For a better life in the media: discourse, aphorization and controversy

Abstract

In this article, from the perspective of discourse analysis, the authors study the controversy that took place in the media regarding the Portuguese language school textbook Por uma vida melhor [For a better life] in the first semester of 2011, which generated a large file of journalistic material about the topic. The controversy was established from a set of statements detached from a chapter of the book and modified according to the Standard Portuguese only ideology supported by the Globo Mediafrom the journalistic material on the theme that circulated as printed material and/or in the Internet, was examined based on the concepts of detachability and aphorization (MAINGUENEAU, 2010, 2008) as well as polemics, intercomprehension, translation and simulacrum (MAINGUENEAU, 2010). It is examined whether detachability and aphorization enhance the production and circulation of simulacra in the media sphere.