Language factor and Brazilian national identity

Abstract

The article examines the role of the linguistic factor in the formation of linguistic identity in Brazil. National identity reflects the complex processes of the existence and development of a nation in cultural and linguistic environment, the language being not only an important identification factor, but also an objective tool for determining other factors affecting the formation of the Brazilian nation and its identity. The close connection between the ongoing economic, spatial-historical and social processes and the formation of identity is analyzed with the help of the author's method of sociolinguistic isomorphism. It resulted in the following findings: the formation of the Brazilian version of the Portuguese language was greatly influenced by the Indian languages, information about which was meticulously collected and systematized by the Jesuits; the language maintained a close connection with the language of the metropolis for a long time, having taken its own track only after gaining independence. At present the shifts in the linguistic reflection of Brazilian reality are revealed through the polysemy trends, transfer of meaning, professional media slang, youth slang.