Enunciation and Discourse

   CONTENTS  

Foreword

Research Structures

Energy, Environment, and Biodiversity

Humanities and Ethics

Culture and Education

Society and Development

Information and Communication Technology

Biology and Health

Research Structures and Researchers

About

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The Theory of Argumentation and its further social application

For at least two decades, the Research and Study Group on Enunciation and Discourse has been investigating the meaning constructed by discourse on the grounds of The Theory of Argumentation within Language formulated by Oswald Ducrot, more particularly in its current stage, i.e., the Theory of Semantic Blocks. Within this context, two projects are currently under development: the role of alterity according to the conception of the Theory of Argumentation within Language and Interdiscursivity in Language. The former project is supported by CNPq and a Productivity Grant bestowed to the leading researcher, professor Leci Borges Barbisan. The later project includes master´s and doctoral students who have received grants from CAPES, CNPq, and PUCRS. The results of the research performed on the meaning of discourse from the argumentative perspective are available as published articles and master´s and doctoral dissertations supervised by the researcher.

The theoretical authors that ground the group’s production include Plato, Ferdinand de Saussure, Émile Benveniste, Oswald Ducrot, and Marion Carel. The group maintains regular contact with Ducrot and Carel including internships in Paris (France). Articles by those authors were translated into Portuguese and published in Letras de Hoje, journal edited by the Graduate Program in Linguistic and Literature. These studies investigate the meaning produced by the use of language.

The training of specialists prepared for the labor market is one of the aims of the supervision of master’s and doctoral projects. A large fraction of the advisees are currently teaching at several Brazilian HEIs. The goals of Professor Leci Borges Barbisan include channeling research toward the field of teaching at the undergraduate level and at the basic levels. The professional training of teachers is expected to promote a social application of the results of the investigated theories. The reasons explaining this initiative derive from recent surveys that point to high rates of functional illiteracy at both school and university levels.