Considerations on Norm and use of Portuguese Grammar in The Seventeenth Century – Amaro de Roboredo’s Methodo Grammatical Methodo Grammatical para todas as Linguas (1619)

Abstract

With this paper, we aim to show how Amaro de Roboredo’s language teaching manual, Methodo grammatical para todas as línguas [Grammar Method for all Languages], published in 1619, recorded aspects of Portuguese norm and use. This research is situated in the fields of epistemology and linguistic historiography (Auroux 2007), specifically in terms of the historical reconstruction of linguistic knowledge, within the realm of Portuguese grammar studies. In order to carry out the investigation of these themes, this paper is divided into three sections: firstly, it places the author and his work into the context of the time period in order to understand the text, i.e., we look at the linguistic ideas of the time. This leads us to the second section of the paper, in which the concept of the Method is presented and discussed – as well as its causes and (late) consequences, and the effect that they had on the teaching of the Portuguese language. The third and final section of the study refers to the record of Portuguese use and norm following the steps used for teaching Latin rules. The research leads us to the conclusion that despite the fact that Roboredo did not set out to describe or normalize the Portuguese language, his method is an important legacy of records of specific features in the uses and norms for this language, especially where he addresses the “curious Portuguese person”, i.e., a subchapter addressed to readers who, besides studying Latin, were interested in becoming acquainted with the rules of the vernacular language in the process of being grammaticized at the time.

Keywords

• Norm
• use
• history of grammar
• Portuguese language
• historiography