Galiza e Brasil constituem duas entidades políticas e sociais bem diferenciadas e afastadas geograficamente, mas com peculiaridades históricas e linguísticas similares: ao já conhecido fato de ter surgido a língua hegemônica falada hoje no Brasil no território do Antigo Reino de Galiza soma-se o fato de que ambas foram submetidas, em maior ou menor grau e com maior ou menor êxito, a um processo de substituição linguística que afetou à(s) língua(s) autóctone(s) de cada uma delas. Através de documentos históricos e presentes, analisamos a toponímia de ambas as entidades, Galiza e Brasil, detendo-nos nas similitudes e nas diferenças sociolinguísticas de ambas provocadas por aquele conflito linguístico.
Galicia and Brazil are two well differentiated political and social entities, which are distant geographical located but with similar historical and linguistic characteristics. On the one hand, we must take into account that the dominant spoken language in Brazil nowadays was born in the ancient Kingdom of Galicia. On the other hand, both entities were subjected -in greater or lesser degree and with more or less success- to a process of linguistic substitution, which influenced their native languages’ evolution. In this research, we shall analyze the toponymy of these two areas through the study of historical and current sources, focusing on their sociolinguistic similarities and differences, which were caused by the linguistic conflict.
