ABSTRACT
The study analyses previous proposals of periodization of the linguistic history of Brazil and formulates a new proposal based on the principles of the variationist paradigm, seeking to correlate linguistic processes with social processes. The overall vision that guides this new proposal is that, at the heart of the sociolinguistic history of Brazil, there is a violent linguistic homogenization process in which the Portuguese language is imposed as a hegemonic language over the broad linguistic mosaic of the first centuries of the formation of Brazil.
Key-words:
periodization; language history; language contact; Brazilian Portuguese