A figura feminina e suas representações textual-discursivas em textos do jornal O Porvir (Currais Novos/Rio Grande do Norte - 1926-1929)

Abstract

The female figure is one of the most essential participants in the texts of the newspaper O Porvir (1926-1929). This thesis presents a study of the textual-discoursive representations of that figure, considering that they are textualization activities operationalized in the texts and by the texts, whilst being semantically interpreted. The Textual Discourse Analysis is the general framework that serves as guideline for this research, a theoretical and descriptive approach to text linguistics proposed by Adam (2011) that focuses on the concept of discoursive representations. The current study concerns the notion of textual-discoursive representation according to the dialogue between the works of Adam (1999, 2008, 2011) and Grize (1996, 1997). This study is grounded on the general hypothesis that every text (re)constructs textual-discoursive representations in at least three levels, consisting of the enunciator, the co-enunciator and of concerned topics, as well as on the fact that these do not establish simple and straightforward relationships. Moreover, it is the interpreter who reconstructs these textual-discoursive representations, according to utterances and, subsequently, its schematizations, where they are textualized having different linguistic strategies as mediator and while being subject to the project of utterance of the enunciator in the construction of the meanings of the text, which includes progressive modifications regarding a referent that does not only refer to (re)categorizations of a given discourse object, but that also implement them in the textual continuity. This research aims to examine the textual-discoursive representations of the female figure in the texts of the newspaper O PORVIR (1926-1929). The methodology consists of documental techniques of mixed methods, following a concurrent research strategy (CRESWELL, 2010). The data are a collection of 10 selected texts from the above-mentioned newspaper. In order to pursue an analysis of these textual-discoursive representations, the current study utilizes specific textualization operations: referral, modification of the referral, predication, modification of the predication, and connection. The results indicate that there are several textual-discoursive representations of the female figure, among which that of the mother in a domestic context. That wider textual-discoursive representation brings to evidence two distinct perspectives in textual continuity, i. e., the romantic mother, idealized and closer to the prototypical roles of the motherly figure established in the society; and the social agent, responsible for the welfare of the family and for preparing the individuals for social life. The female figure, the woman in a broader perspective, appears in her romantic form, idealized and also integrated to a religious landscape. She is represented, otherwise, by being based on her geographical context and on a negative perspective, according to which she is qualified with depreciative attributes. Besides, there are, still, textual-discoursive representations of the female figure related to her age group, to the female behavior and to the women’s suffrage processes, where they come to win the right to vote. Such processes conceive textual-discoursive representations regarding the female figure in relation to her emancipation and civil rights, witnessing the transition towards public life. It concerns textual-discoursive representations (re)constructed in consonance to complex referential chains, implemented according to diverse linguistic strategies. The (re)construction processes of these textual-discoursive representations arise from the textual continuity and refer to resources of construction of meaning within the text. Moreover, the linguistic strategies for the introduction and resumption of the referent in the texts affect the complexity in the operationalized textual-discoursive representations. The re-categorizations re(construct) the textual-discoursive representations of the more complex feminine figures, characterizing/qualifying the object of the discourse in a peculiar manner. Such a linguistic behavior does not occur frequently in the cases of immediate or late designation of that object in the analyzed data, since they re(construct) textual-discoursive representations of the female figure in a broader perspective. The resumption of the object of discourse in the text has its source in several types of referral processes, i. e., resumptive, associative, pronominal and specialized anaphora. Pronominal anaphora occurs in high frequency, confirming the maintenance of textual-discoursive representations of the female figure in the processing of the text-unit. Regarding the predications, the female figure takes on the semantic roles of the agent, the subject and the experiencer. The connections operate textual-discoursive representations of that figure according to the establishment of different semantic relationships among textual units.