Dictionary and linguistic standardization in Spanish America: the view of Ramón Sotomayor Valdés (1866)

Abstract

In this paper, framed within linguistic historiography, we describe the ideas of Chilean conservative politician, historian and journalist Ramón Sotomayor Valdés (1830-1903) about the role of the dictionary in language standardization in Latin America. Our source is Sotomayor's admission speech read in the Faculty of Philosophy and Humanities of the University of Chile in 1866. From this year, near a decade would pass until the publication of the first dictionary of Chilean provincialisms. We show that Sotomayor's views accurately reflect the unionist language ideology, held by intellectuals such as Andrés Bello. This language ideology is monoglossic, homogenizing and pro-Castilian, and is strongly influenced by the rationalist model of standardization. Furthermore, we point out that Sotomayor's language ideology has a very close link with his political ideas.