The grammar of emancipation: language and politics in The construction of hispanoamerican nations

Abstract

This article underlines the importance of language in the building of the new Spanish American nations after Independence. The central question at the time was whether a new approach to language should follow the political break with the empire. The debate centered on the norms of the Royal Academy of Language in Madrid, especially regarding grammar and orthography. By the end of the nineteenth century, the debate was settled in favor of a collaboration between the academies on both sides of the Atlantic.