A History of Linguistic and Grammatical Thought in Portugal and Brazil by Batista, Ronaldo de Oliveira; Fernandes, Gonçalo; Bastos, Neusa Barbosa & Assunção, Carlos (eds) (2025)

Abstract

The thematic areas covered in the book are: (i) “Traces of grammatical tradition”; (ii) “Usage and norms in linguistic tools”; (iii) “The rationalist view of grammar”; (iv) “Grammatical appendices: punctuation, stylistics, and other issues” and (v) “Spelling systems, their guidelines, and regulations.” With a total of 264 pages, the volume adopts a clear, coherent structure, offering a systematic and critical comparison of studies in Linguistic Historiography conducted both on this side and across the Atlantic, yet consistently aligned in their epistemological conception. It is not the fundamental objective of the work to establish a mere chronology of the grammatical tradition, but rather to carry out a conceptual analysis of those ame traditions. However, among the many aspects that make this volume a reference work, I believe it is essential to highlight how the different chapters, by comparing two perspectives—that of Portugal and that of Brazil—illustrate the specificity of each grammatical tradition. In the case of the chapters written by Brazilian researchers, the discussion regarding the specificities of the Brazilian context —which is naturally characterized by a strong tendency toward linguistic contact—is particularly interesting.