O acordo ortográfico: uma questão de política linguística.

In order to unify the two official orthographies for Portuguese (one adopted by Brazil and the other by the other Portuguese-speaking countries), an orthographic agreement has been signed by the states of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPSC). After outlining the history of Portuguese orthography and discussing the reasons for this split, this paper argues against the main criticisms directed towards the agreement, both in Brazil and in Portugal. This paper shows that the agreement is not exactly linguistic, but instead political; therefore it must be analyzed and evaluated politically. Such an analysis shows that the agreement is intended to demonstrate the essential unity of the CPSC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]