Labels and mediostructural networks of entries about male homosexuals in school dictionaries

Abstract

Our aim was to investigate the use of usage labels in type 3 school dictionaries adopted by the National Program of Textbooks 2012 in order that we could indicate the restrictions and contexts of use of words related to male homosexuals, as well as their implications for the understanding of the senses expressed there. We sought theoretical support in studies within the fields of Metalexicography and Pedagogical Lexicography, such as Welker (2004), Pontes (2009; 2012), Garriga Escribano (1994; 1995), and Fajardo (1997). We conducted a qualitative descriptive study. We presented a survey of 11 word-entries related to male homosexuals, totalizing 44 entries extracted from five school dictionaries. The selected definitions were used for the elaboration of sense-flow networks, mediostructural networks. We then analyzed the location of the usage labels used by each dictionary in the mediostructural network and the labeling patterns for each word. In relation to the conclusions, we can highlight two aspects: (1) the most recurrent label in our corpus was that referring to derogatory use, indicating the discriminatory contexts in which these words are used; and (2) marked words like “bicha”, “baitola” e “maricas”, for example, are located at the network periphery and the flow of meanings converges from those words to the unmarked words “gay” and “homosexual”.