A Plurilingual History of the Portuguese Language in the Luso-Brazilian Empire

This book investigates the diverse ways in which the Portuguese language expanded in Brazil, despite the multilingual landscape that predominated before and after the arrival of the Europeans and the African diaspora. Challenging the assumption that the prevalence of Portuguese was a natural consequence and foregone conclusion of colonisation, the book argues that the language's expansion was as much a result of state intervention as of individual agency. The growth of the Portuguese language was a tumultuous process that mirrored the power relations and conflicts between Amerindian, European, African, and mestizo actors who shaped, standardised, and promoted the language within and beyond state institutions. Knowing Portuguese became an identification sign of being Brazilian. However, a significant number of languages disappeared along the way, and the book highlights that virtual language homogeneity does not imply social equality. Portuguese's variants place speakers on different social levels that justify domination and inequality. This research tells the history of a victorious language and other languages that left their mark on Brazilian Portuguese. A Plurilingual History of the Portuguese Language in the Luso-Brazilian Empire is a useful resource for scholars interested in the history and standardisation of languages, Portuguese and Brazilian history, and the impacts of colonisation.

Luciane Scarato holds a history doctoral degree from the University of Cambridge (2017). She read history at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (2006) and has an MPhil in cultural history from the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (2009). She was a postdoctoral fellow in the history post-graduation program at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (2020-2022). She worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cologne, the Maria Sibylla Merian Centre Conviviality-Inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Brazilian Centre of Analysis and Planning (2017-2020). Her latest publications are "Anglo- and Luso-Brazilian Relations through Periodicals and Travellers, 1808-31" in Spain, Portugal, and Great Britain: Notes on a Shared History (2021) and Convivial Constellations in Latin America: From Colonial to Contemporary Times (2020). Her research interests include Atlantic History, colonial Brazil, cartography, material culture, Latin American Studies, and the Iberian modern empires.

Introduction: Plurilingualism in Colonial Brazil  1. Education and Religious Censorship in the Shaping of the Portuguese Language in Colonial Brazil and Portugal  2. The Implications of Educational Reforms: Teachers, Students, and the Formation of Local Literate Groups in the Gold Mining District  3. The Court in Brazil, Education, and the Shaping of Brazilian Society  Final Reflections