Campo semântico da identidade sexual e da identidade de gênero: análise de verbetes em dicionários de língua portuguesa

Abstract

This paper proposes to analyse entries extracted from two Portuguese dictionaries - the Minidicionário Houaiss da Língua Portuguesa, by Houaiss and Villar (2019) and the Mini Aurélio: o dicionário da língua portuguesa, by Ferreira (2020) -, in order to reflect on the meaning of identity representations of the acronym LGBTQIA+. By doing so, it will be possible to map the identity representations that such entries construct and maintain, as they reflect/produce social, cultural, political, historical and economic aspects of the period and society in which the dictionary is written and/or is in circulation. To this end, some fundamental concepts on the subject will be discussed, for example, the concepts of identity, difference, representation and perfomativity. We will also review aspects related to entries, dictionaries and discourse analysis. Thus, we intend to reflect on the identity representations that these entries suggest; to sensitize speakers about the social, cultural, political, historical and economic role of language regarding the construction and maintenance of identities; to further disseminate the words and/or expressions that belong to the semantic field of sexual identity and gender identity, manifesting itself in an increasingly respectful way to the subjects that constitute the LGBTQIA+ community; to demystify some erroneous beliefs that language users usually have about this subject, in order to overcome prejudices and fight heterocisnormativity.