DISCURSIVE HETEROGENEITY AND MODALIZATION IN JOURNALISTIC DISCOURSE: AN ANALYSIS OF DICENDI VERBS

Abstract

This study aimed to carry out a brief analysis of the presence of other voices in the constitution of journalistic discourse through discursive heterogeneity. It sought to understand how these voices were introduced in the news pieces analyzed, identifying the dicendi verbs used for this purpose and verifying whether they act as discourse modalizers. To that end, a corpus of three news reports on student protests against the New High School reform, published in March 2023 by Folha de S.Paulo, Brasil de Fato, and GZH, was compiled. As for the methodological procedures, the research is characterized as documentary, with a qualitative approach to data analysis. The theoretical framework is based mainly on the theory of discursive heterogeneity developed by Jacqueline Authier-Revuz, drawing on works published in 1990 and 1998, as well as on discussions about dicendi verbs and their role in the construction of discursive modalization. It was concluded that, although journalistic news is often associated with objectivity and impartiality, this genre may display marks of argumentativeness, favored by the presence of other voices in the discourse and by the use of dicendi verbs that, in certain contexts, can express evaluations and guide the interpretation of utterances.