Creation and use of signs composed by deaf people: a study with students of the Language-Libras course at UFPI

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze the linguistic and contextual regularities that lead to the acceptability and creation of composite signs in Brazilian Sign Language (LIBRAS) by deaf students of the Letras Libras course at the Federal University of Piauí (UFPI).  Therefore, we carried out a qualitative research based on morphological aspects of Libras and the Portuguese Language, with emphasis on the description of the linguistic and contextual regularities underlying the perception of three deaf students in the first period of the referred course.  We cataloged and mapped 55 composite signals, of which we verified which were the same or which were different from those counted in the references by Quadros and Karnopp (2004), Felipe (2006), Takahira (2012), Minussi and Takahira (2013), Figueiredo Silva and Sell (2009) and the Novo deit-Libras dictionary by Capovilla et.al (2009).  In the analyses, we identified linguistic and contextual regularities underlying the perception of deaf students about the acceptance and creation of composite signs related to the following factors: linguistic economy, cultural factors, visual perceptions, conceptual and contextual perceptions and understandings of the world and language learning.