The iconic-didactic treatment given to the preposition in the Compendium of Portuguese Grammar adapted to the use of schools (1861) by Vergueiro e Pertence

Abstract

A work can achieve notoriety either for the positive reviews or for the negative reviews it has received throughout history. In fact, these two forms of critical reception are part of the historicization modes (Auroux, 2006) of the Compendium of Grammatica Portugueza (1861), by Vergueiro and Pertence, given the way in which Machado de Assis, on the one hand, and Julio Ribeiro, on the other hand, adopted different positions at different times regarding the way of understanding and receiving this grammar compendium, which, in addition to the positions of both critics, today shows itself to be a school grammar with quite advanced didactic ideas not only for the time of its publication but also for our own time, mainly with regard to the explanation given by the authors of the compendium to the preposition. I intend to proceed here with a reflection on these questions and on the contributions that this grammar can offer not only to the modes of historicization but also to the applicability of the concept of horizon of prospection, still under debate today. The research was developed based on the theoretical principles of the History of Linguistic Ideas (Auroux 1992, 2006, 2008; Colombat; Fournier; Puech 2017), especially based on these two aforementioned categories.