COMPOSITION OF A CORPUS FOR THE PORTUGUESE OF RORAIMA (18TH CENTURY)

Abstract

This present paper presents the composition of a historical corpus for the study of the Portuguese spoken in the Brazilian northernmost state of Roraima. To this end, it discusses the concept of linguistic transplantation (GRAMLEY, 2012; SIEGEL, 1988) to contextualize the sociolinguistic establishment of the Portuguese language in the northern portion of the Amazon; and that of documental silence (FARAGE, 1986) to explain the shortage of documents about the Portuguese colonization of Rio Branco. Then, it presents the textual selection criteria for the corpus, centered on the diplomatic incident dubbed The Pirara Question, a territorial dispute between Portugal (later, post-independence Brazil) and the United Kingdom. The main criteria are chronological (late eighteenth century, when Fort São Joaquim was built, a landmark of the Portuguese occupation), textual (Portuguese administration documents, especially reports) and thematic (documents that make extensive mention of place names in present-day Roraima, as the region had not yet been named as such, and some texts only mention something like “Rio Branco” with no further details). Still on the composition of the corpus, this research reports the documentary survey undertaken at the Amazon Museum, where the documentary heritage of the Resgate/COLUSO project is preserved, and points to other files. The concluding session advocates for the creation (or strengthening) of an Amazonian Philology, the purpose of which is to collect textual material (survey and treatment of primary sources) and describe the transplantation of Portuguese in the Brazilian Amazon, which is characterized by the Marquis of Pombal administration, and a most effective contact between Portuguese and European and Amerindian languages.