What is to Be A Manezinho?

Abstract

The concept of identity in speech communities of Florianópolis is widely discussed in recent years. Entering this discussion, we search for some characteristics of florianopolitano adjective that refers to the famous “Manezinho da Ilha”. Based on corpora oral recorded in Florianópolis in 2012 (sample Floripa - database VARSUL, opinative/informative excerpts are collected of the informants of qualitative research for a discussion of the current stage of the central question of this study – What is being Manezinho? Our study will start, firstly, from the point of view of florianopolitanos regarding to this controversial term (Manezinho), since it is known that it has been commonly used to describe the natives of the city of Florianópolis. Although, throughout the years, the term has been used pejoratively to classify the residents of the interior of the island: the ones with limited education, fishermen, craftsmen etc.. We also propose the investigation of how different speech communities of Florianópolis central and interior areas express their opinions in relation to the central theme of this study.