promoção da língua portuguesa; etos; polêmica
• Online Access: http://www.gragoata.uff.br/index.php/gragoata/article/view/120

This paper presents a discourse analysis of declarations and resolutions issued by the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), in order to identify features of language policies for the promotion and dissemination of Portuguese, widespread in the last decade. We start with the idea of ethos and polemic (MAINGUENEAU, [1984] 2007) to identify four positions/ enunciators, which are: the patriotic-boastful, the defender, the apprehensive and the idealistic-reliever. In statements analyzed, we found that these different images of themselves construct an apparent idea of linguistic homogeneity, which aims to overcome the heterogeneity of the CPLP. Thus, polemics are silenced and we note that is under construction a new sense of the Portuguese language, with homogenizing force in opposition to one already in progress, which is based on the social and historical process of grammatisation and heterogenization of the national Portugueses languages.