The Question of Language in Ana de Castro Osório

Although the Portuguese writer, activist and publicist Ana de Castro Osório (1872-1935) did not write any works specifically dedicated to the issue of language, some of her writings reveal her understanding of the Portuguese language as an essential element of identity, intrinsically linked to the nationʼs civilizing mission. In particular, in the years of the First Portuguese Republic (1910-26) several of her works, including children’s books, lectures and activist texts, make repeated references to linguistic identity and to Brazil as a bastion of the Portuguese language and civilization.