Ideologias linguísticas sobre Português Brasileiro em gramáticas de Celso Cunha: 1970 e 1985

Abstract

This dissertation aims to analyze the linguistic ideologies present in the grammars authored by Celso Ferreira da Cunha, published in 1970 and 1985, with a specific focus on the representation of Brazilian Portuguese. This research is grounded in the premise that every grammatical description is permeated by social and cultural values and is, therefore, ideological. Accordingly, grammars are understood as discursive artifacts that not only describe language but also construct discourses about it and shape social, political and ideological representations concerning its legitimacy. The investigation is anchored in the theoretical framework of Language Policy, primarily drawing on Spolsky (2004, 2009, 2012, 2016), and narrows its scope to the field of Linguistic Ideologies, especially through the contributions of Woolard (1998), Kroskrity (2004), and Del Valle (2007). The research corpus comprises two works by Celso Cunha: Gramática do Português Contemporâneo (1970) and Nova Gramática do Português Contemporâneo (1985), the latter co-authored with Lindley Cintra. Adopting the interpretivist approach of Denzin and Lincoln (2006), the analysis focuses on terminological choices, linguistic examples, metalinguistic commentary, and morphosyntactic categories, with the aim of framing them within two ideological systems proposed by the author: the ideology of conservation and the ideology of innovation. These findings reveal that the 1970 grammar exhibits a strong alignment with conservative ideology, frequently valorizing the Lusitanian norm and relying predominantly on examples drawn from classical Portuguese literature. In contrast, the 1985 grammar demonstrates a moderate openness to innovative ideologies, incorporating Brazilian, African, and modern Portuguese authors, as well as acknowledging phonetic and morphosyntactic particularities of Brazilian Portuguese. The study concludes that, despite adhering to the framework of Traditional Grammar, Celso Cunha represents a transitional figure within the Brazilian grammatical tradition.