O discurso relatado em textos de divulgação científica na imprensa portuguesa atual

Abstract

This article is the result of an investigation made within the ongoing project of Scientific Literacy Promotion (Promoção da Literacia Científica) and focuseson the question of related discourse in texts of scientific dissemination, in the current Portuguese press. If we consider these science dissemination texts as texts that aim to diffuse scientific knowledge, we can see that they are marked, among other aspects, by a language practice centred in operations of reproduction and reformulation of the discourse. Following Authier-Revuz (1982), we consider that science dissemination discourse depends on the reformulation of a departure discourse in a target discourse and, consequently, this target discourse is (at least a part of it) the product of the activity of reformulation of the departure discourse. The modalities of relating the discourse (whether it is close to the departure discourse or very different from it) assume a particular relevance as a mechanism that produces textually the communication-dissemination of the scientific discourse. Thus, based on a corpus of eleven texts, published in the current Portuguese press (Diário de Notícias, Jornal de Notícias, Público, Sol) between 12/05/2016 and 06/06/2016, within the scope of what they call scientific journalism, inscribed within the area of Medicine and the theme of health, we will analyse the functioning of the related discourse in these texts, having in mind the linguistic configuration of the most recurrent ways of relating the discourse, in the communication of science. From the theoretical-methodological point of view, we privilege the perspective of the Socio-Discursive Interactionism (Bronckart 1997), complemented with specific studies within the area of scientific dissemination discourse and related discourse, according to the theories of Authier-Revuz (1982, 1985, 1999, 2001), Zamboni (2001) and Duarte (2003). From the methodological point of view, our approach is predominantly qualitative and interpretative. This analysis will allow us to conclude that the configuration of the related discourse in scientific dissemination texts presents linguistic procedures that are determined by the practice of scientific dissemination, which is a result of the confluence of two distinct social spheres – science and journalism.