A estrutura silábica na língua brasileira de sinais

Abstract

This dissertation comprehends a review about the syllable in the Brazilian Sign Language Libras, yet a linguistic descriptive perspective. The purpose of this research is analyzing the organization of the phonological segments of Libras in syllables. It also intends to establish the criteria to identify the syllable in Libras and discuss about the morphophonological aspects of this unit. Fluent deaf adults, who act as Libras teachers at the Secretaria da Educação do Estado de Goiás, participated at the research with questionnaires and video recording. The data collect had two steps. In the first stage, the deaf people signed in Libras referents presented in cards with figures of different semantic fields. In the second stage, the deaf people elaborated sentences that characterized or defined the referents presented in the figures. The found results after the data analyze were: i) the syllable in Libras is the movement, which is the dynamic segment in the sign; ii) movement is the most visible segment during the signaling, so it is also considered as the syllable core; iii) the analyzed movements as syllable are: path movement, internal movement, secondary movements and transition movement; iv) the criteria used to identify the syllable are the movement analysis in the sign and the observation of the hand configuration during the signaling; and, v) there is only a change of the syllable when there is a change at the hand configuration, due to the movement. The research contribution to the linguistic area is a descriptive study of Libras itself, especially about the phonological organization. And the contribution to the education is to provide teachers, interpreters, instructors of Libras and school managers a descriptive study of Libras, because it is essential in the preparation of teaching materials.