Vermelho-boi: a menstruação no Projeto Atlas Linguístico do Brasil em uma análise dialetológica, numa perspectiva queer dos falares de Pernambuco

Abstract

To discuss taboos related to menstruation is to address two subjects as ancient as they are current, as menstruation has always existed in the history of the human species, and the so-called prohibitions have always been present in social language practices. This historical aspect currently flows into various oceans, with one of these being of interest to Queer Theory. In this space, we embark on an innovative mission, navigating the waters of the gender-body-sex system in conjunction with dialectological considerations, attempting to explore unprecedented boundaries and limits. This work seeks to investigate how linguistic taboos regarding menstruation are perceived from a queer perspective, based on responses to the semantic-lexical question 121 (QSL-121) from the Atlas Linguístico do Brasil (ALiB) project: "Women lose blood every month. What is this called?" (National Committee of the ALiB Project, 2001, p. 31), collected in the state of Pernambuco. Qualitatively analyzing the collected dialectal records, the research examines nuances of taboos present in the speech of interviewed informants, especially concerning the understanding of how the meanings of body, gender, and sex of menstruating individuals are linguistically organized. To address this objective, the research is theoretically anchored in Cardoso (2010) and the foundations of Pluridimensional Dialectology; Paim (2019) and the methodological notes of Geolinguistics; Guérios (1979) and studies on linguistic taboos; and Butler (2020), Preciado (2009), and other authors, in the assumptions of Queer Theory. The results of the analyses reveal the existence of dialectal records that refer to menstruation through various expressions, such as "being sick" or "being uncomfortable," which strengthen, through these language marks, the conception of impurity and incapacity of the body, reinforcing sociolinguistic taboos regarding the life cycles of menstruating individuals, affecting linguistic meanings when the topic is menstruation in different groups of people.