Gênero em Libras: um estudo sobre marcadores do masculino e do feminino no corpus de libras

Abstract

We propose to research male and female gender markers in Brazilian Sign Language. On the trail of the paths pointed out by the studies of Tanya Felipe (1988 to 2018), Ronice Quadros et al (2004 to 2020), Maria Cristina Silva and Fabíola Sell (2009, 2011), we intend to contribute to the Studies of Language through the characterization, description and classification of the possibilities of use of the given phenomenon. For that, we delimited as object of our investigation the words of professions and family members, signaled by 33 participants of the Surdos de Referência category, of the national inventory Corpus de Libras. For data analysis and verification, we opted for a qualitative and quantitative approach, through bibliographic review, video observation, transcription of signs in glosses, systematization in tables and classification in three predominant marking systems - Categorical Marking, Mixed Marking and No Marking. In addition to sharing examples of non-mandatory and gender marking possibilities, we point out the use of some linguistic strategies eventually used to add this information. We emphasize that: (i) there are few theoretical data and these only partially contemplate the various possibilities presented by our informants; (ii) in Libras there is no obligation to mark the masculine or feminine and there is no triggering of such agreement; (iii) admissibility and marking possibilities are only for animated beings; and (iv) especially when the marking is categorical, we infer that there may be influences from both the hegemonic society and the contact language, Brazilian Portuguese. Based on the collected data, we concluded that, in the analyzed corpus, Libras presents five types of gender explanation: (a) unmarked – only the base sign; (b) gender + base sign; (c) distinct signals; (d) base sign + icon or classifier; and (e) contextual – deixis, anaphora and retaken. A total of approximately 900 signs were recorded in gloss, of which 230 are in the 'Professional' section and 670 in the 'Family' section. We identified that there was no mention of the gender of professionals, so in this vocabulary group all the informants characterize the Non-Marking system. On the other hand, in the signaling of the words of family members, the optional markings occurred categorically in no more than 15% of the cases. The other informants had their categories identified in the Mixed Marking (39.4%) and Non Marking (42.4%) systems. Such results corroborate the perception that Libras presents its categorization of genres distinct from languages with grammatical gender.