A expressão de violência no idiomatismo brasileiro

Abstract

Children, during the process of language acquisition, learn and memorize symbolic forms of violence through words, phrases and phraseologies from their mother tongue. In the adult phase, we recur thanks to episodic memory, to the idioms in diverse contexts of language use. How do adults, then, interpret idioms? What kind of comprehension do young children have of idioms such as “chutar o pau da barraca”, “entrar no pau”, “meter o pau (em)” e “mostrar com quantos paus se faz uma canoa”? The present article seeks to answer these questions that worry educators, psychologists and parents. Data collected from popular phraseology show that idioms given meanings are not arbitrary, but have metaphorical bases which arise from image schemas and movements that emerge from embodied experiences stored in episodic memory.