The Brazilian linguistic landscape is highly complex. In addition to Portuguese, which is the official language of the country, around 180 indigenous languages and at least 45 immigration languages – i.e., languages that were brought to the country after 1880 by immigrants from Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, etc. - are currently spoken in Brazilian territory (Cavalcanti & Maher, 2018; Diniz & Ribeiro da Silva, 2020). In recent years, the country has been receiving new waves of migration from countries such as Haiti, Venezuela, Syria, etc., what has strengthened its linguistic heterogeneity. Moreover, given that Brazil shares borders with 10 countries, several languages are present at the frontier, including Spanish, Aymara, Guarani, Jopara, Quechua, French, and English. Taking this linguistic complexity into consideration, the Brazilian Educational Law passed in 1996 established that local communities could chose the "second language" to be included in their schools' curriculum as a "foreign language class". A community of German descent, for instance, could include German as a "foreign language" in their schools to keep its heritage. And a city located on the Brazilian border with Argentina, for example, could include Spanish in its schools. Thus, it would be possible to state that the Brazilian language policy established in 1996 created legal conditions for minority language communities to cultivate their heritage languages and/or the language of their international neighbors. However, this law was modified in 2017 with the rise to power of a right-wing conservative party. The new version of this law made the teaching of English mandatory in the Junior High and High School. Other language can only be included in the curriculum as an elective class in the first year of Hight School. Thus, it can be said that the current Brazilian language policy favors English and creates difficulties for the cultivation of heritage and/or border languages. This new language policy may jeopardize the survival of languages spoken by existing minority linguistic communities in Brazil. Although little time has passed since the implementation of this new policy, there is already evidence that it is threatening the survival of Spanish in Brazilian schools' curricula. Initial data from the State of Minas Gerais, for example, indicate that the number of Spanish classes in public schools decreased significantly after 2017. The same trend is being observed regarding the number of new enrollments in Spanish Teachers Training Programs. Obviously, this is a trend that may or may not be confirmed by detailed research. At this point, it may be assumed that, due to its power as a language policy instrument (Shohamy, 2006), Brazilian Educational Law is sending a clear message to Brazilian society about which languages matter and, therefore, it may put many minorities language at risk.
References
Cavalcanti, M. C. & Maher, T. M. (Ed.) (2018). Multilingual Brazil. Routledge.
Diniz, L. R. A. & Ribeiro Da Silva, E. (2020). Brazil's linguistic landscape. EAL Journal (NALDIC), Edimburgh, p. 16-16, 31 out. 2020.
Shohamy, E. (2006). Language Policy. London. Routledge.
