The study is dedicated to the national identity in Latin America and Castilian language, one of the most important bearers of the national identity. There are analyzed various historical factors especially within the independentization period of the continent in the 19th century and theoretical aspects in connection with a unity and differentiation of geolinguistic variants of Spanish as well as polycentrism of their standards and their relation to a national identification.
The text was presented in the form of plenary lecture at the 13th international congress "Palabra y Cultura en América Latina: herencias y desafíos", in the ocasion of the 200th anniversary of the independence of Chile (Universidad Metropolitana, Santiago de Chile).