What was Andrés Bello's Castilian grammar for Americans?

Andrés Bello's grammar for Americans

La Gramática de Andrés Bello

1847. In 1847 Andrés Bello published in Santiago his Gramática de la lengua castellana destinada al uso de los americanos.

Where: The whole Spanish-speaking world, Chile, Venezuela, Santiago

What happened

In 1847 Andrés Bello published in Santiago his Gramática de la lengua castellana destinada al uso de los americanos. Its prologue says plainly that he does not write for Castilians: his aim was to keep the language of 'our fathers' pure and shared, so that the new republics would not drift apart, without treating Spain's usage as the only standard. Bello described Spanish on its own terms rather than through Latin, and invented transparent names for the tenses (copretérito, pospretérito) still used in Latin American schools. The Spanish Academy made him an honorary member in 1851; Rufino José Cuervo added notes from 1874.

Say it

Andrés Bello escribió una gramática para los americanos, no para los castellanos.

Andrés Bello wrote a grammar for Americans, not for Castilians.

Why it matters

Bello gave the independent Americas their own authority on Spanish and argued that unity of the language did not require obedience to Madrid, the idea behind today's panhispanic norm.

Connected

• Voseo: where vos survives and why (c. 1500–)
• The Association of Academies of the Spanish Language (1951)
• The Association of Academies of the Spanish Language (1951)
• García Márquez wins the Nobel: the Boom (October 1982)
• One grammar and one spelling for 22 countries (2009–2011)
• One grammar and one spelling for 22 countries (2009–2011)

• Before: San Martín crosses the Andes
• After: The War of the Pacific

Sources

1. Andrés Bello López (1781-1865) — Memoria Chilena, Biblioteca Nacional de Chile
2. Gramática de la lengua castellana destinada al uso de los americanos, de Andrés Bello (reseña) — Centro Virtual Cervantes
3. Política panhispánica — ASALE
4. La ortografía española: perspectivas historiográficas (J. Martínez Marín, Cauce 14-15) — Centro Virtual Cervantes
5. La Real Academia Española: trescientos años (Anuario 2013) — Centro Virtual Cervantes