PORTUGUESE FOR EVERYONE? A DIALOGUE ABOUT NON-BINARY LANGUAGE WITH DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Abstract

This article proposes an analysis of non-binary language from the perspective of Discourse Analysis (DA), focusing on the production of meanings in linguistic practices and the way language represents, excludes or silences subjects in society. Based on authors such as Michel Pêcheux, Eni Orlandi, Maingueneau and Krieg-Planque, the text discusses how discourses shape identities and ideologies, especially in the field of language and Portuguese teaching. The work is based on two institutional discourses: Bill No. 511/2021 of the State of Mato Grosso and Law No. 3.006/2021 of the municipality of Sinop, both prohibiting the use of so-called “neutral language” in educational institutions. The analysis shows how these laws reveal an attempt to crystallize a fixed model of language and exclude non-binary identities from the educational and social space, through mechanisms of power and silencing. Using the main concepts of DA — such as subject, discursive formations, conditions of production, interdiscourse, memory, silence and ideology —, the author demonstrates how institutional discourse acts in the construction of meanings that marginalize the different. The role of silence as a constitutive element of discourse and as a form of symbolic exclusion of subjects who do not fit into binary gender norms is highlighted. In the end, the article argues that language is alive and in constant transformation, and that prohibiting the use of inclusive forms does not prevent its existence or evolution. It reinforces that respect for linguistic diversity must be part of a democratic society, and that it is necessary to look at language with sensitivity to social transformations and the meanings it produces.