FORMOSO DO ARAGUAIA - TOCANTINS: THE SEMANTIC-LEXICAL FORMS OF THE GAME BURNED WHIP IN THE LEGAL AMAZON

Abstract

This article analyzes the lexical variants found for the game “chicote queimada” (burnt whip) based on the speech of residents of Formoso do Araguaia, Tocantins. The main objective is to investigate the multidimensional and relational dialectological representations in the semantic-lexical context of these speakers, who were born or live in the locality, which is part of the Legal Amazon. To achieve this objective, a qualitative approach based on Multidimensional and Relational Dialectology is adopted. The three-step technique of Thun (2010) is used – ask, insist, and suggest – and the Semantic-Lexical Questionnaire (QSL) of the Linguistic Atlas of Brazil (ALiB), composed of 202 questions, distributed in nine semantic areas, is applied. However, this study focuses on the area of ​​children’s games and entertainment, focusing on question 164: “A game in which the children stand in a circle, while another passes with an object that he drops behind one of them, and the latter picks up the object and runs away?” Furthermore, the theoretical and methodological assumptions of Sociolinguistics are incorporated into the study based on Labov's dimensions (Labov, 2008). The study included 48 informants, equally distributed between males and females, and divided into two generations: the oldest (CbGII) and the youngest (CbGI). Considering the migratory dynamics of the region studied, only informants from the lower class (Cb) with a lower level of education were selected. The analyses focused on the occurrence, frequency, and divergence of the variants found, and this information was recorded in polymorphic maps and form status maps, to provide a globalized analysis.