Estudo descritivo da terminologia da morfologia em Libras

Abstract

This study investigates the terminology of Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) in the field of Morphology, motivated by the need to ensure informational and terminological accessibility for deaf students in higher education. The objective of the research is to describe and analyze the specialized vocabulary used in the Morphology course of the Letras-Libras program at the Universidade Federal de Sergipe (UFS). The theoretical framework is grounded in the field of Terminology, drawing on the works of Barros (2004), Krieger and Finatto (2018), as well as Silva (2024), which contribute to the understanding of the historical development of specialized lexicons and the distinction between common words and technical terms. These perspectives also consider the principles of Iconicity and Arbitrariness (linguistics) in the formation of signs. The research is characterized as qualitative and descriptive, based on the methodological perspectives of Arilda Schmidt Godoy (1995) and Souza et al. (2019). The corpus consists of the terms “morphology,” “morpheme,” “derivation,” “inflection,” “prefix,” “suffix,” “free morpheme,” and “bound morpheme,” collected in Portuguese and analyzed through their corresponding Libras by means of semantic and phonological-morphological description. The results indicate that the informational access provided by these signs is partially compromised by processes of literal semantic transposition from Portuguese. It is concluded that the current terminology functions as a provisional communicative bridge, highlighting the need for revisions that prioritize the visual representation of grammatical relations inherent to Libras. The study contributes to the reflection of interpreters, teachers, and students by providing support for more precise pedagogical practices in the teaching of linguistics in bilingual educational contexts.