Creation of a list of homonyms in Brazilian Portuguese for linguistic processing tasks

Purpose  This paper presents procedures and steps to create a list of homonyms, their meanings and representative images.

Methods  One hundred and three homonyms in Brazilian Portuguese were secluded through searches in text books and dictionaries and the meanings were verified. The homonyms were analyzed and selected according pre-established criteria. Twenty-six homonyms with two meanings were selected and one image was used to represent each meaning. To test the instrument, twenty elementary school children in 4^th (n = 10) and 5^ht (n = 10) grades were selected from a private school in São Paulo. To identify the meanings of major and minor occurrence, the students gave their understanding of the words presented to them orally. The students were also asked to name the fifty-two images to determine the degree of recognition. Percentages of accuracy were calculated.

Results  Among the 26 homonyms, two were excluded because the students were unable to name them. Two images were little recognized and, therefore, replaced with others that better represented the homonyms.

Conclusion  A list of 24 homonyms and 48 images (one for each meaning) was developed. The results of the presentation of these items to elementary school children in the 4^th and 5^th grades proved the adequacy of the list. The material is seen as efficient for use in recognition tasks and can be applied in semantic priming tasks.

Keywords
Assessment; Semantic Priming; Language Study; Homonyms; Speech Therapy