Aspetos do funcionamento discursivo no discurso político mediatizado

Abstract

This study focuses on the referenda that took place in Portugal in 1998 and 2007, which called on the Portuguese citizens to express their opinion about the legislation concerning abortion/Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy (namely whether to uphold or alter the legal time frame and circumstances under which abortion would be allowed). These referenda were the source of fierce agonistic interactions in Parliament and in the media; the corpus of the present analysis comprises opinion texts published in the written press. The discourse(s) on the aforementioned legislative change aacquired undertones of extreme verbal confrontation — polemic —, polarizing public opinion; within the dynamics of this mediated polemic I will analyze some of the strategies of “pathemization” (“said” or “shown”) and how topoï/doxa are used and organized in order to sway / influence the Other. In particular, I shall draw on research by Amossy (1999, 2000 e 2010), Plantin (2000, 2002 e 2011), Micheli (2007 e 2008), Fonseca (1992, 1998, 2001 e 2003) e Marques (2007 e 2010).