A critical review of the nature of education as a universal right in peripheral societies, based on the analysis of the social and cultural circumstances that permeate the learning experience of the written Portuguese language in Brazilian schools. The concept of cultural bilingualism is defended as necessary in facing the demand for…

Situations of language contact are often the norm for sign languages. This article investigates a case of unimodal contact between Cena, a young sign language in its third generation that is used in a small rural community in Brazil, and Libras, the national sign language of Brazil. Our analysis concerns one by-product of this contact: reiterative…

This paper examines the implications and implementation of official language policy designed to support endangered Indigenous languages in the municipality of São Gabriel da Cachoeira, Amazonas, Brazil. The policy, in place since late 2001, declared three of the region's many Indigenous languages (Nheengatú, Tukano, and Baniwa) to be…

In studying language policy, it is not enough to look at central government management, but also at the influence of managers at levels ranging from the family to international organizations. Actual cases reveal that there are also non-linguistic forces such as demography, war, civil strife, and economic breakdowns which have major effects. This…

The history of language planning in Brazil, the only Portuguese speaking country in South America, is shown to have been decisively influenced at every critical moment by prevailing geopolitical interests. Sharing borders with nine out of the 11 countries that, together with it, make up the continent, Brazil has always been attentive to perceived…