The influence of graphocentric culture on the stigmatization of linguistic variants

Abstract

The present article intends to list some arguments that justify the stigmas generated about linguistic variants – especially those of an oral modality – based on the hypothesis that these stigmas are natural consequences of graphocentric societies. Developing the basic concepts about the phenomena of variation and linguistic change, under the tutelage of Historical Linguistics in dialogue with Sociolinguistics, we seek to demonstrate that these linguistic phenomena are natural to any languages spoken in the world. In contrast, we show how the peculiarities of the written modality have led it to be elected as an official form of expression by state institutions in modern societies, contributing to the social, economic and cultural organization of these societies. Thus, considering that the social and cultural organization of the newly conquered land was structured around the colonizer language - the Portuguese language -, yet another representative of the European written culture, nothing more natural than maintaining the
characteristics inherent to this cultural development.