Observações sobre as transformações lexicais na Libras em decorrência dos avanços tecnológicos

Observations on lexical transformations in Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) due to technological advances

Abstract

Abstract: Technology has brought great contributions to the deaf community by facilitating their communication. Keeping pace with technological advances, sign languages have developed a specific vocabulary for terms related to new technologies, while other signs have fallen into disuse. These lexical transformations are part of a historical natural process that occurs in all natural languages. Therefore, this work aims to understand the lexicalization/delexicalization processes in Brazilian Sign Language - Libras, and how these linguistic phenomena are integrated into a contemporary reality due to technological advances. In order to do so, the 13,000 signs from Dicionário da Língua de Sinais do Brasil: A Libras em suas mãos (Capovilla, et al, 2017) were analyzed with the aim of selecting individual entries related to the semantic category “Technology and Communication”. From the analysis, 80 signs were selected and recorded in videos. The videos were individually presented to four deaf adult signers who were asked to point out signs they knew, those they did not know, the signs that in their opinion had fallen into disuse, and signs that had been replaced by other signs. Of the 80 signs, 15% were commonly considered to be in disuse by refer to obsolete technologies and 2.5% (Inteligência Artificial (IA) e Bluetooth) were pointed out as new signs by 50% of the participants, which reflect Libras' continuous adaptation to technological advances.