A semantic study of the lexicon of the Portuguese spoken by the gurutubanos

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to discuss the Portuguese lexicon spoken by the inhabitants of the Quilombola community in the Gurutuba Valley, Minas Gerais, Brazil, focusing specifically on cases of linguistic maintenance through the semantic analysis of lexical units. In the vernacular in question, the possibility of the presence of lexical aspects detected in the Portuguese language used between the 13th and 15th centuries was investigated, pointing out, in addition to structural issues, historical, social and geographical factors as motivators of such conservation. The study was based upon the theoretical-methodological assumptions of Lexicology, Lexicography snf Historical Linguistics. After discussing the close relations between the Portuguese lexicon spoken by Gurutubanos and their natural, socio-historical and cultural universe, 254 (two hundred and forty-four) lexical units were selected and the ones selected were organized in lexicographic files. From that on, the researcher investigated the presence of those units and of their respective meanings in dictionaries and lexicographic research selected for the comparative study developed. Based on the organization of data, the analyses were made and their results revealed that the conservation of lexical units in the vocabulary of the Portuguese spoken by the living citzens of the Gurutuba Valley predominated.