The education of the syntax in the grammar of Rene Bastianini

The school grammars published in Argentina in the early decades of the twentieth century have seldom been studied in historiographical research. However, the period is relevant for linguistic historiography. The debates on national identity sparked by the centenary of the May Revolution invited a rethink of the relationship between the Spanish spoken in Argentina and Peninsular Spanish. The period also precedes the establishment of philological and linguistic studies as an independent disciplinary field after the foundation of the Institute of Philology of the University of Buenos Aires in 1922. Grammars produced in those years consequently provide valuable evidence of the status of the reflection on language in Argentina just before going profesional and a contrast variable to assess the type and scope of the transformation that began in 1922. Against this background, the work of Rene Bastianini (1877-1953) stands apart, since the texts that make his grammar span almost three decades as major references for the teaching of Spanish. This article focuses on his views on the teaching of syntax and his unconventional approach.