Nheengatu: A Not-So Dead Language Thesis

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There has, in fact, been a great deal of resistance noted in the use of Portuguese as the sole official language throughout much of Brazil; the huge prevalence of indigenous languages still spoken in many regions of the country is one testament to that fact. In addition, there has been a strong reactionary element against perceived outside influences in the linguistic development of the country. Nheemgatu lies right at the crossroads of these issues, and so has occupied a special place in the public consciousness and in the scholarship regarding language development in Brazil specifically, and with colonization generally (Massini-Cagliari 2004). Examinations of the controversy of Nheengatu as it has played out socially and politically in Brazil reveals that the fervor is just as strong in the desire to hold onto the language as a native remnant as it is to abandon the language as a relic of colonization (Massini-Cagliari 2004). This means that official language status can be resisted by native languages.

The lesson of Nheengatu is that there are no absolutes when it comes to language -- the elimination of a language depends on far more than simply the introduction of an alternative official language. It has even been suggested that Nheengatu was not so much a planned language in its earliest forms, but rather a language that developed amongst the children of the first wave of Portuguese male colonizers and the female wives they took amongst the native peoples of the region (Dienst 2008).

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This could have some bearing on why Nheengatu survived in the way it has; it is firmly rooted in native languages, even if it was used by the colonizers as a means of oppression. Most significant in the preservation of the language over the centuries, however, has been its widespread use, which was ironically a result of the colonizer's efforts. Though it has been in slow decline since the mid-eighteenth century, the fact that Nheengatu was spoken by so many diverse peoples over such a wide swath of South America has allowed it to remain a part of the popular spirit and culture to a degree that many of the native language it replaced never war (Dienst 2008).

It is not the implementation of an official language that eradicates indigenous languages, then, but rather the abandonment of a language by its people when it ceases to be useful. Though these events and phenomena are certainly connected, there is not a strict or clear causal relationship between them. Instead, a host of unique cultural factors must be considered in each situation where similar situations with indigenous and official languages occur. In the case of Nheengatu in Brazil, the people's widespread and long attachment to the language has allowed it to persist, and its new official status in one tiny corner of the country will ensure its existence for some time to come.

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"Nheengatu A Not-So Dead Language", 11 December 2009, Accessed.19 May. 2024,
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