Linguistic prejudice and discrimination in Brazilian Portuguese and beyond

Abstract

In this article we make a distinction between the prejudice and discrimination towards (a) different languages and their speakers and (b) different non-standard varieties of the same language and their speakers, and argue that while the discrimination and prejudice towards (a) have been denounced by international institutions and both national and international laws are in place to guarantee the rights of speakers of different languages, the same protection has not been afforded to speakers of non-standard varieties of a language. We examine a specific case of this type of linguistic prejudice in Brazil. We discuss the effectiveness of efforts of linguists to combat linguistic prejudice based on the principle of error correction (Labov 1982) and, drawing on work by Cameron (2012) and Bourdieu (1986), suggest that linguistic prejudice cannot be disentangled from other types of prejudice and that linguists need to have a much deeper understanding of and engagement with the values attached to linguistic forms. We conclude with a number of suggestions and recommendations in order to effectively combat linguistic prejudice.

Language and Education in Brazil: Linguistic Structural Problems and Their Historical Origins

“…(1) List of the linguistic features characterising the unplanned discourse of a number of varieties of Brazilian Portuguese. The ability to write and speak the standard norm is seen as a marker of civility in contrast to popular varieties, often considered as barbaric and degenerate forms of the language unsuitable in educational contexts (Britto, 1997;Massini-Cagliari, 2004;O'Neill & Massini-Cagliari, 2019)).…”

“…I would like to conclude by affirming that I am in no way against the struggle to change the prejudicial opinions towards non-standard forms of Portuguese and their speakers. I have myself contributed to this endeavour, suggesting that linguistic prejudice was contributing to school drop-out rates (O'Neill & Massini-Cagliari, 2019) and bemoaning the lost opportunity during the modernist Anthropophagic movement for a reconfiguration of opinions on Brazilian Portuguese in general (O'Neill, 2020). Cultural-oriented efforts aimed at changing opinions and recognising non-standard varieties as legitimate forms of the language are essential but in order to be effective they need to (a) appreciate how these opinions are related to deeper societal concerns and (b) be combined with efforts to change structures and offer different models since these undergird much of the social and economic dynamics which determine and perpetuate value judgements about and hierarchies of different varieties of a language.…”

“…Issues related to language have often been proffered as not only aggravating factors but decisive factors in the academic failure of students (Soares, 2017a) and school drop-out rates (O'Neill & Massini-Cagliari, 2019) since the language of instruction and assessment is linguistically very far removed from the speech of the great majority of the population, especially the great mass of students from poorer backgrounds. Some have even claimed that the magnitude of these differences warrants Brazilian Portuguese being considered to be the language with the most native speakers that does not have a written system (Perini, 2003).…”

Ideological and Theoretical Considerations to Postcolonial Education in the Lusophone Countries

“…With reference to non-standard varieties of a language (e.g. local forms of spoken Brazilian Portuguese), these are often considered degenerate forms of the language and not suitable for educational contexts (Britto, 1997;Massini-Cagliari, 2004;O'Neill & Massini-Cagliari, 2019). Various scholars (Patto, 2010(Patto, , 2015Soares, 2017aSoares, , 2017b have even argued that the education system itself can perpetuate and reinforce such beliefs via the reconceptualisation of linguistic differences as linguistic deficiencies, which are often believed to be the result of cultural and cognitive deficiencies.…”

Linguistics, teaching and the portuguese teacher perspective: a first look

“…Para a realização desta pesquisa, foi elaborado um questionário em colaboração com pesquisadores da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (Brasil) e da Universidade de Birmingham 5 (Reino Unido). Esta análise faz parte de um projeto mais amplo que tem como objetivo propor ações concretas e soluções para disseminar e facilitar o acesso à linguística teórica por professores de (P) L1 e (P)L2 de todos os níveis e de diversos países (veja, entre muitos outros, CORR; SHEEHAN, 2021, O'NEILL; MASSINI-CAGLIARI, 2019;BOSQUE;GALLEGO, 2016;LARSON et al, 2019, TROTZKE;KUPISCH, 2020;SHEEHAN et al, 2021;PINEDA, no prelo). Assim, a partir da escala atitudinal Likert, foi elaborado um questionário que visava reconhecer a perspectiva dos professores em relação a temas caros à linguística teórica e ao ensino e aprendizagem de português.…”