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Multilingual management at the Uruguayan-Brazilian border: mapping negotiations between identity, language ideologies, and language attitudes
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2025-12
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Spanish
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Since the late 19th century, significant governmental efforts have supported the teaching of Portuguese in Uruguay as a “foreign” language, disregarding the border region shared with Brazil, where Spanish and Portuguese have coexisted for centuries. Portuguese, Spanish, and Portuñol/Portunhol (a contact variety between Portuguese and Spanish) have historically dominated this border and constitute a crucial element of identity for its residents. However, since the foundation of the Uruguayan nation-state in the 19th century, a monolingual habitus has permeated language planning, establishing Spanish as the sole national language. This habitus underscores the gap between widespread multilingualism and the monolingual planning imposed in the region (Piller, 2016). Additionally, it characterized Uruguayan border schools until the socioeconomic integration processes of the region led to decrees promoting multilingual policies in 2008. These decrees positioned Portuguese as both a regional and national language.
Most educators in this border region, as well as the general public, have long maintained the belief that Portuguese was inappropriate for use in schools given that it was not an official language. Consequently, whether Portuguese should have a prominent role in education continues to be a subject debate. The alarming school dropout rates and low academic performance in the border area—considered a vulnerable zone—are possibly tied to the failure to achieve educational goals based on a monoglossic model (ANEP, 2008; Brovetto, 2010). Nonetheless, as shown in the volume on empirical studies compiled by Acevedo and Nossar (2018), recent decades evidence a shift from a dominant negative view of multilingualism to a more polarized vision, resulting in the revalorization of both Portuguese and the contact variety.
The linguistic context of the Brazilian-Uruguayan border has sparked significant interest among sociolinguists, particularly in the study of language attitudes (Brovetto, 2010; Carvalho, 2007; Elizaincín et al. 1987; Hensey 1973; Waltermire 2012). However, there are no studies that incorporate a critical framework integrating language ideologies to analyze the three speech varieties and how they shape language use and attitudes within educational environments. Language ideologies assign social meanings to linguistic practices and enable speakers to evaluate others based on how they speak. As cultural systems, language ideologies influence the valorization of speakers and their linguistic practices, affecting the maintenance and (re)production of social inequality (Del Valle, 2007). Thus, they can be examined through speaker assessments and language policy (Leeman & Fuller, 2021).
Multilingual planning in Uruguay has largely focused on standardized language varieties, which differ significantly from the vernacular varieties spoken at home and in informal contexts by border residents. As a result, the sociocultural and cognitive development of emerging bilinguals has been impacted. Centering educational praxis, this study examines how everyday interactions in schools can serve as key battlegrounds where language educators are socialized into ideologies about Portuguese, Spanish, and Portuñol/Portunhol. More precisely, I investigate how language educators challenge notions of “appropriate language use” through pedagogical strategies and negotiations of agency.
My longitudinal mixed-methods study involves regular data collection from language teacher education programs in Uruguay. This approach follows a convergent design, integrating both quantitative and qualitative data to validate and contrast findings. The quantitative corpus is generated using information collected through the self-reported Bilingual Language Profile (BLP) questionnaire, while the qualitative corpus is constructed from relevant language policy documents and semi-structured interviews. Thus, data is gathered from both documentary and conversational sources using different methods. This methodological triangulation enables the analysis of participants’ agency and identity negotiations as they challenge language ideologies imposed by linguistic markets (i.e., the socioeconomic value of languages) as a result of globalization. Agency, understood as the socioculturally mediated capacity to act—particularly as it manifests through language (Leeman & Fuller, 2021)—offers a unique lens to explore how teachers respond to and navigate linguistic inequality within postcolonial educational settings.
Among the findings, a strong preference for normative Spanish stands out, confirming the persistence of the standard language ideology and monolingualism. Institutional documentation reinforces these ideologies as a transversal axis by referencing this standard variety as the most legitimate and prestigious within the Uruguayan national context. Spanish is positioned as indispensable in shaping Uruguayan national identity, even as BLP results show a decreasing connection between teachers and Spanish-speaking cultures. Nonetheless, standard Spanish, as linguistic capital, continues to be considered central to academic and professional success.
Regarding Portuguese, attitudes were more heterogeneous and flexible. Although institutional documentation exclusively recognizes standard Portuguese—specifically its urban Brazilian variety—as the only legitimate language of instruction, educators demonstrated greater openness toward non-standard varieties. The study also highlights how the imposition of the standard language erases local repertoires. The evaluations of Portuguese reveal heteroglossic ideologies that frame its value primarily in terms of market profitability, which presents challenges and carries important implications for the implementation of multilingual management strategies.
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