Elementos culturais em verbetes de dicionário: expressões idiomáticas

Abstract

The process of teaching and learning languages, no matter what they are, is always influenced by the culture of the society where they belong to. It is possible to realize that influence when idiomatic expressions, which belong to the lexicon of speakers, are taken as an example. In this respect, the study of lexical items is so important because they belong to the lexis of the language, and they are also related to the local culture, being used constantly in the communication process. Besides, they are linked with the way of living and also with the customs of the speaker's community where they have been used. Phraseological constructions are constantly used by native speakers, although those sorts of lexicon have been remained in the background when people are advised, for example, that those kinds of expressions must not be used in formal situations of communication. Considering that dictionaries are used as a linguistic too! in the teaching oflanguages and that, according to Nunes (2006), they also allow othemess to speakers, interfering in their relationship to their language, this study analyzes the idiomatic expressions which are consisted in those teaching materiais. According to Borba (S/D), the right use of dictionaries by students can help them to develop their reading skills, thus this study focuses on verifying the presence of idiomatic expressions and the way they have been presented in a school dictionary of mother tongue: the Houaiss. For that analysis, it was selected idiomatic expressions which have used, in their composition, the following parts of the body: hand, foot, mouth, nose and eye. Those words will be the lexical entry to analyze them. After the choice of the words, those expressions will be presented and classified based on the Phraseology Theory (ZULUAGA OSPINA, 1980); (TRISTÁ, 1988); (CORPAS PASTOR, 1996).