Brazil: From Monolingualism To Multilingualism

For many centuries língua geral, the language of the Tupinamba tribe, was the language of inter-ethnical communication between Europeans and indigenous peoples. Marquis de Pombal’s decree Diretorio des Indios (1757) has formally forbidden the usage of língua geral and made Portuguese compulsory in all levels of communication. Portuguese was one of the main tools in achieving Portuguese hegemony in the colonies.<br><br>The concept of monolingualism was implanted in Brazil in the period of Estado Novo (1937-1945): immigrant communities in the South were persecuted, a person could get arrested for using native language even at home.<br><br>As the result of monolingualism policy only 170 local Indian languages survived - out of more than a thousand, and many immigrant descendants lost their national identities.<br><br>Nowadays the language policy in Brazil has dramatically changed: the 1988 Constitution recognizes Indians’ rights for national languages, Indian schools teach in the native languages, the unique versions of German (Pomerano and Hunsrückish) and Italian (Talian) are supported; even Portunhol that exist in the border regions of Brazil and Uruguay is now recognized as the language of an unique mixed culture.