Taboo expressions in Brazilian sign language (Libras)
- V. 25, N. 2 (2026)
- Submitted: Oct 16, 2025
- Published: Sep 18, 2026
- DOI 10.25189/rabralin.v25i2.2396
Abstract
Our main objective is to present some preliminary results and discussions on taboo terms in Libras (Língua Brasileira de Sinais). Given the lack of studies on the topic, our immediate scope is to survey the vocabulary and main uses of the expressions found. We will draw primarily on Gene, Fisher, and Napoli (2012), who provided a morphosyntactic description of taboo expressions in American Sign Language (ASL), and Loos, Cramer, and Napoli (2020), who discuss the iconicity of taboo terms in German Sign Language (Deutsche Gebärdensprache - DGS), and Sutton-Spence and Napoli (2024), who analyze expressiveness in sign languages in general. Based on a lexical survey of dictionaries and YouTube channels, we show that in Libras we have taboo terms in the same lexical fields found in spoken languages: religion, sex, body parts, and bodily fluids. We also show that the same linguistic aspects found by previous studies in other sign languages occur in Libras: a) more iconic signs tend to be more offensive; b) use of non-manual, or non-lexical, strategies to convey expressiveness.
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