The process of the Brazilian grammatization of Portuguese became widespread between the second half of the XIX century and the first decades of the XX century, with the publication of the first books of grammar and dictionaries of the Portuguese spoken in Brazil, elaborated by Brazilian authors, and was linked to the structurization of the Brazilian scholastic institution, which had been initiated with the creation of the Don Pedro II School, in 1837, with the transformation of the old São Joaquim Seminary.

This period was characterized by the fact that the studies of the language in Brazil came to be regarded as a Brazilian question when the subject of Brazilian Portuguese was debated, and not just the question of Portuguese, which had the language of Portugal as its model. As the grammarian Macedo Soares would say, the question had the intention to describe the Brazilian language “as it was spoken in Brazil and not as it was written in Portugal”.

This process had a specific political sense in the context of the discussions on the national identity that characterized the period in reference. Through the construction of the unity and legitimacy of the language spoken in Brazil, through the production of a scientific knowledge of the language, the process intended to reaffirm the unity and legitimacy of the independent national State itself, in the eyes of Portugal.

The constitution of knowledge of the national language was, in this way, historically linked to the constitution of the national language itself and of the institutions that sustain the Brazilian State, in a process where science and politics intercross.

The texts produced during this period, in addition to some previous Portuguese works that served as a base, were initially selected for the bvCLB collection.

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