Prejudice vs. linguistic inclusion: myths and ways to diversify our discourses in the second edition of Diversity in the

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On Friday (29), the birds of the Sabiá Agency held the second Diversity in the Nest session of 2023. This is an internal climate action so that the team can be in contact with relevant topics in society, encouraging the construction of a more critical, broad and empathetic thinking. On this occasion, the chosen theme was “Linguistic variation and prejudice: breaking paradigms for more inclusive communication. ”

Two people from our team, both responsible for creative writing within the Agency, led the conversation. Lucas Custódio, with his degree in Literature from the University of São Paulo and a career working with language, addressed a topic that is much discussed in sociolinguistics: the myths perpetuated by linguistic prejudice. The second part of the conversation was led by Mariana Oliveira, a social communicator and advertiser with vast experience in the practical application of the Portuguese language, who demonstrated how we can use communication in a more inclusive way.

“Most of the time, we approach ‘diversity’ from macro points in society, but we cameroon whatsapp number database to analyze others that may not be so obvious and that can contribute to its understanding in its entirety. Because there is no conscious debate about the most different forms of linguistic prejudice, it ends up masking other forms of prejudice that our society has already recognized as unacceptable. We can say that a person with little command of normative grammar is less intelligent or capable than someone who received this formal instruction, for example, contributing to widening the social gap that already exists ,” explains Custódio.

Linguistic prejudice and its myths
Directly influenced by the work “ Linguistic Prejudice: what it is, how it is done ”, by Marcos Bagno, during the session some myths were addressed that continue to be perpetuated even after the publication of the work, in 1999.

Before addressing the myths themselves, Custódio creates an addendum, highlighting that we need to pay attention to two points for better understanding: first, the language presents a high degree of variability and diversity that cannot be curbed by the creation of grammatical rules. Second, all people, at some level, exhibit behaviors that reinforce linguistic prejudice in some way, on a daily basis.

MYTH #1 – There is only one Portuguese language
It is clear that even those who are not directly involved in the spoken context of the Portuguese language are able to perceive that it presents variations. However, at a certain level, it is believed that, even with the rich diversity of variations, the language presents a linguistic “standard”, represented by the stipulated norm and widely disseminated in academic environments.

In reality, the idea of ​​a linguistic standard for the Portuguese language is not only a myth but also completely impractical, given that the variation that occurs in the language is affected by several factors, such as temporality, geographic location, linguistic communities, level of education, etc.

By believing that there is a standard, all other variations (which are just as valid) end up being positioned on the fringes of society, as a non-standard and unacceptable form. This linguistic abyss creates social spaces that cannot be frequented by those who do not have access to formal education, increasing social inequality.

MYTH #2 – Portuguese is very difficult
This myth is perhaps the one that goes most unnoticed, largely because this belief is the result of a rigid and impractical language teaching system. It is believed that the Portuguese language is a language that is measured in elementary and high school, with difficult names and grammatical forms that are never used in a common sentence in everyday life.

The truth is that every native speaker who goes through the language acquisition process fully knows how to use all the structures that the language provides us. Knowing how to use a language means knowing and naturally using the basic grammatical rules of its functioning. For example, you will never see a person whose native language is Portuguese saying something like “ The boy arrived here next week ”.

MYTH #3 – People who are uneducated say everything wrong
One of the most damaging yet widely spread myths is that speaking “incorrectly” as being equivalent to a lack of education goes hand in hand with the idea that there is a variation of Portuguese that is “standard”. However, caution is needed when trying to classify any phenomenon of the language as an error, since it may be part of a linguistic process that has been in effect for centuries. As an example, the fact that a certain group of people replaced the “L” in a consonant cluster with an “R” was used, as occurs in “bicicreta” (bicycle), “pranta” (plant) and “chicrete” (chewing gum). Despite being a variation associated with a poor population, and therefore discredited, the phenomenon is recurrent in the history of the Portuguese language: it is called rhotacism. Words such as branco, nervoso and prata — which are widely accepted in grammar today — originated in the same way, from the forms blank, flaccu, plata.


Therefore, accepting such terms but rejecting others that go through the same phonetic phenomenon is purely prejudice, and is not a linguistic issue, but a political and social one.

MYTH #4 – It’s correct to say it like this because it’s written like this
The fourth and final myth addresses notions that have become confused over time: writing and speech. Speech is the most natural way of expressing a language. It is how we communicate most of the time. It is much more fluid and therefore much more susceptible to variations. Writing, on the other hand, was created as a way of representing this speech, thus making it possible to store ideas and meanings from speech in a pattern that would be understandable to any speaker.

Therefore, it is necessary to understand that spelling exists and must be respected in order to understand written language. However, the same “word” represented by characters can have different phonetic variations, leading to a different interpretation. It is like a recipe, it is necessary to follow a list of ingredients to achieve the result, but each person (or group) has their own way of executing it.

Is it possible to end linguistic prejudice?
It can be quite difficult to eradicate something that is so deeply rooted and pervasive in the educational system. However, by becoming aware of the existence of linguistic prejudice, there are some things we can do to avoid perpetuating it.

Recognize that there is a linguistic crisis, which also occupies the political and social sphere;
Redefine the concept of grammatical error, remembering that language varies and that a large part of the movements that arise spontaneously from the speech of native speakers are linguistic phenomena;
Change attitude towards episodes of linguistic variation.
“ It is important to remember, however, that language experts do not want to promote a kind of grammatical chaos, in which absolutely anything goes. There are still different contexts in which different facets of the language should be used. Therefore, we must understand that there is no magic formula for all speakers of a language, and that all variations must be respected, as they make sense in a given context, ” concludes Custódio.