(Des)colonization and grammatical discourse in/of Brazil in the nineteenth century: the grammars of Soares Barbosa, Costa Duarte and Julio Ribeiro

Abstract

Based on the theoretical-analytical contribution of the discursive-materialist perspective of the History of Linguistic Ideas, this article continues a research project aimed at contributing to the reflection on the ways of historicizing subjects and languages in/of Brazil through linguistic instruments, based on a re-examination of the grammaticalization process initiated in the Iberian Peninsula in the 16th century. To this end, it takes as its object of analysis three grammars published in the 19th century, before and after the implementation of the period characterized by Orlandi (2009) as linguistic decolonization. These are: the Grammatica Philosophica da Lingua Portugueza (1822) by Jerônimo Soares Barbosa, the Compendio da Grammatica Portugueza (1829), later renamed Compendio da Grammatica Philosophica da Lingua Portugueza (1859), by Antônio da Costa Duarte, and the Grammatica Portugueza (1881) by Julio Ribeiro. In this sense, there are two specific objectives, namely: (1) through a comparative analysis between these grammars, to identify continuities and discontinuities that constitute the grammatical discourse of the 19th century; and (2) based on the proposal by Medeiros, Esteves and Bonfante (2023), to make some considerations about possible contributions of the decolonial approach, particularly regarding the understanding of the decolonization process. The analysis made it possible to observe in the brazilian grammatical discourse of the 19th century the functioning of the constitutive contradiction of this process, regarding theoretical filiations and, especially, the way brazilians and their language(s) are spoken about in grammars produced by brazilians for brazilians.