Resumen de On the relation between the sociology of language and sociolinguistics: Fishman’s legacy in Brazil
Cristine Görski Severo, Edair Görski
Taking Fishman’s concepts of macro- and micro-sociolinguistics, this article explores the relation between the sociology of language and sociolinguistics in the Brazilian context. We analyze the relation between both fields in American and Brazilian academic contexts and problematize Brazilian sociolinguistics’ bias towards the use of quantitative approaches. Sociological interpretation to Brazilian sociolinguistic analysis on race, class and nation is given in light of Fishman’s concerns on the sociology of language. We argue that sociolinguistic data production in Brazil, aiming at quantifying linguistic variation by using simplified social categories, ends up producing robust knowledge that is used politically to legitimate, in a postcolonial context, Brazilian Portuguese as being different from European Portuguese.
