Brazilian Grammatical Nomenclature from a Language Policy perspective

Abstract

The Brazilian Grammatical Nomenclature, also known by its corresponding acronym, NGB, was instituted in 1959 by Ministerial Ordinance no. 36 of January 28 of the same year, with the declared goal of simplifying and standardizing the metalanguage used in the educational space in face of the terminological diversity existing at the time. As a product of a language policy focused on teaching, the NGB had significant repercussions not only on the pedagogical practices of Portuguese language teachers in the classroom, but also on the reconfiguration of grammatical materials. Considering the results of this policy, echoed until today, we seek to observe, through the lenses of the disciplinary field of Language Policy, notably from Johnson's notion of Language Policy (2009), given the understanding that the implementation of a language policy is also the result of a socio-political intellectual atmosphere of the period from which it emerges. Methodologically, this study is guided by the parameters of documentary, qualitative, and interpretivist research (LIN, 2015). The analysis points to the following findings: (i) the macrosocial context was fundamental for the delineation of the project that culminated in the elaboration of the NGB; (ii) the creation of the nomenclature had the action of political agents, such as the minister Clóvis Salgado and, notably, intellectual agents, namely, teachers with philological education and active in Colégio Pedro II; (iii) the terminological unification ceases to be understood in a strict and purely linguistic-pedagogical perspective to be understood, in this study, as a linguistic policy that gives concreteness to National State policies.