Spanish language in Chile

In 19th-century Chile, Spanish language became a political issue, because of its role in the building of the independent nation-state.

 Among the many linguistic problems that attracted the attention of Chilean intellectuals from this period, we focus on the problem of language change. 

This problem had a close relation with that of social and cultural change.

 By means of analysis of metalinguistic discourses from this period (especially from the second half of the century), we argue that language change was perceived positively only if it was felt as a threat to linguistic unity, in which case it was equivalent to decay. Otherwise, it was linked to progress.

 https://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0716-58112017000200243