Relations between historical sociolinguistics and cultural history: heterogeneous norm and social representation in the nineteenth-century press of Santa Catarina

Abstract

This article proposes a theoretical articulation between Historical Sociolinguistics, drawing upon the conceptual contributions of Eugenio Coseriu and Conde Silvestre, and Cultural History, based on the frameworks of Peter Burke, Michel de Certeau, and Jacques Le Goff. The objective is to foster an interdisciplinary analysis between the foundations of Sociolinguistics and theories of historical analysis. To this end, two texts published in newspapers from Santa Catarina in the late 19th century will be examined. The study aims to problematize how these texts reference the linguistic usages of the local Afro-descendant population. Consequently, it seeks to discuss the forms commonly adopted by the linguistic community of Desterro within texts published in the “A Pedidos” section of the newspapers O Constitucional and Matraca. The intersection between Sociolinguistics and Cultural History is elaborated through the linguistic forms present in the texts and the aspects of social and linguistic memory of the represented communities. The comprehension of these processes is framed by the concepts of tradition and heterogeneous norm, as formulated by the Romanian linguist Eugenio Coseriu, particularly in discussing the representation of Afro-descendant linguistic practices situated in a state of coexistence with the hegemonic norm. Therefore, this study proposes an interdisciplinary analysis of the aforementioned texts, questioning the sources and observing occurrences of linguistic practices stigmatized by the standards of the period. By analyzing these representations in under-explored primary sources, this work asserts that theoretical approaches typical of Cultural History are invaluable for enriching the sociolinguistic analysis of past synchronies.