From "Lepra" to "Hanseníase": a sociohistorical-based lexicological analysis

Abstract

This paper investigates the competition between the wordslepra (leprosy) andhanseníase (Hansen’s disease) in Brazilian Portuguese in the 1970s and 2000s. Our research had four steps: (1) gathering lepra and hanseníase tokens from the Jornal do Brasil digital database; (2) observing the emergency, the diffusion, and the frequency of usage of the neologism (hanseníase); (3) selecting two synchronies – the first one before (1970) and the other one after (2000) the token frequency inversion; (4) analysing the words occurrence in 100 texts for each synchrony. According to the analysed data the word hanseníase was first registered in the database in 1970 – during the sanitary reform. In2000 – when the tendency to assess was the cure for the disease – the word hanseníase was more frequent than lepra in the corpus. The results indicate a change of perception of the disease in Brazil. The word hanseníase was created in a period of fight against endemic diseases. With the chance of a cure for the disease, the neologism got stronger and became part of the Brazilian Portuguese lexicon. With the results it was intended to show that the study of the lexicon must consider linguistic and social factors, as it is suggested by the Socio-historical Lexicology.