O indiciamento de graus de popularização da ciência pela referenciação e pelo discurso relatado

Abstract

This paper considers that the popularization of science corresponds to the phenomenon of social communication of knowledge from science to society in general (HILGARTNER, 1990; CORNELIS, 1998; MYERS, 2003; CALSAMIGLIA; DIJK, 2004) and assumes the existence of degrees of popularization of science as postulated by Hilgartner (1990) and by Jacobi (1999, 1990, 1988, 1985 and 1984), for whom the communication of science occurs in various contexts, from the most restricted and specialized to the most general and public. In claiming that the popularization of science is a language exchange undertaken by individuals who, in a specific communicative situation have certain purposes, this paper is affiliated with the Charaudean idea of a communication contract which corresponds to an agreement to identify the conditions for achieving the exchange of language by individuals. (CHARAUDEAU, 2008a, 2008b, 2007, 2005, 2004 and 2001b). The variations in public scientific communication (i) arise from the components of the contracts of communication that govern the exchange of language and (ii) lead to differences in the linguistic materiality of the texts, which are the products of acts of communication. The objective of this research is to verify the effect of degrees of popularization of science in the media by linguistic and discursive categories corresponding to referral and reported speech. In linking to the constructivist conception of reference, described by Mondada and Dubois (2003) and additionally represented by Apothelóz and Reichler-Béguelin (1995), by Apothelóz (2003) and by Cavalcante (2011), this research assumes the systematization of Apothelóz e ReichlerBéguelin (1995) in relation to the operations employed by the interlocutors in the process of reference evolution and the systematization related to the referencing processes proposed by Cavalcante (2011) and in particular by Apothelóz (2003). In addition, this research is based on the semio linguistic definition in which reported speech corresponds to the act of enunciation in which a speaker, at a given location and time, reports to a third party the content of a discussion between one speaker and another in a different location and time. (CHARAUDEAU, 2007). The corpus of analysis consists of twenty popular science news articles published in the journals Ciência Hoje and VEJA between the months of January and June 2010. Examining the texts reveals the alignment of linguistic and discursive referencing procedures and the reported speech related to the representation of individuals that make up the receiving audience of the media in question. This evidences the objective of securing the communication contract of the media whereby the instance of media production should reach the subjects of the media reception. The description of the elements of the communication contracts of the two instances of production permits the relating of the linguistic configuration of the texts, which results in the exchange of language by way of analysis of the referral procedures and the reported speech, to the degree of popularization of science represented by the magazines Ciência Hoje and VEJA.