A (des)legitimação da Libras em práticas discursivas online

Abstract

This paper aims at analysing seven comments published on the blog “Chongas”, about the lack of linguistic competence of the deaf persons. The question that triggered this research was: How can discursive practices contribute to both delegitimization and legitimation of Libras? Theoretically, this paper is based on Bourdieu’s concepts of Habitus, Linguistic Competence and Legitimate Language (2004, 2008). From these concepts, it is evident that the Brazilian Language of Signs, Libras, although considered as the second official language of Brazil, still remains in a subaltern relation in certain speeches, as both in excerpts that delegitimize it and in the need of declaring its legitimacy as a language of gestural-visual modality. Thus, with this theoretical support, it is proposed both to break off with exclusionary discursive practices and to establish the legitimation of the sign language, in the gestural-visual modality, and the awareness of the linguistic difference. As a result, it was observed that, in the online discursive practices, the habitus is considered as a set of practices acquired in the social interactions and incorporated to the other social practices that compound the Cultural Capital of the enunciator, the speaker. As a conclusion, it is evident that discursive practices are never neutral, but always permeated by power relations.