O bilinguismo dos surdos: acesso às línguas, usos e atitudes linguísticas

Abstract

Bilingualism experienced by the deaf community is a kind of minority bilingualism in which members of this community use sign language and the official language of the country in various domains of daily life. Although there are recent advances in the recognition of linguistic rights of the deaf in Brazil, and the description of Libras, the bilingualism situation experienced by the Brazilian deaf remains poorly described. Considering such issues, this article proposes to conduct a discussion on the bilingualism of the deaf, through a literature review of studies on bilingualism and deafness, mostly conducted outside Brazil. Issues will be discussed concerning the linguistic history of the deaf, the everyday usage of language and the role of language attitudes. These factors are fundamental in understanding the intermodal bilingual deaf profile, which are crucial in researches aimed at describing and analyzing the bilingualism of the deaf in Brazil.