Estudo Semântico-Lexical do Português Falado na Comunidade Quilombola Jenipapo, do Município de Caxias, Maranhão

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the occurrence of lexicon in the Jenipapo quilombo community, located in the rural area of the municipality of Caxias, in Maranhão. To this end, studies by Abbade (2011), Biderman (2001), Bosi (2006), Grimes (1996), Mattoso (1982), Sapir (1961), and Vilela (1997) were used. Interviews were conducted in the community with twelve participants, who answered a questionnaire divided into five semantic fields: dance, religion, quilombola identity, traditional healing, and racism. The interviews were recorded and then transcribed in Word; shortly thereafter, the material was entered into AntConc, which selected the lexias belonging to the corpus in order to understand the principles of modern lexicography. These lexias were then analyzed based on research conducted in the Aurélio Dictionary, the Brazilian Encyclopedia of the African Diaspora, and the Houaiss Dictionary. In this research, 54 lexias were identified, 6 of which were dictionary entries but had a different meaning from that provided by the informant (LDAD), 30 dictionary entries with equivalent meanings (LDAE), and 18 non-dictionary entries (LND). These results contribute to exploring and expanding knowledge of lexias belonging to the Jenipapo community, given the importance of the oral records found in this study, as they present forms of expression that are often absent or underrepresented in traditional lexicographic collections. Therefore, the occurrence of this lexical set expands knowledge about uniqueness and, at the same time, creates an intersection between the speech of the Jenipapo community and the dictionaries researched, recognizing local knowledge as indispensable forms of linguistic and cultural construction.