The language of Camões and Iemanjá : Form and function of Candomblé language

The present thesis addresses the relationship between the structure and social functions of language through the study of an Afro-Brazilian Portuguese speech community. The adopted methodological, analytical, and theoretical standpoints have their origin in linguistic anthropology, social psychology of language and discourse analysis. A set of data was collected during extensive fieldwork in Salvador (Brazil), and consists of recordings of informal conversations with and between followers of Candomblé, an Afro-Brazilian religion. Focusing on the communicative process in a specific communicative setting, the linguistic analyses illustrate the relationship between language and identity by examining theway in which expressions of African origin function as identity markers. In order to connect such Africanisms used by Candomblé followers in their everyday speech with the linguistic attitudes and ideologies found in Brazilian society throughout history, an interdisciplinary approach was called for and factors that affect the speech community’s ethnolinguistic vitality were explored. Linguistic attitudes and ideologies that have influenced group vitality were analyzed in the socio-political context (or macro-context). At the same time, the purpose was to understand communication within the sacred space of Candomblé by examining issues such as changes in linguistic forms and functions in the communicative situation (or microcontext). Apart from revealing patterns of communication in Candomblé communities, the results of the analyses show how linguistic changes such as re-Africanization are triggered by changes of attitudes in society. These changes affect speakers’ identities and language use within speech communities