Abstract
One of the main features of José Saramago's fictional prose is the reflection on the use of language and, in particular, the lexicon. No other recent Portuguese author has or has had such an evident and reiterated concern. In Saramago's works, we find at each step an author that is concerned to explain to the reader the use of a certain word, reflecting on its origin and semantic peculiarities. Many of these reflections may be considered part of what in linguistics is known as implicit lexicography (VERDELHO, 1995), which refers to the act of recording, in the text itself, lexicographic or dictionary-style definitions. Implicit lexicography occurs whenever an author presents a definition of a word or expression, with the aim of clarifying its meaning or avoiding ambiguity. The objective of this study is to identify in José Saramago's fictional works the passages in which the author presents lexicographic definitions. Such definitions are well-marked in the text and are easily distinguished from the rest of the discourse, although they are also part of it. The second term of the definition is often introduced by the verbal form é (‘is’), as in «um machuco é um chaparro novo», although the author makes use of other expressions: quer dizer (‘that is to say’), isto quer dizer (‘this means’), isto é (‘that is’), significa (‘it means’), maneira de dizer (‘another way of saying’), para quem não saiba (‘for those who don’t know’), etc.
Keywords:
José Saramago; works of fiction; lexicographic type definitions; lexicography; semantics