This article aims at presenting the first thoughts of a research we are carrying out on the Immaterial Heritage of the Inconfidentes Region, on the basis of various interviews with inhabitants of Passagem de Mariana (Minas Gerais - Brazil), collected in 2012. At first, we presented the methodology used for collecting the interviews, then we built up a conceptual approach to the relationship between memory, cognition and discourse, based on categories derived from different theoretical frames, such as the notions of "discursive experienciation" (AUCHLIN, 2008), "performance and vocality" (ZUMTHOR, 1987), "cognitive-discursive memory" (PA-VEAU, 2007), "semiotic space" (BRANDT, 2004), amongst others. To illustrate this approach, we analyzed a small excerpt of one of the interviews carried out in order to exemplify one of the guiding topics employed in the research.