Itens lexicais tabus: usá-los ou não. Eis a questão .

The language in use in a society is product of a culture and reflects the way a community thinks. Therefore, the lexical units, through the meanings assigned by a social group, establish a specific look of the universe. We intend to demonstrate that for the denomination of the sexual organs of the human body it usual to avoid the official anatomical terminology – relegated to contexts of great formality – and to adopt other lexical items during informal situations. We intend, with this research, to demystify some prejudices related to the erotic-obscene lexicon, its use and its creation, besides stimulating reflections, in Portuguese and Italian.

O léxico tabu: usos e aspectos socioculturais

The language in use in a society is product of a culture and reflects the way a community thinks. Therefore, the lexical units, through the meanings assigned by a social group, establish a specific look of the universe. We intend to demonstrate that for the denomination of the sexual organs of the human body it usual to avoid the official anatomical terminology – relegated to the contexts of great formality – and to adopt other lexical items during informal situations. This paper reflects about some sociocultural aspects of the forbidden language, that encloses the erogene zones. Using as theory the studies of Lexicology and the obscene lexicon, we intend to verify this lexical typology based in our corpus, and stimulate reflections about the use and the substitution of the official terminology, showing that there are variations in relation to the age and gender of the speakers. We intend, with this research, to demystify some prejudices related to the erotic-obscene lexicon, its use and its creation and to stimulate reflections.