| This is a macro and microsociolinguistic study on the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language in Brazil after the formation of Mercosur, in 1991. Spanish being a pluricentric language, which variety(ies) of Spanish should be used for teaching the language in Brazil? The alleged lack of teachers trained for the task opened a breach through which the centripetal forces in charge of the international spread of Spanish entered Brazil. Such forces act side by side the centrifugal forces led by the agents of language use: the Spanish teachers from different origins, especially those from the River Plate region.; The study explains how the centripetal forces shape the teaching of Spanish in Brazil, by studying: (a) the voice of the Spanish media as a reflection of the centripetal forces, by means of Critical Discourse Analysis, (b) the attitudes of teachers of Spanish in Brazil, their students, and laypeople, to the regional varieties of Spanish, by means of matched-guise tests and open questionnaires, and (c) the use of Spanish in the classroom by River Plate teachers, by means of linguistic analysis of class recordings.; The results expose a conflict among Spanish varieties in Brazil. One specifically focused on the Peninsular (Northern-Central Spain) and the Rioplatense varieties, and tightly tied to political, economic, educational and cultural factors that interplay among them in overt and covert dynamics. While the press analysis shows a process of commodification of the language aligned to the Peninsular variety, the study of attitudes presents a split in the participants' preferences, favoring the Rioplatense variety in measures of solidarity and evaluation, and the Peninsular variety in measures of power. When the focus turns to the agents of the centrifugal forces, the actual variety in use leans towards a pan-Hispanic combination of features favoring Latin American Spanishes.; In terms of language policy and planning, such results show that the action of the centrifugal forces can actually limit the effects of the centrifugal forces. In terms of language analysis, further research is required to follow up on the evolution of the particular combination of Spanish varieties currently in use in Brazil. |
