Uruguayan public school and the national language in two historical periods: the end of the nineteenth century and mid-twentieth century

Abstract

In this paper, I compare the linguistic model proposed at the end of the 19th century, at the very beginning of the construction process of the Uruguayan State, with the one established in the middle of the 20th century, when the national identity was finally consolidated. To that end, I study the linguistic representations in the official reading books used in the Uruguayan public schools in both periods. The study shows, among other aspects, how the idiomatic prescription happened and which linguistic phenomena were privileged in each case to build up Spanish as the national language.