Surdos pataxó: inventário das línguas de sinais em território etnoeducacional

Abstract

This dissertation points out the social and cultural issues concerning the Native Brazilian deaf population by assuming the need for linguistic policies that take into account their Sign Languages and foster their autonomy in the ethno-educational territory. Some of the deaf Pataxó, albeit outside educational institutions, have developed their linguistic/discursive practices and interacted with their listeners, thus testifying to the complexity surrounding the different uses of Sign Languages. From that starting point, this research aimed to develop an ethnographic study by making an inventory of the discursive practices and Sign Languages of the deaf Pataxó dwelling in Coroa Vermelha, a village in the municipality of Santa Cruz Cabrália (Bahia, Brazil). The researcher’s field experiences are reported and a descriptive approach is employed to make a systematic comparative study of lexical-semantic relations between the Pataxó Sign Language, which is here being studied for the first time, and the Brazilian Language of Signs – Libras. Data were obtained by video recording the rounds of conversation with deaf participants and listeners as well as by keeping extensive field journal records. The lexical items of the Pataxó Sign Language were also photographed and transcribed into SignWriting. Moreover, as a subsidy for the corpus analysis, concepts of 'language' are discussed towards acknowledging the linguistic status of the Home Sign Languages and hence the Pataxó Sign Language. In drawing upon the propositions of Applied Linguistics, Cultural Studies and Deaf Studies in their multiplicity of fields, this research adopts a transdisciplinary approach. In addition to the references that support the idea of a multidisciplinary work, the theory of iconicity is taken as an assertion that reaffirms the linguistic status of the iconic or transparent signs in Sign Languages. The data and their discussion show a clear need to bring the studies on the Native Brazilian deaf population into the design of a cartography of their linguistic and cultural practices. Such a cartography may greatly contribute to Deaf Studies by substantiating proposals and actions towards the Native Brazilian deaf population’s effective access to education and the strengthening of their identities.