26. Toponymical software for educational purposes

Resumo

     In Linguistic studies, Toponymy is the study of place names and, out of many other aspects, it is based on etymology and semantic data of proper place names (including physical as well as human elements). It is key that such names be understood on the basis of their different meanings, views and fields of study, since they are organized dynamically and, for this reason, are constantly (re)invented in time and space, thus overlapping with sociocultural, identity-related, economic, political and religious values. To our view, a place name is linguistic and cultural inheritance, as well as testimony to a given community. Materialized and embodied, it is product and sociocultural reflection of a group’s cosmovision. The present study seeks to answer the following question: How might a piece of software developed for pedagogical purposes, functioning on the basis of additional information about physical and human elements from the Brazilian state of Tocantins, value and broaden one’s knowledge range about place names in the same state? The concept of pedagogical innovation, in addition to official documentation and a theoretical and methodological literary review on Toponymy are used as grounds for this study.